12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Sunday 19th June 2016)
Do not just be a follower of Jesus, but be a Disciple who truly loves Him – (Luke 9:18 – 24)
Pope Francis has nearly 10 Million of them, Cristiano Ronaldo have nearly 43 Million of them, and Justin Beiber has over 82 Million of them. What are they? Twitter Followers. And that’s just in the English speaking world. Now I’m not a twitter user, but how involved with those whom they follow can all these followers be? Justin Beiber followers might feel really involved – but chances are they will never get to meet the singer in person. They are followers with a small case ‘f’. A true follower is the one who has the ‘Bieber fever’; one who would go to every concert they could attend, would spend a small fortune in the process and whose every waking thought is oriented towards the goal of being the best fan ever. Beiber might have 82 million followers on twitter – but true die hard followers, I think they are called Beliebers, would be considerably less.
Today’s Gospel has Jesus making it clear what being a follower will mean for the Christian. In the world today more than 2 Billion people are Christians – 1.2 Billion of those are Catholics. That means that about a third of the planet’s population are followers of Jesus Christ; but, once again, follower with a small f. How many of those are true disciples – true believers. It is quite easy to follow Jesus Christ – much harder to be his disciple. A follower of Jesus may draw inspiration from his teaching and his life and when convenient they incorporate his teaching and example in the way they live their lives. A follower who is a disciple, however, makes the imitation of how Jesus lived and thought the goal of his or her life. A disciple takes Christ’s words and teachings seriously and applies them to how he or she lives their everyday life. A disciple will follow the Master no matter what – a follower will always be watching from a distance; drawing close, living out the message only when it is convenient to do so. Every follower of Jesus believes and supports the Church’s teaching that we should feed and educate the hungry and illiterate of the world. That teaching is an easy sell. But only a true disciple of Jesus will swim against the tide and hold to some of the more controversial and less popular teachings on topics such as morality, marriage and life.
Great crowds accompanied and followed him throughout his public ministry, but Jesus knew that his true disciples were few and far between. The crowd accompanied him because he was on his way to Jerusalem and they probably thought he was going there to claim the throne and rule gloriously. Things are going well – so following him seems like the wise thing to do. They do not realise what awaits him in Jerusalem. They don’t see the cross coming – so Jesus warns them that following him as a disciple will bring hardship, will mean the cross. Discipleship costs us. It has great rewards –but it does cost us.
Each of us is being asked to examine the quality of our following, our discipleship. Are we followers who stick with the Lord when all is going well, but abandon him and even curse him when life takes an unexpected and difficult turn? Or are we disciples who cling to Christ in good times and in bad? How much do we value Jesus Christ? How much are we willing to undergo to remain faithful to him? St. Augustine said: “Jesus Christ is not valued at all – until he is valued above all.” Jesus did not promise us an easy time as his disciples. He did not say: “Follow me and you will be praised, much admired, and increase in popularity.” He says if you would be my follower – take up your cross. That cross might be the ridicule of those around you. It might be having to renounce something you would like to do, because it is incompatible with Christian living, it might mean persecution and even death by martyrdom, as it does for many of our brothers and sisters in Christ in many parts of the world today. Let us ask the Lord to make us better disciples. To be a follower of Christ is a good thing, but to be his disciple is something far greater and far more radical. A follower admires Jesus – a disciple truly loves him.
Fr. Philip Kemmy