Avoiding The Call

We are not always ready for the call when it comes.

Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. A scribe then approached and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" - Matt. 8:18-27

When Jesus tells the man to let the dead bury their own dead, it sounds cruel.

But Jesus hears the man saying he needs to wait until his father passes before he can make his decision to live his life.

I can understand that, in a way.

One commandment is to respect your father and mother, and it a sign of respect to honor and obey them while they are with us, but this is about being ready for the call.

I would venture to guess that most of us are not ready for it.

We probably don't even think about it coming for us.

Other people are called to serve God, not us, right?

This disciple was lucky.  He got to hear the call from the source, in person, and he chose to wait, to walk away.

I would think I wouldn't do that, but there are priorities in my life, and it would be hard to drop everything like Peter and the others did, and follow Christ.

The call to service is usually not so direct and I doubt if it is ever specific for anyone.

All the deacons and priests I know describe their calling as something that built up over time, growing inside until the moment they were able to recognize it for what it was.

We don't know what happened to the man who walked away, but I wonder if the decision haunted him.

He may have come around later, and that would make a great story.

Weren't you the one Jesus called and you walked away?  

I imagine that would be hard to live with.

More to come...