|
 |
| |
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
What
do you think of this article? - share here |
|
|
What
does it mean for us to follow Jesus here and
now? And how far are we prepared to follow
someone who suffered and died and promised
the same kind of treatment for his followers?
I once played the part of Peter in a Salvation
Army musical called Jesus Folk. (I can only
say that at the time I was in University,
and in University you tend to do wild and
crazy things.)
At any rate, the song that introduces Peter
contains the following lines:
There were a thousand
voices calling, and my humble heart was stirred.
There were a thousand voices calling, but
above them all I heard…
Follow me and we’ll cleanse the leper!
Follow me and we’ll raise the dead!
And the lame shall walk, and the dumb shall
speak, and the children shall be fed!
Follow me, and we’ll preach a gospel
that will set the world ablaze!
Follow me, and we’ll change this world
of ours in a million kind of ways!
The song is upbeat and brash, showing off
a Peter who is confidant in his relationship
with Christ, who does not fear, or perhaps
even recognize, the hurdles that may be in
the way, and who expresses himself in a powerful
yet melodic baritone singing voice.
It turns out, of course, that Peter does a
pretty rubbish job of following Jesus when
the stakes are highest. Peter does follow
Jesus once he gets arrested, but he follows
from a distance, the better to deny any real
involvement with the prisoner who claims to
be King.
Peter, all pith and vinegar when things look
promising, the guy who promises to follow
Jesus to the very death, is the disciple who
bears the dubious honour of denying Christ
three times in his hour of greatest pain and
suffering.
How does this kind of thing happen? Peter
was the superstar disciple, the rock on which
Jesus would build his Church, the man’s
man who took names and cut off ears. How could
he bottle it so badly at the big moment? We
self-righteous Christians like to think that
we would have slightly more backbone than
Peter when accused of being Jesus’ follower.
The thing is, in the Western world the penalty
for being a follower of Christ is, at the
worst, some scorn from friends and negative
portrayals in the popular media. We don’t
really have to run much of a risk at this
point, do we? For Peter, a confession that
he was a follower of Jesus could very well
have brought him under the death sentence
as well. And even today, many Christians around
the world risk the same fate if they choose
to make public their allegiance to Christ.
Christians suffering from persecution learn
what it really means to follow Jesus. It means
death. Oh, maybe not physical death right
away, but the possibility of martyrdom is
an ever-constant reality for many Christians
around the globe.
Of course, Christ predicted this. “…they
will hand you over to the local councils and
flog you….All men will hate you because
of me.” (Matthew 10:17,22) But
these has become some of those verses we seem
to have the luxury of ignoring in the Western
Church. Ok, maybe people do hate us on occasion,
but no one has ever threatened to throw me
in jail, let alone kill me, for my faith.
Maybe instead of asking “What
Would Jesus Do?” I should be
asking the question,
“What Would Jesus Get Arrested For?”
in my culture.
But I sometimes wonder if that is what it
would take for me to really understand following
Christ. That’s what it took for Peter.
He had to come face to face with the possibility
of his own death before he could come to understand
what Jesus meant when he said “you
must take up your cross daily.”
It is clear in the New Testament that following
Christ means willingly laying down your life
in exchange for his. This does not mean that
you should expect, or seek out, a bloody martyrdom
the instant you become a Christian, but it
does mean, for one thing, that you accept
that as a possibility. It also means you accept
the reality of a living martyrdom here and
now. Becoming a Christian is not about accepting
Jesus into your heart and fitting him into
your life somehow. Becoming a Christian is
about being accepted into the heart of Jesus
and submitting your entire life to him, because
he has bought it at a terrible price.
Peter failed to follow Jesus to the cross
when he first had the opportunity. It was
only after he had seen the risen Christ, and
been filled with God’s Holy Spirit,
that he learned to follow Jesus with the whole
of his self. In 1 Peter 2, Peter explains
the need to follow Jesus in enduring unjust
suffering, and accepting insults and beatings
without retaliation. This is a far cry from
the Peter who reacted with violence and then
cowardice when Jesus was arrested. Peter could
have been speaking about himself when he wrote,
“For you were
like sheep going astray, but now you have
returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your
souls.” (1 Peter 2:25)
Jesus prophesied Peter’s death, telling
him once that while Peter would not follow
him to the cross right then, he would follow
him there later in life. (John 13:36) Tradition
tells us that this is what happened. In his
older years, having died to himself long ago
in order to live for Christ, Peter finally
followed his master to the cross. It is said,
though, that he asked to be crucified upside
down, believing it too much of an honour to
die in the same position as Jesus. How much
of an honour do we find it to follow Jesus
in his suffering? |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Youthwork -
The Partnership ...
ALOVE,
Youthwork Magazine, Youth For Christ, Spring Harvest and
Oasis are working together to equip and resource the Church
for effective youth work and ministry. |
 |
|
|
|
|
