April 15, 2025
The priest and theologian Henri Nouwen wrote, “Pay attention to the people God puts in your path if you want to discern what God is up to in your life.” I wonder what the Greeks in today’s gospel passage discerned when they met Jesus as described in John 12: 20-33. After asking the disciple Philip for an introduction, they walk in on Jesus comparing himself to the single seed of wheat that must die in order to “produce many seeds.” They hear about Jesus’ “troubled heart” in the face of his impending death, the time of judgment for this world, and how Jesus will be “lifted up from the earth” in crucifixion, none of this pleasant conversation over afternoon tea.
The verse that most strikes me, though, and maybe those Greeks, is this one: “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be” (v.26). As Fr. Richard Rohr once observed, Jesus never once said “worship me.” Instead, Jesus said, “Follow me.”
As I read the news and examine the world and my own country, the United States, I see multitudes of people willing to worship Jesus. It’s so easy to sing those praise songs or hymns of old and feel good about ourselves. It’s so easy to simply sit in a pew and be fed words, as easy as forgetting those same words as soon as we walk out the door. Appearance is everything and so many of us, like the Pharisees themselves, like to put on a good show about what good “Christians” we are. But to follow Jesus? That’s a whole different story, isn’t it?
To follow Jesus means to put others before ourselves. To follow Jesus means to do what Jesus did: to love our neighbor, to speak up against injustice, to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the poor, to speak truth to power; to extend mercy, to pray for our enemies, to forgive, and to love God, not only through our words but more importantly through our actions, even to lay down our lives for another. To follow Jesus means it’s not about us; it’s about Jesus. No wonder we’d rather just worship him.
If those curious Greeks understood what it meant to follow this Jesus who had been put in their path, I wonder what their response was. We aren’t told which leads me to believe that that same question is for each one of us to answer. For those of us who have Jesus in our path, what will our response be to the invitation to follow him? A tough question in these tough times.
Blessings ~ Rosemary
Photo: Pixabay
Spirit Reflections 