Jesus comes by

Last week we celebrated and gave thanks for the apostle and evangelist Matthew, who was, evidently, ripe fruit for Jesus’s picking. The Gospel says, simply, “Jesus said to Matthew, ‘Follow me’. And he got up and followed him.” No two-weeks’ notice to his employers, no training his replacement, no arranging for his last paycheck, no logging-out—he simply got up and followed Jesus.

This is breathtaking freedom. This is not unlike a sudden death, or having your entire environment radically altered in a matter of minutes.

One thing we can ask ourselves: to what sort of economies might we be enslaved at the moment? What is it we long to be freed from, but cannot by ourselves manage that break? What force is there in our material, emotional, psychological lives that has us doing its unsavory, unhealthy work in the world? What’s the payoff that is keeping us at our booth?

Love speaks everywhere, love speaks always, love calls us now, today. Today, if you hear that voice you can be free, to follow, to love, and to live.