Follow Me!

Mark 1:17

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

Today’s Reading: Matthew 9:9-38

Follow me. Such a simple command, and it is truly all that Jesus is asking us to do. He tells us to follow him and he will take complete care of us. So simple, yet I try to make it so complicated. If we will simply follow Jesus and do what he has asked us to do, everything will work out. He never promised that our life would be easy, in fact, he was quite honest with us about the troubles that we would have to face, remember? I heard this quote the other day (can’t remember who said it): everything will end good for a child of God, so if your life isn’t good right now, then know that it is not the end! ‘Follow Me’ should be Jesus’ slogan, you know like Nike’s ‘Just Do It’---it really is that simple.

Do I have faith like the man whose daughter had died or the woman with the issue of blood? It has always intrigued me how these two stories are intertwined. It begins with the man asking Jesus to come and touch his daughter, who has just died, and then while on his way to the man’s house Jesus is touched by this woman. One woman in a sea of people that Jesus was wading through, one woman who knew that Jesus was her answer. Then the story returns to the man and his daughter, whom Jesus raises from the dead. What did these two stories have in common, of course faith in Christ, but also desperation. The man just lost his daughter, the woman had been fighting a disease for 12 years, but neither gave in to their situation, neither gave up. The world would have told them there was no hope, just accept what you have been dealt, but they both knew a man by the name of Jesus and they knew that he was the answer to their desperation. It was also interesting to me that the man knelt before Jesus with his plea and the woman touched the edge of his cloak, both were on the ground in a humbling position. Both bowing before their King, saying here I am Lord, here is what I need, and I know that you will take care of it. What faith!

I believe that with every action and with every word Jesus is teaching us something. That is why the Bible is so fascinating to me, I can read the same thing many times and get something different out of it each time. I do find it very interesting that after Jesus healed the blind men that he said, “see that no one knows about this”. Why? Why does he perform a miracle and then tell the recipients not to tell anyone? I am not sure, but I think that Jesus is telling us something with his actions. I think he showing us how to be humble, Jesus is showing us that even when a miracle takes place that we are to praise God for it and not necessarily brag about the miracle. He wants us to love him because of who he is, not because of what he can do.

With Much Love & Prayers!