Sunday Message

REFLECT

There is a hymn which reflects
on Jesus’ calling of his disciples
which begins “Follow me, follow
me, leave your home and family” and is
often sung with great gusto by Sunday
congregations. Whether we would be
quite so enthusiastic if we thought that
the words actually applied to ourselves is
perhaps another matter. We might regard
the text as a meditation on the call to the
religious life, especially to missionary
work overseas. But even those who
accept such an invitation soon discover
that life is not so simple and that daily
needs have to be met, no matter how
simply they try to live.

There is always a danger that we can
think that certain parts of the teachings
of Jesus are for a particular group of
other people and therefore do not apply
to ourselves. When Mark was writing,
there was no priesthood that we would
recognise today, no religious orders
dedicated to the foreign missions: he
is addressing his account of Jesus’ call
to all his readers. It is true that certain
people have a profound conversion
experience which leads them to a radical
break with their past life: some people
may decide to join the Church against the
wishes of their family or relations. But the
vast majority of us have responsibilities
that we cannot just abandon, nor are we
being asked to.

But we are all disciples of Jesus. “Repent
and believe the Good News” is addressed
to us today. This, for most of us, is not
something that we do once and for all: it
has to be a regular part of our Christian
life. The fundamental vocation which
we all share is to be a disciple of Jesus
and to live as such in whatever way of
life we find ourselves. Perhaps ‘repent’
could mean examining ourselves to see
if anything is coming between ourselves
and Jesus and, if so, doing something
about it.