|
To be a disciple of Christ we
must become completely identified with the Lord. In last week's gospel
Peter, James, and John left their boats and their livelihood in order to
follow Jesus. In today's gospel we hear the Lord tell his disciples that
they are blessed to be poor because the reign of God belongs to them.
Throughout the gospels Jesus makes it very clear that his disciples
cannot serve both God and money. We have to put our priorities straight.
We must first seek after the kingdom of God and everything else will
follow.
Among us latter day Christians, there is a tendency to think that our
ancestors in the faith, the ones we read about in the New Testament, led
a much simpler life. We like to think it was easier for them to leave
everything behind in order to follow Jesus. The truth is things haven't
changed that much. The people of the scriptures were just as concerned,
maybe more so than we are, about their security. They didn't have the
comforts of a social safety-net to protect them as we do. In every
age, from the days of Christ right down to our own age, people have had
the same fears and concerns about taking Jesus' gospel message to heart.
To really follow Jesus means to step out in faith and live in the world
in a whole new way. Paul knew this. This is what he meant when he
told the Corinthians, "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain
. . . those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this
life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable of all." Yet
in every generation since Christ there have been men and women, like you
and me, who have taken the Lord's call seriously and come to know the
joy of living for him.
|
