eFollowingJesusFeb2 - Perfect storm (Matthew 8:18-27)

   Following Jesus seems impossibly difficult.  Apparently insensitive to family duties, Jesus owned nothing, had no place to lay his head.  No wonder we hold back:  we have a mortgage, even if he didn't.  We love our families.  Jesus asks for way too much.

   Why should we follow Jesus?  He was not just another teacher, or a superb person.  "Even the wind and sea obey him" (Matthew 8:27).  Jesus was so intimately related to God that he channelled the kind of power that created the world, that drove the wind, that brought calm out of chaos.  "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).

   We not only should follow Jesus.  We can follow Jesus.  He is one with the creator who hurled the universe into being, who cradles your beating heart in his hand, who will be after everything else is history.  He is about the impossible, and sweeps us up into the adventure of the impossible.  "We must always aim for the impossible; if we lower our goal, we diminish our effort" (Dorothy Day).  It's impossibly difficult - but not for the one who had no place to lay his head.

   Save us, Lord; we are perishing.  We will follow You wherever You go.

James

james@mpumc.org

Here is the full text of Matthew 8:18-34 -   18: Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19: And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." 20: And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." 21: Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 22: But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." 23: And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24: And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25: And they went and woke him, saying, "Save, Lord; we are perishing." 26: And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27: And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?" 28: And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. 29: And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?" 30: Now a herd of many swine was feeding at some distance from them. 31: And the demons begged him, "If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine." 32: And he said to them, "Go." So they came out and went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33: The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, and what had happened to the demoniacs. 34: And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood.

The full eFollowingJesus series (thus far!) may be found on our web site.