WATCHWORD:
45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” […] 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” […] 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” […] 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. John 6:45-51, 58, 60, 66
Meditation:
Follow Me – Part 1
This is a two part devotional parable —
We call ourselves Christians, but what does that mean? Wearing His symbol of a cross around our necks, is that a sign that we truly are following His commands? Or are we more causal about our faith; worshiping him on an occasional Sunday morning where we recite from rote memory the prayer he has given us, where we re-dedicate ourselves by saying the Apostles Creed, again, from rote memory. Then what? When we leave the place of worship, are we His voice, His hands in the mission field? Day after day, are we going on with Him, following Him?
“Follow me,” is what He said, and we may have answered as Peter did, “Lord, I will follow you.” But that was before we discovered that the way would be lonely and dangerous and we could lose all trace of his footprint, left only with His voice saying, “Follow Me”, and in our faith, we mostly tried, but often fell short, as the disciples did.
Disciple, you’ve been with the Master from the beginning, when you first saw him being baptized by John. From the moment that God said, “This is my beloved son, follow him,” you have done just that. What a journey it has been! He has taught, He has healed, He has been the source of miracles, and, while we didn’t always understand what was happening around us, we knew that we needed to keep following. And we did.
But the way got rough. We ran into problems; people objecting to what the Master was teaching, even to the point of threatening his life. We kept our heads down and we lied, telling ourselves that we were ‘protecting’ Him.
Now we stand here on the portico overlooking the courtyard of Herod’s Palace, crowded with noisy men. There was Pilate, and, there, the convicted criminal, Barabbas, and there is my Master, although it was hard to recognize him, he had been so badly beaten. Surely the crowd down there in the Courtyard will turn him free, after all many of those gathered were ones who greeted him in triumph when he entered Jerusalem, just five days ago. Surely, they’ll stand up. But I was wrong. The cry went up, to my shock and dismay, “Kill him! Kill him!” And another voice said, “Follow Me”.
I could not believe what was happening. They took my Master, stripped him, put a thorny crown on his head, and led him out of the Palace, and Kishle Prison and onto the dirty street. Beating him as he staggered along. The crowd followed shouting insults and throwing things at him.
I looked around seeking someway to make sense of what was happening. There on the far edge of the crowd stood Joseph and his friend Nicodemus. What are they doing here, looking alarmed and sad? Sad? They are Pharisees! Why would they be sad, they caused this! There was Barabbas, the criminal freed by Pilate, standing next to me. I wonder if there is a reason for him being here or is he just curious. I wondered, should I continue? And the voice said, “Follow Me”.
We followed the Master, staggering down the dirty street toward Damascus Gate. Jesus stumbled and fell. Another man was grabbed by a soldier and told “Carry His cross!” The man had no choice but to let go of the hands of his children, who cried out to their father. Without a thought, I reached, took their hands and told them their daddy would be back soon. Just stay with me, follow me, and we climbed the hill to Calvary.
Sometimes the way of the Christian is difficult, and we are confronted with both opposition and difficulties that seem to hold us back. But the word from our Lord and Savior is simple, and we need to take it seriously. In a clear voice he tells us, Follow me.” May we have the strength of faith to do just that. Amen.
Prayer:
Precious Heavenly Father, we come before you with grateful hearts and the knowledge it is only through your graces that we are about to follow you. Sometimes it has been hard, but you have carried us through. Sometimes we have not seen the way and you have opened our eyes and showed us that you are the way, the truth, and the life. And again, we thank you Lord for the graces that not only enriched our lives but have given us direction. May we follow you and always, in Jesus name. Amen.
