Ordinary Time 
Pause
“Where you go, I'll go; Where you stay, I'll stay; When you move, I'll move; I will follow you. Who you love, I'll love; How you serve, I'll serve; If this life I lose, I will follow you.”
Chris Tomlin
This is the essence of what it means to be a disciple. Disciples are students; they follow their teacher and their teacher’s teaching.
In a culture where independence is prized above all else, it’s easy to believe that being a follower is a bad thing. Truthfully? It all depends on who you choose to follow.
Listen
They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.
Matthew 23:4-7
Think
“Preach the Gospel always; if necessary, use words.” This quotation from Francis of Assisi is great advice for followers of Jesus. Our actions should match our words, and the world will take note if they do not.
Jesus tears into the religious leaders, listing all the ways they don’t live up to what they say; they talk about service to others, piety, and humility, and yet their actions say laziness, selfishness, and vanity. And they are supposed to be the rabbis – the teachers!
Even though we are called to be followers as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are also teachers. People look to us to see if we are doing what we say we are doing, and we have the opportunity to share the good news about who Jesus is simply by following his teachings in our daily lives, before we ever get to say a word. What is your life preaching today?
Katie Day
Pray
Jesus, help my actions preach the message I want to preach, the message you want me to preach. Amen.
Go
An ancient Jewish saying goes like this:
“May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.”
It was meant as encouragement to be a good disciple: follow your rabbi, your teacher, so closely that you get dusty from the dirt he kicks up as he walks. Follow not only what he teaches but also where he goes and what he does.
May you, today, respond to God’s call to follow.
May you be covered in the dust of the Rabbi.
