I remember when sat navs first started to become readily available and thought it was the greatest invention ever! Especially on those occasions when my sense of direction goes completely out the window and I am completely lost! The fact our mobile phones can now know our exact location and easily guide us to where we need to be is simply remarkable to me and still something I am so pleased about.
Like perhaps many of us, I have had a few hairy moments in following my sat nav, like the time it took me down a very thin country lane where gradually the surface became so bumpy that even a purpose-built Land Rover would have struggled to drive over, it also became so thin a bicycle would barely fit through! I ended up having to reverse all the way back but still the sat nav seemed adamant that this was the only possibly way to go! It was wrong.
And just this week, as I went to collect a purchase from a stranger’s house, I followed my phones directions only to end up spending 25 minutes trying to find a property that didn’t exist in that location!
Perhaps I trust these devices a little too much, I follow with an unquestionable expectation that it will be right.
Much of our life involves following, for society to operate well it’s important.
For example, following the laws of the road when driving, following our employers demands and instructions, following medical advice etc… And on a more trivial level we follow football teams and other sports, we follow people on social media, we follow recipes.
As 2022 starts, I encourage us to ponder what we follow. More WHO we follow.
We read in Matthew’s gospel that as Jesus comes out of the wilderness and begins his ministry, one of the first things he does is approaches two fishermen and gives them a simple yet huge invitation.
“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said…”Matthew 4:18-19a
They are invited to follow Jesus, to become his disciples, people who would learn from the Master. They are also told in this account that they will ‘fish for people’, meaning they will encourage others to catch hold of the truths and teaching of this man, that will change their lives, and become disciples themselves.
At the start of this year and every day, this is an invitation open to you and all people. Jesus says, “Come follow me”. We mustn’t take this lightly or halfheartedly, to follow Jesus is to go ‘all in’, to lay it all on the table and give ourselves fully to him, especially the bits we hide, are embarrassed about, ashamed of and generally dislike about ourselves. It’s a commitment to follow whatever happens and with all of who we are.
So, I implore you to recommit or to commit for the first time – to say YES to this invitation, knowing he will always love us, like us, care for us and works all things to our good (Romans 8:28). To follow his life, his teaching, his way, his truth.
As for the two fishermen? We read: “At once they left their nets and followed him.”
May we do the same.
– Mark.
