Jesus inviting us to follow Him

It occurs to me when I remember hymns such as “Where He Leads Me I Will Follow,” “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,” “Take Up Thy Cross and Follow Me”—what does it mean to follow Jesus? Of course, literally countless sermons have addressed this; and entire books have been written about it. One that comes to my mind is the nineteenth century novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis, in which the aged apostle Peter in Rome asks a vision of the risen Christ, “Quo Vadis, Domine?” (Where are you going, Lord?)

Follow ing Jesus can understandably fill one with trepidation. Didn’t Jesus say, “If any want to become my followers, let them...take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8)? Dietrich Bonhoeff er is noted for writing: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Bonhoeffer had few peers as a saint and a theologian but would have made a disappointing evangelist.

I rather think it best, when deciding whether to follow Jesus, that we first consider not what it entails to follow, but Whom it is that we choose to follow. Donald Miller, in his book, Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, shared this story from a Navy SEAL about the Jesus whom we would follow: A SEAL team was performing a covert operation, freeing hostages from a building in some dark part of the world. The team flew in by helicopter, made their way to the compound and stormed into the room where the hostages had been held for months in darkness and filth. The terrified hostages were huddled together in a corner.

When the SEALs entered the room, they heard the gasps of the hostages. They stood at the door and called to the prisoners, loudly informing them that they were American. The SEALs instructed the hostages to follow them, but the hostages wouldn’t move. They just sat on the floor, hiding their eyes in fear. Minds tortured, they could not believe their rescuers were really Americans.

The SEALs waited, not immediately knowing what to do. They couldn’t possibly carry every person out. The SEAL sharing the story said an idea came to him. He set down his weapon, took off his helmet, drew near and curled up tightly next to the other hostages, getting so close that his body was touching theirs. He softened the look on his face and put his arms around them, trying to show them he was one of them. After all, none of their captors would have done this.

He stayed there a while until some of the hostages started to look at him, finally meeting his gaze. The Navy SEAL whispered reassuringly that they were American and were there to rescue them. “Will you follow us?” he asked. Then he stood to his feet and one of the hostages did the same, then another, until all of them were willing to go. In the end, all the hostages were safe on an American aircraft carrier.

Of the story, Donald Miller wrote: “I never liked it when the preachers said we had to follow Jesus. Sometimes they would make Him sound angry. But I liked this story. I liked the idea of Jesus becoming man, so that we would be able to trust Him, and I like that He healed people and loved them and cared deeply about how people were feeling.”

We need to hear the story of Jesus again and again: of Jesus as rescuer becoming like us, crouching beside us in our brokenness, putting his arm around us, and inviting us to follow Him.