“Follow Me.” That’s all Jesus said to Matthew. “Follow Me.” In response, Matthew abandons his post and follows Jesus. It’s really quite astounding. It doesn’t seem as if there was any hesitation. Matthew did not say, “I’ll pray about this” or “I’ll give notice to my boss that I’m quitting” or “Let me settle my affairs.” He just got up and followed.
It was other people, the Pharisees who questioned Jesus’ choices. Matthew was a tax collector and as such was assumed to be a traitor, working for the Romans. The Pharisees labeled other people as “sinners” who also would not be worthy of the rabbi’s time. They questioned why Jesus would spend time with “those people.”
But Jesus did not look at people in the same way as the Pharisees did. Instead, Jesus calls a tax collector – and a zealot – people on opposing “sides.” Tax collectors worked for the Roman Government and zealots were the protestors who were trying to overthrow it. Jesus called fishermen, not scholars. He did not ask them to fill out an application to see who was good enough. He simply asked them to follow.
Today, Jesus is still asking ordinary people, like you and me, to follow him. And today, we are celebrating with Victoria Swanson as she says, “YES.” Yes, I will follow Jesus.
When Jesus called Matthew to follow, it meant literally following Jesus wherever he went – from the river Jordan, across the sea of Galilee to the dusty streets of Jerusalem to the cross. Today, following Jesus means keeping the promises that were made in our Baptism, the promises Victoria is saying yes to today – and that we are renewing.
All of us are reminded that we have made these promises to:
· To live among God’s people. That means show up. Show up to opportunities to grow in faith which includes not only worship but also Bible studies and service opportunities.
· Hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper. That means Receive God’s gifts.
· Proclaim the Good news of God through word and deed, serve others and work for justice and peace. That means share God’s gifts so that others may also experience the joy of God’s love and grace
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he gives them – and us – a helpful reminder that our actions of following Jesus are our response to what God has already done. For, as Paul writes, it is “out of God’s great love” and God’s grace that we have been saved by Christ Jesus. Our response is to do good works and to share the love of Christ.
I read a story about Jesuit preacher Greg Boyle. Apparently, when he a young priest, he was sent to the mountains in Bolivia to lead the Mass. The problem was that his Spanish wasn’t very good and the people he was being sent to spoke Quechua, an indigenous language – and he didn’t speak that at all. Worse yet, on the way up the mountain, he realizes he doesn’t have the words to the Mass in Spanish or in Quechua. This was in 1984, before the internet, so he couldn’t just look it up on BibleGateway.
He gets to a field where people are gathered with a little makeshift altar in the center. The first part of the service goes fine but, as Boyle stands to lead the Mass, it’s a disaster. When he runs out of words, he simply the bread above his head. At this point he can’t wait for the service to be over… but then an elderly woman comes up to him with a healthcare worker who says the woman hasn’t given a confession in ten years. Boyle nods and turns so that his back is to the congregation and listens to the woman – who, and I quote, “unloads ten years of sins in a language he can’t understand. She speaks for thirty minutes. By the time he coughs up some words of absolution, he turns to see everyone is gone. His ride even left. And he is left with his feelings of failure at the top of a mountain, convinced that he is the worst priest that ever lived.
Boyle picks up his backpack and starts to hoof it back down the mountain when he spies an old farmer walking toward him. The farmer is wearing tattered clothes, a rope for a belt, and his feet are caked in Bolivian mud. “Tatai,” he says, which is Quechua for “Father,” and motions Boyle to come close. As the young priest bends, the old man reaches into his coat pockets and retrieves a handful of rose petals. He then drops them all over Boyle’s head. He digs into his pocket and grabs more and then more. The petals fall and fall and fall.1
And then Boyle remember “For by grace you have been saved through faith, this is not your own doing, but is a gift from God.” And his heart was broken wide open.
What I love about this story is the surprising grace that God gives – from an unlikely source – a poor farmer-- even in the midst of what Boyle considered a failure. And yet, Boyle was seeking to follow Jesus:
1) Show up. He showed up. That’s the first step.
2) Share the gifts: Boyle offered the gifts that God had given him – the gift of communion – even though it felt to him like the worst service he had ever done – and the gift of listening to an old woman who had been desperately in need of hearing the words of forgiveness – and even though he didn’t understand her, he was able to offer words of forgiveness and healing.
3) Receive: This is what Boyle forgot. But he was curious and so, even in the midst of his embarrassment and shame, Boyle went to the old man – who poured out God’s love and grace upon him in rose petals.
Following Jesus will not be the same path for you and me as it has been for Greg Boyle. But God did not make you to be Greg Boyle. God made you to be you. And Jesus invites you, each one of you, to follow him and to use these gifts God has given to you in this place and in this time.
And so, Brothers and sisters, siblings in Christ, let us follow Jesus by Showing up; receiving and then sharing the gifts that God has entrusted to each of us. For God, out of his deep love for you has given you more than you can even imagine. Thanks be to God. Amen.
1 Story of Jesuit priest Greg Boyle as told by Adam Hearlson in: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-in-lent-2/commentary-on-ephesians-21-10-5