We follow Jesus!

[AI translation] For our congregation, and for many other Hungarian Reformed congregations, today is a precious day of celebration, when once again a young army announces its joining the camp of those who want to follow Jesus. Soon, the question calling for the most important decision of life will be asked, "Do you promise, you vow, to be true followers of Jesus Christ?" I always ask this question with a certain anxiety, because I do not know if our sons and daughters truly understand how deadly serious it is to answer, "I promise and I vow." Well, how serious a decision it is, is precisely what is revealed in the Word that is read.To follow Jesus! That is the only way to sum up the Christian life. And there is an emphasis on both words, on following Jesus and on following him. Jesus, whom we have come to know from the biblical revelation as a true man, as the most human man who ever walked this earth. As a model of goodness, gentleness, love, helpfulness, justice, understanding, and at the same time as a model of determination, strength, determination, self-sacrifice. This is how God intended man to be! Jesus alone showed the world what true humanity is! But we have come to know Him not only as a man from the Bible, but also as someone in whom the invisible God was made manifest, made real in this world. Jesus showed us in his own person who God is, what a good, loving, forgiving, helping, caring power this mysterious God is! The One who has the power to make His followers truly human, to make them human, to make them like Himself, to make them Christlike!
Yes: this is the Jesus we follow! The Jesus who died two thousand years ago, but rose from the dead the third day and is alive today! He is alive in heaven, which means that, invisible but real, He is here with us, He is with us now! He is himself in person, in reality! So we want to follow a living person, not an idea, not the teachings of an old person, not a certain ideology, not a worldview - but Jesus himself, who is here, who speaks to us, who speaks to us today with his word of two thousand years ago. The one we can address, we can say to Him: You! We can ask for his advice, count on his help, grasp his empowering nearness. Yes, we believe we have such an invisible partner, companion, life partner, divine friend: Jesus! We want to follow him!
And there is an emphasis on that word, "follow." To follow: this word is a technical term that describes the relationship between a disciple and his Master. The Greek word used here in the original text of the Bible has these meanings in Hungarian: to follow, to accompany, to go behind, to cling to, to obey, to share in the fate and goods of. To follow Jesus means all these things. In His day, the relationship between disciple and master was not as loose as it is today between student and teacher. The disciple was not only together with his master for specific lessons, but there was a full communion of life between them. To follow Jesus means to have an inner spiritual communion with Jesus in which I acknowledge His will and seek to do it. To follow Jesus is to live under His personal guidance. To follow: to keep a constant eye on Him, to listen to Him, to His word, to His admonition. To be drawn to Him with a love that leads to an inner obedience to Him. To submit fully in thought, feeling and action to the supreme authority of Jesus. Following Christ, in short, is the fullness of the Christian life. "Follow me" - that is all Jesus asks of a man. "I follow you, Lord" - that is all that expresses the lifestyle of a true Christian. From the stories of the three men in the Bible passage we read, three essential features of the way Jesus is followed emerge.
One of the crowds cries out to Jesus, "I am following you, Lord, wherever you go" (Lk 9,57). This man is perhaps a dreaming soul who imagines what a beautiful, idyllic thing it would be to walk with Jesus, with all its benefits and advantages: to see his miracles, to sit at his feet and listen to his beautiful teachings, to ponder the mysteries of the divine, to be free from the worries of life, to entrust everything beautifully to such a wonderful, powerful One! Jesus thoroughly cools such sudden enthusiasm, saying, "The foxes have dens, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Let us remember that we are entering into a life fellowship with Jesus who, though supreme Lord of heaven and earth, is yet here in this visible world a poor, despised, pittance, unpopular person - His kingdom is not of this world. Let no one expect from Him the help that He has never promised to His followers. He did not promise that if you follow Him, you will not get sick, you will not suffer grief, you will not suffer pain - you will succeed, your career will go up smoothly... You might even get smiled at, you might even be put at a disadvantage...
But that's not the only thing. But Jesus' answer, "the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" (Lk 9,58), indicates that He Himself is constantly at work, without stopping, and so is anyone who wants to follow Him.Following Jesus is not like certain occupations, where you do the work at certain times of the day, but as soon as the hours are up, you are free to go on living as a private person, doing what you want until the next time you start again. Following Jesus is not that kind of occupation, there are no vacations - there is no such thing as following him from this point to that, I am a private person. Following Jesus is not a dreamy, beautiful idyll with a prayer book and a Sunday feast, but a never-ending readiness, service, work. It is not an oasis in the desert of life, not a resting place, but just a lot of toil and struggle.
To follow Jesus is to give myself totally to Him, to give my whole life to Him, to be ready to serve Him, to cooperate with Him as His co-worker, for the good of this world and of people. Jesus wants to use His followers as instruments through whom His divine love, goodness and help will be manifested in visible form in this world. Do not be alarmed that Jesus, especially today, is leading His followers along paths to which they would not be accustomed: leading them out of the safe cave, out of the warm nest into the cold world where there are storms, where machines roar, where people struggle. Foxes have their dens, birds of the air their nests - but we have a Lord who wants to use us in the world. Instead of a cautious Christianity that dares not interfere in the problems of humanity today, in social relations, in war and peace, in race, in the work ethic that hides in its cave, in its nest, in the silence of churches, in the inner community of Bible study: instead of such a cautious Christianity, Jesus now leads us to dare to take up and proclaim the reign of God over the whole world. To follow Jesus, this constant readiness: what do you, Lord, want me to do, to say, to do where I am, where I live, in Budapest, in 1964, here today, here and now? Following Jesus is therefore a life-long commitment!
The second case described in the story goes like this: 'And he said to another, "Follow me. And he said, 'Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their dead: but you, as you go, proclaim the kingdom of God." (Lk 9,59-60) This man must have had an old father, perhaps sick, but in any case a father near death. His only son was obviously his support in his old age. The son may have been thinking: there is not much left of the old man's life anyway, I have work to do at home, I don't have time to follow Jesus now - I will when I no longer have to care for my father. But Jesus doesn't accept this excuse: he encourages him to follow him, because he will be of most use to his father if he nurtures him with a renewed spirit in following Jesus. Can a child serve a parent who is approaching death better by bearing witness to life than by leading his father to the One who has power over death? If he does not obey the call of Jesus, if he does not follow the Lord, he himself will remain dead, and so will his father! The dead bury the dead!
Following Jesus does not hinder him in the fulfilment of his filial duty, but helps him, enables him to do more! The father does not lose by his son following Jesus, but gains! Following Jesus is not something that distracts a man from his daily work, from the fulfilment of his worldly and family duties, but it is precisely to follow Jesus that he calls you to be truly blessed in what you do, in what you work at from morning till night or from evening till morning.
Fathers and mothers who labour to provide daily bread for your family, Jesus says to you: do all these things with me! Workers, whose hands become calloused with hard work; people who go to bed tired at night to go to work again in the morning; students, who prepare yourselves with honour for tomorrow's lesson; all who have learned sacrifice and renunciation through honest work - to you the Lord says: 'Do all these things with me! Put into your work My Spirit, My love, My joy, My peace, My consolation, My strength. In the very places where daily duty calls you, be disciples of Jesus, followers of Jesus, sent messengers of the kingdom of God to come! The army of Jesus' followers is not a funeral procession, but a triumphal procession of Life triumphant over death! So following Jesus is always relevant in the situation, the context, the work you are in!
And finally: immediately! This is the third case in the story: 'And another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me say goodbye to those who are in my house. And Jesus said to him, "Anyone who puts his hand on the horn of the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God." (Lk 9,61-62) - This is the type of man who cannot make up his mind: he offers himself, but he also turns his back. He decides, but only in appearance. He wants to follow Jesus, but... And as soon as this "but" appears, his decision is no longer complete and true. He cannot make up his mind. He delays obedience. He's caught between two pulls, and he wants to resolve it by saying not today, but tomorrow. And that is a great danger. Because today is certain, tomorrow is always uncertain.
I knew an alcoholic whose motto was: I will stop drinking from tomorrow, but today is the last day! And that tomorrow never came, it always stayed tomorrow. The danger with young people is that they think: I've got time and when I'm older I'll follow Jesus. When I graduate, when I get married, when I retire. It's so easy for us to dispose of tomorrow when we don't have to let go of today. The command of Jesus that you put off until tomorrow, you will never fulfill! Jesus is not asking for tomorrow, He is asking for today! And when you reverse this order and make a great resolution that from tomorrow it will be different, it is self-deception, as nice as that sounds. It's hiding from the real decision. Whoever has put his hand to the ploughshare, that is, whoever has said yes once, let him stick to that yes for all eternity. But let this yes be a true yes, without compromise! Jesus is calling you now, "Follow me." You don't know if he will call you tomorrow or next year. If you don't start following him now, he may never call again! This call can only be obeyed immediately!
So we follow Jesus - with a lifetime commitment, - where we are, - and immediately! Because what is modern? It is what meets the needs and requirements of the times. And we are living in an age in which mistrust, selfishness, hatred and technological sophistication threaten to destroy the whole of humanity. It is becoming increasingly clear that only on a Christian basis: on the basis of love, forgiveness, understanding, helpfulness, humility in service to others, can the world survive and humanity continue to live! So it is precisely the Christ-man who is the most modern man today! We are not "still" Christians, we want to be Christians "again"! Christ-man! True followers of Jesus!
Let us now all pray together:
Lead us, Jesus,
And we will go with you.
Life calls us to fight,
Let us follow you;
Take our hand,
Till we arrive.
Give us a strong heart,
That we may be believers.
And if we have burdens to bear,
Yet our tongue will not complain;
Though our path be bumpy,
We come to you.
Our wounded hearts will
When it sighs,
Or when sorrow burns for another,
Give me patience and peace,
Full of hope
Looking to You.
Follow in our footsteps
To the end of our lives,
And if we walk in ruins,
Let us find support in you,
Till we run out of road
And you open a door in heaven.
(Canto 434, verses 1-4)
Amen
Date: 26 April 1964.