In today’s Gospel, we hear that as Jesus and his disciples continued on their journey, one of the disciples said to him: Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go. Of course, Jesus knows that his journey will lead him to Jerusalem, to rejection by the scribes and Pharisees and the leaders of the community there, that his journey will ultimately lead him to death on the cross. I am sure Jesus’ disciples would not dream of such a violent, humiliating end for Jesus, and they would not so willingly say that they would follow him wherever he went if they knew that final destination.
I remember when I was sent off to be a missionary in Ecuador, how idealistic and courageous I felt going there. Yet, if I knew about the struggles I would have, about the malaria and Dengue fever, I don’t know if I would have gone so willingly and with so much joy. And I ask myself: If I knew of all of the trials and troubles I was going to endure, would I even have signed up to be a missionary? It is a good thing that we don’t know where our journey of faith is going to lead us, isn’t it? Jesus said that he has no place to rest at night, even thought the birds and the animals have homes where they can go to rest. If Jesus accepted his lot in life, if he went where the Father called him, we should expect to do the same if we are truly his followers. The road to discipleship is never any easy one. Do we have the courage and the faith to truly follow Christ?
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