Lately, I’ve been doing physical therapy for my back and
each time I go in for my appointment, the physical therapist introduces me to a
new exercise.
The other week, I walked up to her and she handed me a red
band. “Here,” she said, “put this under
your feet, grab this end with your left hand and this end with your right hand
and cross your arms this way and then stretch up.”
I just stared at her.
“Okay, one more time,” I said.
Another time, she held a ten-pound weight in her right hand
down by her side. “Okay,” she said, “all
I want you to do is bend over to your side.
Use your back, not your shoulders.”
I stared at her. “Uh,
like I’m a little teapot?”
“Yeah, actually,” she said, “exactly like that.”
For whatever reason, my brain has never been particularly
good at transmitting information to the rest of my body whether it be learning
dance moves or ducking when a ball—basketball, football, softball, baseball—comes
flying my way.
And yes, when I was a kid, my glasses were so used to being
bombarded by balls that sometimes the lenses would just pop out of the frames
completely on their own, in the middle of class, as if they had just given up
all hope and were surrendering, finally.
As you can imagine, I was never chosen first for teams in
Gym class.
And during one high school musical I was a part of, my lack
of coordination got me sent to the back of the stage, away from the “real”
dancers and where all I had to do was simply shuffle back and forth in time
with the music.
When we think back on our childhood, doesn’t it seem like we
spend most of those years trying to be picked, trying to be chosen. We want to be picked first for kickball. We want to find ourselves pictured all
throughout the yearbook. We want the
teacher to call on us when we absolutely know the answer and have our hand
raised in the air, stretching to the sky.
We want those awards. We want to
be first.
We want someone to say, “You matter.”
And if we’re being honest, even though childhood is far
behind us, don’t we still long to hear those words?
You matter.
You’re important.
Think about this for a second: Why do you think so many people followed
Jesus?
Matthew 4:23-25 tell us this:
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues
and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every
sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they
brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and
pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee,
the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.”
And this makes sense, doesn’t it? That people followed Jesus because of his
preaching, his message, and because he was “curing every disease.” Of course, people are going to follow him.
But what about his first followers? What about his disciples? What about the ones who had just heard rumors
about the man, Jesus, and had not yet gotten to know him personally?
Peter and Andrew are out fishing when Jesus calls to them
and says, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” And they do.
Likewise, James and John are mending nets on a boat with
their father when Jesus calls to them, saying, “Follow me.”
James and John immediately stop what they’re doing and leave
their father to join Jesus.
In Galilee, Jesus finds Philip, who is from Peter and
Andrew’s hometown of Bethsaida, and what does he say to Philip?
“Follow me.”
Later, Jesus approaches Matthew at a tax booth and says the
words, “Follow me,” and Matthew gets up and does just that.
Are you sensing a pattern here? For these first disciples, the key words that
cause them to leave family and work behind, without seemingly a moment’s
hesitation, are “Follow me.”
And more than that, it’s not that Jesus sent them all a
telegram or a text with those words.
These are words personally delivered by him, face to face. He looks them in the eye and says, “I’m here
for you.”
He looks right at them and says, “I choose you.”
In fact, he says these exact words in today’s Gospel reading
in John 15:16, “You did not choose me but I chose you.”
I chose you.
You matter.
Jesus may be speaking directly to his disciples here, but
with those words, can you see him reaching through the page, turning to the
camera and saying those words to you?
I chose you, not because you’re the wealthiest, not because
you’re the most educated, not because you’re the most holy, but because you’re
you.
I chose you. Why?
Because as Jesus says in John 15:11, “…. so that my joy may
be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”
I chose you, Jesus says.
Now ask yourself. Is
that enough for you to stand up today and follow him?
Amen.
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