"Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people"
With these words, Jesus invites us on a journey, a road trip. A road trip with Jesus sounds fun, doesn't it? If we choose to take to the road with this Jesus, we will encounter God and neighbor in ways we never could have imagined or planned for ourselves. We will be shown an alternative way of looking at the world. We'll constantly be surprised by newness in places where newness was neither expected or envisioned.
But this road trip, while sweet, won't be an easy one. It'll take us to some awfully scary places, and so perhaps our safer instincts would rather us just stay at home, just stay put. For this journey with Jesus is one of complete surrender and servant hood. This journey with Jesus has the audacity to demand of us not to judge or insult one another, to forgive one another, to not resist violence with violence, to love and pray for our enemies and to even, if need be, lay down our very lives. I don't know about you, but I might be having second thoughts.
So let's take a moment and think about it. Let's consider all the wonderful things which might be holding us back from following this Jesus, from standing too close to him. Let's listen to more of his invitation to us and decide if we're really up for this road trip.
For Jesus looks us in the eye and boldly asks us:
What will you give in return for your life?
Whoever wants to become my follower must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Any one of you who does not renounce all you have cannot be my disciple. No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
Let us go to the neighboring towns, that I may proclaim the message there also. Take nothing for your journey, no bag, no bread, no money - not even an extra shirt; for the worker is worth her keep.
You will be hated by all because of my name. A disciple is not above the teacher; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher. If they have called the master of the house a demon, how much more will they malign those of his household.
Whoever loves father or mother, or wife or children, more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake will find it. I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age and in the age to come eternal life.