A man in a small southern town was waiting at the station to catch the bus to Macon, Georgia. Bored, he walked around, watching the clock. He noticed a large scale that promised to tell not only his weight, but his name and other facts as well. Curious, he stepped on the scale and deposited a quarter. Instantly, a slip popped out that said, “Your name is Harry Hanson. You live in Sparta, Georgia. You weigh 197 pounds. You are 17 pounds overweight. You are on your way to visit your sister in Macon. The bus to Macon has been delayed. Have a nice day.” He was somewhat surprised and amused. A few minutes later, he stepped on the scale again and put in another quarter. The slip popped out with this message, “Your name is Harry Hanson. You live in Sparta, Georgia. Your weight has not changed in the past five minutes. You still weigh 197 pounds and you are still 17 pounds overweight. You are on your way to see your sister in Macon. The bus to Macon is still late. Have a nice day.”
Determined to fool the machine, Harry went across the street to a variety store where he purchased a pair of Groucho Marx glasses with its exaggerated nose, mustache and eyebrows, a black hat and a cane. With this disguise and walking with a limp he returned to the bus station. Again, he stepped on the scale and deposited another quarter. This slip read, “You are still Harry Hanson from Sparta, Georgia. You still weigh 197 pounds and you are still 17 pounds overweight. You are on your way to visit your sister in Macon, but while you were across the street fooling around, you missed the bus. Have a nice day, anyway!”
From birth until we take our last breath, life is a journey. As Christians, we believe that life will never end. Rather, at the moment of death, our lives will be transformed, and we will either experience the fullness of life forever with God in heaven or spend eternity in hell.
Until that moment arrives, our faith, like our bodies, will go through stages of growth, hopefully evolving much like a deepening friendship does. As infants, faith is an experience in trust; we learn to trust that those who love us will be there for us in our time of need. As children, faith is an experience in love; we discover that we are loved and in return we are called to love. As adolescents, faith is an experience in freedom as we learn that though life is filled with rules, they are intended to free us from fear and danger. With adult faith, we move beyond the constraints of rules into an ever-deepening relationship with God, living our faith out of love.
The would-be disciples in today’s gospel were not ready to do that. They each had an excuse that stopped them from following Jesus. Unlike Elisha, they weren’t ready to leave everything behind. When one potential disciple made what seems like a reasonable response, “Let me go first and bury my father,” Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Jesus wasn’t telling him to skip his father’s funeral. That excuse was the man’s way of saying; “I’ll follow you later.” Jesus is urging him to journey with him now, not years later when his father has finally died.
Many would-be disciples respond to the invitation to follow Christ without fully considering the cost of discipleship. They approach their faith as though being a good Catholic is simply a matter of following the rules, but if that is all we do, we could find ourselves missing the bus, so to speak. When we minimally live our faith, letting other priorities take precedence over Christ, we miss opportunities to deepen our relationship with God in ways that can be truly enriching.
Many Catholics say, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but not yet. First, let me take care of my business, figure out all the angles, and calculate what being a disciple will cost me.” In effect, they are saying, “Let me control our relationship.” Following Jesus, however, is a journey of letting go and not being in control. One priest at Notre Dame said years ago, “To follow Christ is precisely that…to follow him, not lead him.” He went on to say, “To follow Christ is to set out on a journey where we don’t have all the answers and don’t see all the angles and don’t know everything in advance.”
But Jesus does. He repeatedly shows us how to live our faith, urging us to enter into a deeper relationship with God. As our faith matures, we can see what Jesus asks of us ultimately frees us from our slavery to sin. The choice is ours to make every day. “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Can you honestly say that? Are you on the journey with Jesus to redemption? Or have you also been distracted? I learned last week that 40% of baby boomers and 70% of Gen X no longer practice the faith. The Church isn’t relevant to them. The people in today’s gospel “missed the bus” and were left behind. Might those who have fallen away from living the faith find themselves missing the bus as well?
Granted, the journey of following Jesus can be a rough ride at times, which is why many Catholics drop out but the good news of the kingdom of God is that the destination is well worth the tears and sweat. By choosing to follow Jesus, taking his message to heart, and doing our part to proclaim the Good News, we have much to gain. When we catch this bus, Jesus promises us the ride of a lifetime!