What Are We Willing to Give Up?
I was talking with two of my friends about this week’s gospel passage and we asked each other if there was any person who could tell us, “Drop everything and follow me” and we would do it. Both are married, one has kids, and both are established in their careers. They understandably said no. They like their lives just fine.
.I, on the other hand, am single, childfree, and am just applying for random jobs, so I immediately said, “if Taylor Swift asked me to leave everything behind, I would follow her no questions asked.” My friend asked me why. After reflecting for a bit, I responded that even though I don’t know Taylor Swift as an individual or person, I know her as a brand.
She’s known for randomly giving fans thousands of dollars to help them pay medical bills or student loans, she’s been known to randomly send fans gifts, and she even holds secret music sessions where she will invite fans to go to one of her houses and listen to her play music from yet to be released albums.
I also know that Taylor Swift works very hard to curate her public image. All of those factors cause me to guess that if Taylor Swift were to ask me to leave everything and follow her-it would be for something good. At the very least, if she tried to do something bad to me, I would record her and post it on social media.
I know that probably sounds a bit ridiculous, but I have reason to believe, based on her public image and stories I’ve heard about her, that I would gain some sort of benefit by following Taylor Swift.. The soon-to-be disciples in Matthew-don't have that reassurance. In fact, the gospel of Matthew, like the gospel of Mark, presents Jesus’ calling of Simon, Andrew, John, and James as occurring pretty abruptly. Jesus says follow me and they go.
At this point, Jesus’ ministry has barely started and he is nowhere near to being a household name. This is in contrast to how the gospel of Luke presents this story. In Luke, Jesus wows his soon-to-be disciples by causing their nets to be so filled with fish that the boats sink. Also in Luke Jesus is pretty well established in his ministry, he is already casting out demons, healing people, speaking at synagogues, and being kicked out of them.
It is still a bit astonishing that Simon and the others would give up their whole lives to follow Jesus, but in Luke, it makes a bit more sense. They could have heard stories of Jesus in action and they witnessed for themselves Jesus' ability to conduct miracles. In Luke, it’s clear that Jesus was someone special. In Matthew, that’s not really the case.
It’s like, Taylor Swift at 33 years old is a pretty big deal so if she was like, follow me, yes, I would go. But ask me that when she was just starting out her career when we were both 16. I tell you for sure, if a seemingly random blonde 16-year-old asked my teenage self to follow her, I would think she was trying to kidnap me. Absolutely not.
And yet, in Matthew, that’s kind of what happens. Jesus, whose ministry has just begun, tells these fishermen to follow him and they do. Two even leave their father in the boat. Seemingly no discussion, no goodbye. To be clear, these men aren’t just fishing for a hobby. It’s their career, it’s how they and their families survive the roman empire. And they leave it to follow a stranger.
I’m not going to lie; I prefer the Luke version of this story. Or even John’s version in which two of Jesus’ followers were originally followers of John the Baptist. And when their teacher says, “look this is the Lamb of God” they think, hey this must be the Messiah. They follow Jesus based on the testimony of someone they respect. Even that makes much more sense than Matthew and Mark’s version.
But the gospels are meant to challenge us. And this story is challenging us to ask ourselves what is it that we are willing to give up to follow Jesus. To be sure, I don’t think Jesus is calling all of us to leave everything and everyone behind and go wandering around telling people to repent. But I do believe following Jesus entails giving up something. And what we give up looks different for each of us.
For some of us following Jesus will mean letting go of the desire to always be right while putting others down. For someone else, following Jesus might mean letting go of societal definitions of success that comes at the expense of the marginalized. For me, personally, I might have to give up my obsessive need to have the next 5 years of my life planned.
Giving up something that matters to us, especially if we aren’t quite sure what the future holds, is scary. And following Jesus isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. As his disciples learn, challenging systems of oppression come at a price. This is one of those gospel passages that force us to be self-reflective. What are we as individuals, as individual congregations, and as a global Christian institution, willing to give up to follow Jesus? What do we need to give up?
Reflection question
What do we (as individuals, as a church community, and as part of the global Christian community) need to give up to follow Jesus?
image: Woman staring thoughtfully ahead of her. Text: What are we as individuals, as individual congregations, and as a global Christian institution, willing to give up to follow Jesus? What do we need to give up?