Get ready to follow

At the most basic level, being a Christian means following Christ: in thought, word, and deed.

This is not a simple thing, as we hear in today’s Gospel (John 13:21-33, 36-38).

God forbid that any of us should fail even half as tragically as Judas, who followed the way of deepest darkness in betrayal of Christ.

Most of us are like Peter: not able to follow Christ perfectly, even sometimes stumbling grievously, and yet continually and diligently reaching toward that perfection through the Lord’s own grace.

Peter grieved at his stumbles, but he did not wallow in despair.

Neither should we: not when we fall or when we may feel, like the prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading (Isaiah 49:1-6), that our efforts at a life of faith are not getting us anywhere.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing,
uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.

As he said to Peter, so too our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ says to us

Where I am going,
you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later.

As we continue through the journey of Holy Week and the journey of our lives, may we always trust in the Lord and by the power of his grace, no matter what, follow him to the perfection to which he calls us.