Follow me
Jesus ... said to him: Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
Matthew 9.9
Did you know that 13 times in the Gospels we find Jesus contact people for the guests to follow ? In fact, we are all invited to do so , because Jesus has launched its call us when he said , "Come to me" ( Mt 11:28) . So an invitation to which we must pay attention more specific .
The Gospels tell us six stories or the invitation was addressed to men. There was the disciple who wanted to land his father before following Jesus. We arrived there to have other priorities in our lives to the point of God's call in the second. This is what it wanted to do disciple . In Luke 9 we see Jesus' response , "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God . "(Luke 9.60 ) . Jesus invited him to take part in the most important works ; proclaim the Kingdom of God. History does not tell us that the disciple has chosen to follow Jesus , we see that Jesus came into the boat, his disciples followed him (Mt 8:23) . We can ask ourselves if this disciple did not miss the opportunity to work there with Christ. This is a matter of priority!
Not everyone had the same attitude to the call of Jesus . There was Simon Peter and his brother Andrew fishing craft that when they put the nets into the sea were invited by Jesus to follow him to do for them fishers of men . What invitation is not it ? But what did they do ? They left their nets and followed him (Mark 1:16-17 ) . Continuing his march Jesus met two brothers Jacques and Jean mending nets . As with the first two, Jesus called them and they also left the boat with their father and followed Jesus (Mark 1.19-20 ) . They all agreed to follow Jesus. They did not find any excuse to wait for the Lord.
There was also Matthew also known as Levi , he was sitting at the tax office , Jesus saw him and said to him , "Follow me ." Imagine Matthew, a man of the people unloved by his profession. Jesus the son of God invites us to follow him. Matthew stood up to this invitation and followed him (Mt 9:9) . Following this, Jesus found himself at the table in the house of Matthew with publicans and sinners to repentance guests (Mt 9.10-13 ) . The positive response of Matthew has had a positive impact in the lives of his friends. Have you allowed your friends to have the opportunity to meet Jesus as Matthew did?
As you know , Jesus is alive, he is still active and since Pentecost continues to invite people to follow him to proclaim the kingdom of God. In any place , he calls . Whether you're at the mall , at school or at work Jesus calls you . Yes you! What is your response to his invitation? You find excuses or you arise to follow where he calls you?
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