The condition of following Christ
Dearest brothers and sisters,
I would like to share my reflection on the following passage in the scripture.
The condition of following Christ
Mathew 16:24-28
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. 26What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life? Or what can anyone offer in exchange for his life? 27'For the Son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his behaviour. 28In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming with his kingdom.'
This passage talks about what should we do if we want to be a follower of Christ. But I guess, the first question that we might ask is that why do we want to follow Christ? Do we really want to follow Christ? Because if we don't, then there is no need to talk about how to follow Christ.
Do we want to follow Jesus then? As I reflect on this, I realized that I had a wrong impression on this theme "following God". I often felt and saw that God looked like a commander, and what we have to do is to follow Him. We have no other choice. Our parents told us to follow Him. If we do not follow Him, then others will see us as "bad". And without realizing it, maybe we have started "not following" Him, even when we thought we are trying to follow Him.
Do we really want to follow God then? to follow Jesus? Why do I have to follow Him? Have you ever asked yourself that same question?
But before we answer that question, we need to correct the wrong impression that we have about "following God". If we still think that we "have to" follow God, and if we feel that what He does is to "command" us to do this and that in order to follow Him, and if we felt that God is like a tyrant who wants followers, then we need to correct our impression.
We need to ask ourselves, Why do I want to follow God?
As I think about this, I recalled the story when Jesus called His first disciple and He said, "Come, Follow Me". We all know the story, that they left everthing and started to follow Jesus.
"As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him."
(Mat 4:18-20)
I used to stop at the last sentence as if they have done what Jesus ask, that is to follow Him, and there is no more story about following Jesus. But I was wrong. I realized that I need to finish the whole Gospels to understand what it means of following jesus. I did realize that after that moment, Peter and the others, followed Jesus everywhere. They ate together, they went together, Jesus even brought them to his house, and so many other things.
What does all this thing means? When Jesus said, "Follow me", Jesus is inviting Peter and the rest to share His Own Life. From that moment, Peter shared the Life of Jesus. Peter ate from the same table, which means he is part of Jesus family. And this "sharing of life" with Jesus made Peter able to say, "Yes Lord, You know that I love you".
"He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."
(Joh 21:17)
This is what it means to follow God. This is what it means to follow Jesus. It's about sharing Life with God, it's about sharing Life with Jesus. And when we share life with God, we share life with LOVE himself. And what else do we actually want in this life except LOVE? What are we looking in this life? Isn't to Love and to be Loved? We may called it Happiness. But let us recall, when is the happiest moment in our life? Is it when we get a lot of money? is it when we are success? No. It is when we are loved. It is when we are able to Love.
And when Jesus said "Come Follow me". Jesus is inviting us to share His own life, He is inviting us to be Loved by Him, by Love himself. And when we experience this Love, we will be able to say like what Peter said,
"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."
So God is not an army commander that is forcing us to follow Him, He is not a tyrant who are exhausted for follower. No! God is Love. And what He wants is simply for us to experience this Love. To have a share in the very life of God. And this is the very life of God, that is to Love as God has loved us.
"He, then, gives us the "pledge" or "first fruits" of our inheritance: the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as "God [has] loved us." This love (the "charity" of 1 Cor 13) is the source of the new life in Christ, made possible because we have received "power" from the Holy Spirit."
CCC 735
So this is what it means to follow Him. To share His Life, to Love as He has Loved us.
Next >>
----to be continued
I would like to share my reflection on the following passage in the scripture.
The condition of following Christ
Mathew 16:24-28
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. 26What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life? Or what can anyone offer in exchange for his life? 27'For the Son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his behaviour. 28In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming with his kingdom.'
This passage talks about what should we do if we want to be a follower of Christ. But I guess, the first question that we might ask is that why do we want to follow Christ? Do we really want to follow Christ? Because if we don't, then there is no need to talk about how to follow Christ.
Do we want to follow Jesus then? As I reflect on this, I realized that I had a wrong impression on this theme "following God". I often felt and saw that God looked like a commander, and what we have to do is to follow Him. We have no other choice. Our parents told us to follow Him. If we do not follow Him, then others will see us as "bad". And without realizing it, maybe we have started "not following" Him, even when we thought we are trying to follow Him.
Do we really want to follow God then? to follow Jesus? Why do I have to follow Him? Have you ever asked yourself that same question?
But before we answer that question, we need to correct the wrong impression that we have about "following God". If we still think that we "have to" follow God, and if we feel that what He does is to "command" us to do this and that in order to follow Him, and if we felt that God is like a tyrant who wants followers, then we need to correct our impression.
We need to ask ourselves, Why do I want to follow God?
As I think about this, I recalled the story when Jesus called His first disciple and He said, "Come, Follow Me". We all know the story, that they left everthing and started to follow Jesus.
"As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him."
(Mat 4:18-20)
I used to stop at the last sentence as if they have done what Jesus ask, that is to follow Him, and there is no more story about following Jesus. But I was wrong. I realized that I need to finish the whole Gospels to understand what it means of following jesus. I did realize that after that moment, Peter and the others, followed Jesus everywhere. They ate together, they went together, Jesus even brought them to his house, and so many other things.
What does all this thing means? When Jesus said, "Follow me", Jesus is inviting Peter and the rest to share His Own Life. From that moment, Peter shared the Life of Jesus. Peter ate from the same table, which means he is part of Jesus family. And this "sharing of life" with Jesus made Peter able to say, "Yes Lord, You know that I love you".
"He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."
(Joh 21:17)
This is what it means to follow God. This is what it means to follow Jesus. It's about sharing Life with God, it's about sharing Life with Jesus. And when we share life with God, we share life with LOVE himself. And what else do we actually want in this life except LOVE? What are we looking in this life? Isn't to Love and to be Loved? We may called it Happiness. But let us recall, when is the happiest moment in our life? Is it when we get a lot of money? is it when we are success? No. It is when we are loved. It is when we are able to Love.
And when Jesus said "Come Follow me". Jesus is inviting us to share His own life, He is inviting us to be Loved by Him, by Love himself. And when we experience this Love, we will be able to say like what Peter said,
"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."
So God is not an army commander that is forcing us to follow Him, He is not a tyrant who are exhausted for follower. No! God is Love. And what He wants is simply for us to experience this Love. To have a share in the very life of God. And this is the very life of God, that is to Love as God has loved us.
"He, then, gives us the "pledge" or "first fruits" of our inheritance: the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as "God [has] loved us." This love (the "charity" of 1 Cor 13) is the source of the new life in Christ, made possible because we have received "power" from the Holy Spirit."
CCC 735
So this is what it means to follow Him. To share His Life, to Love as He has Loved us.
Next >>
----to be continued
posted by Oka | 10:20 pm
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