Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter Mass in the Morning
In today’s Gospel reading I find an excellent guide for how we are to live our lives. John tells the reader how he had been asking about “the one who would betray you.” Jesus’ response: “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.” I don’t know if others struggle with this, but I am often guilty of judging others - for not acting, thinking, living or behaving how I think is appropriate. I judge them for betraying Jesus in some way - betraying his Gospel of love and goodness. Yet, I betray Jesus in many ways all of the time.
In this Gospel, I hear that I am not to spend my time judging others for their actions - that takes too much time and energy and it is not my place. What I need to be focused on and concerned about is following Jesus. “You follow me.” It is so easy to get off-track, to get distracted or to lose sight of who we are following and why, but if we can hold on to this one line and remind ourselves everyday that Jesus tells us “you follow me”, it can help keep us on track.
I think about my four children - they are always bickering - always. While it may not actually be 24/7, some days it feels like it. Often their arguments take place because they are trying to enforce the rules on each other, while also breaking the rules themselves. They become so concerned with making sure that their sibling is doing what they are supposed to do that they no longer stay focused on doing the right thing themselves. While my children are 8 and under, I think we can all relate to this in some way. How many of us, in trying to prove a point which we think is just and right have said or acted in a way that is unloving? How many of us, in trying to guide someone we believe to be wrong have done wrong ourselves? It’s hard to avoid. When we become wrapped up in setting others straight we lose sight of our focus - following Jesus. But we are human and we are social beings. It is in our nature to be in relationship with others but that does not mean we should be judging others.
Sometimes it can be hard to know how to follow Jesus - and that is where the Bible, the sacraments and daily time for prayer becomes important. Building time into our lives to speak to Jesus to know how he is asking us to follow him is critical. It seems to me that if we are able to listen to Jesus when he says “YOU follow me,” then we may be able to share this same feeling as John - “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.” When we are focused on following Christ, we are focused on bringing about God’s goodness. We are also much more aware of the ways in which God’s goodness has blessed us. This day, may we continue to tune out all other distractions and disruptions and listen to Jesus, “You follow me!”
AJ Grimm