Come Follow Me

 

Prayer:

 

At my thirtieth birthday I received a mug for my birthday with the name "Samuel" written on it. Underneath the name was a poem with all the characteristics of Samuel. Most of the characteristics fitted me quite well. Until one day as I browsed amongst similar mugs in a shop and read the characteristics of Brian and Richard and Margaret and Jones and discovered that they nearly all fitted me almost to a T!

The horoscope in the paper each day can sound very convincing, especially around the turn of the year when our future for the coming year appears. Again, the characteristics often seem to fit, until we read everybody else's predicted future and discover that almost all of it seems to fit.

There are some people who seem to be able to look into your very soul, and read your character just as if they're reading a book. I wonder whether all of this is some sixth sense, along with astrology and fortune telling and spiritualism, or whether it's a trick, which can be learned.

The first principle of good listening is the ability to listen well, and reflect back to the other person in different words, what they’ve just said. In a way, it’s like holding up a mirror. It’s often greeted with amazement, "How did you know? "The answer is that I didn't know, but have merely repeated in different words what I’ve just been told. Really good listening, concentrating on and hearing everything somebody says, is still fairly rare.

And it’s even rarer to discover somebody who can listen so well that he or she can actually hear what isn’t said, can hear the background empathy, feelings, and emotions behind what’s said. So that those who experience this sort of deep, concentrated listening for the first time feel that the listener knows everything about them, and can almost see into their soul.

Jesus was undoubtedly an excellent listener. But his powers went beyond simple listening into the realms of really seeing into a person's soul. He always seemed to know exactly what a person needed to hear. It might not always be what that person wanted to hear, but it was always the truth about them, and a truth, which may well have been hidden deep in their own unconscious.

So Jesus saw immediately into the hearts and souls of the Pharisees and called them whitewashed tombs (Matt. 23:27). And when the rich young man asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to sell all that he had and feed the poor (Matt.19:16-22). But when a lawyer asked him the same question about eternal life, Jesus didn’t mention money but told him to love God and to love his neighbour

(Luke 10:25-28).

Jesus saw into Nathaneal before he'd even met him, and he liked what he saw.

"Here is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit," Jesus said about Nathaneal.

And his words were immediately proved true by Nathaneal’s response. Nathaneal said, "How do you know what I’m like?"

Jesus simply replied, "I saw you under the fig tree." And that was enough for Nathaneal. He immediately accepted Jesus’ words at face value and instantly became a follower. It sounds a very naive reaction and perhaps it was, for those without guile tend to be naive. But it may be that someone in whom there is no guile is able to pick up at a very deep level, the degree of goodness of the person to whom they’re speaking.

And because they have no guile, people like Nathaneal can respond instantly to that goodness without suspicions and doubts and uncertainties clouding their judgment. If a stranger said to me the first time we met, "I saw you standing under the old oak tree and therefore I know everything about you," I think my response might have been, "Oh yeah?!" I would have been much more suspicious than Nathaneal, and would have wanted to know a great deal more about the stranger before I discarded my whole life in order to throw in my lot with him.

I think that perhaps one of the most attractive features of Jesus was his ability to instantly know at a very deep level the person to whom he was talking. It was especially attractive because he didn't reject anybody, no matter what they were like inside.

Jesus knew the rich young man was selfish and greedy, and that his money was more important to him than life itself. But Jesus still offered him the route to eternal life anyway. And when the young man rejected it we’re told that Jesus was sad, because he loved the young man despite all his imperfections.

And the reason that Jesus was so ruthlessly and painfully honest with people, was that the honesty gave those people an opportunity to see themselves as they really were and to do something about it. Honesty holds up a mirror to the real person.

Jesus hasn't changed. He still has the ability to instantly know us at a very deep level. We may no longer see him face-to-face, but he still sees us under the fig tree and knows all about us.

In fact, if God is within us as well as being out there and up there, then he is involved in everything we do, in every thought we think, in every emotion we feel. We can do nothing apart from God, for he is as much a part of us as breathing. But we can hide from him, by pretending he doesn't exist, or even by using church and ritual and tradition to keep him in a safe box where he can't threaten our cherished illusions.

But if it’s eternal life we want and desire, life overflowing with joy and happiness, then we need to allow Jesus to see us under the fig tree and to know all about us. To find the peace of soul we all need and want, we must invite Jesus to journey with us down into the deepest level of our being where the Christ-Spirit is most present to us.

An American traveling in the Middle East came upon several shepherds whose flocks had intermingled while drinking water from the same brook. After and exchange of greetings and a little chat, one of the shepherds turned toward the sheep and called out, "Manah . . . manah . . . manah." (Manah: means "follow me" in Arabic).

Whereupon, his particular sheep separated themselves from the rest and followed him. Then one of the two remaining shepherds called out, "Manah . . manah . . manah," and his sheep left the common flock to follow him. The traveler then said to the third shepherd, "I would like to try that. Let me put on your cloak and turban and see if I can get the rest of the sheep to follow me."

The third shepherd smiled knowingly as the traveler wrapped himself in the cloak, put the turban on his head and called out, "Manah . . . Manah." But the sheep did not respond to the stranger's voice. Not one of them moved toward him. "Will that flock ever follow someone other than you?" the traveler asked. "Oh, yes," the shepherd replied. "Sometimes a sheep gets sick, and then it will follow anyone."

As a Christian People, we must make that deep inward journey to confirm the truth of our Gospel Message: that Christ is the one true Source of meaning for our lives. This imagery of the shepherd lovingly tending his sheep describes our relationship with God. "The sheep hear the shepherd's voice as he calls his own by name and leads them out," Jesus says. "When he has brought out all that are his, he walks in front of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice" (John 10:3-4).

For many of us, the unfinished business of our life is to make the once-and-for-all decision to follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd; the one who sees us all under the fig tree. We need to open ourselves to his penetrating gaze, not in fear and trembling that he will discover our worst secrets, but confident that even when he discovers the brokenness deep within, he will still love us.

And once we allow him to gaze upon those dark, hidden secrets of our hearts, they will disappear, because darkness is instantly changed when the light flashes up on it. From day-to-day we need to rediscover the Gospel Truth that there can be no life enrichment, no "getting it all together," no fulfillment without Christ at the center of our self-understanding and our relationships with others.

And then perhaps, Jesus will say to us too,

"Behold, here is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit."

And, not like that sick sheep, willing to follow anyone who calls out

"Manah. … manah, …..manah"

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                         ×5Ø                              December 19, 2003