Day 022: Following

"When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.  But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.  And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude  and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick." Matthew 14:13-14

I find that this situation is a good structure for how we should live.  Jesus goes away from the place where there are many misunderstandings.  His people follow him there.  He has compassion on them.

Jesus is moving to many different places, constantly.  Jesus is speaking to different groups who haven't accepted the Gospel yet, and he is bringing more and more people to the table.  Jesus is calling us to go with him, so that we might be able to learn even more from him.  Right after this passage, we learn about the feeding of the 5,000, which is a sign of the Eucharist.  Jesus is always teaching us.

Today, especially in the United States, we are constantly facing the arrival of new people, some from different wars or conflicts, and others for their own well-being and/or their goals.  They speak in different languages, they practice different customs, and sometimes we are comfortable with relying on our own misunderstandings.  The women who wear headscarves are wicked in their ways.  The men who murmur in a different language are cursing us under their breath.  The children who are working to provide for their families are obviously trying to atone for their family's sinful ways.

But Jesus is walking before these new people.  Just as he sent all the apostles into foreign territory to preach, baptize, and anoint, he is sending us into the new groups of people so that we ourselves may learn more about the beauty in God's creation.  We can learn about new ways to pray, new ways to worship, and new ways to sing when we go where Jesus is sending us.

Lastly, we need to be ready to learn.  We need to be ready to believe.  When we follow Jesus, he always has compassion on us.  He will forgive us all our sins, our misdoings, our doubts.  He will cleanse us and feed us.  We just need to be ready to depart our comfort zones, our isolated towns, and follow Jesus onto the shores, so that we can learn more about his faithfulness.