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As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey,
someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have
nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Luke
9:57–58
At first, this appears to be an unusual response from our Lord.
This person appeared to be committing himself to follow Jesus
wherever Jesus led. But rather than complimenting the would-be
follower, Jesus indicates that there is nowhere for this man to
follow Him. Instead, he would have to follow Him into the unknown.
Why would Jesus say this? Did He not want the man to follow
Him?
One thing that this passage teaches us is that Jesus was able to
read the souls and the intentions of those whom He encountered.
Apparently, what the man said was not exactly his true intention.
In commenting upon this passage, several Church Fathers point out
that the man said what he said not out of a deep desire to follow
Christ, but so that he would look good in the eyes of those around
Jesus. Jesus knew his true intention, and therefore told the man
that if he wanted to follow Him, he would have to follow Him into
the unknown. Jesus then spoke to two others about following Him,
and each time He challenged them to follow Him without
reservation.
The call to follow our Lord is absolute. We cannot halfheartedly
follow Him. We cannot follow Him for selfish reasons. The choice to
follow our Lord begins with Him calling to us interiorly. We must
hear His clear voice and invitation. The invitation we will receive
will be one that asks everything of us. Jesus will never call us to
give half of our lives to Him, or even most of our lives to Him.
His call is one that demands everything. By demanding everything
from us, our Lord is actually giving everything to us. We are only
made whole when we give everything to Him and follow Him without
reserve. This is the starting point.
The choice to follow Jesus will also be done in a certain secrecy.
It’s not that we try to hide our choice to follow Him; rather, we
must follow Him with the right intentions. We do not do so because
we want others to praise us, admire us, or look up to us. We do not
do so to boost our spiritual ego. We follow Him because we have
heard Him call and have chosen to respond to that call in the way
we are called. Therefore, every choice to follow Jesus must begin
in the secrecy of our interior life of prayer.
Once our commitment is firmly established, it will often become
visible to others, but that must never be a motivating factor. Once
we are firmly committed to follow Christ, there must be no turning
back. Jesus concludes today’s Gospel by saying, “No one who sets a
hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the
Kingdom of God.” The choice to follow Christ requires a death to
certain things in our lives. As our journey moves forward, there
will be temptations to return to our old ways. We will remember the
delights of past sins, feel the draw to other paths, and might even
experience the demand of absolute fidelity to be too much. These
experiences must be continuously rejected as temptations and lies.
We must never look back to what we gave up and must always look
forward to that which our Lord is calling us. Second-guessing our
choice to follow Jesus will be a very real temptation at times;
therefore, our resolve must never waver.
Reflect, today, upon the depth of your own decision to follow
Jesus. First, consider whether or not you have heard this radical
and absolute call echo within the depths of your soul. Only there,
in the secrecy of your interior life, will you hear God speak.
Second, consider your motivations for following Jesus. Do you do so
to look good in the eyes of others? Or do you do so out of love of
God? Third, consider whether your commitment is total. It is not
enough to give most of your life to Christ; He demands everything.
Finally, ponder also the fact that there will be many temptations
along the way to return to your former sinful way of life. Allow
your resolve to eliminate those temptations and continuously
recommit yourself to the journey to which you have been
called.
My demanding Lord, You have called me to a radical commitment of
my entire life to follow You. I hear Your voice and choose to say
“yes” to Your invitation. Please free me from all selfish motives
in life, and give me the resolve I need to follow You wherever You
lead. Jesus, I trust in You.
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