Weight of Answers by Cibil Skariah,NorthEast (Brooklyn, Queens, LI)

Weight of Answers

“… someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

And He said to another, “Follow Me.”

-Luke 9: 57-59

Have you ever gotten yourself into something before you completely knew what it was that you were volunteering for? I’ve gotten myself into this situation many times. I’m one of those people that don’t like to back out of something once I’ve agreed to it. A perfect example of this is one of my experiences when I was away at college. One day while I was leaving the campus center, I saw another student struggling to open the door to leave right behind me. He was struggling a bit because he was trying to balance his computer monitor on top of his desktop tower. Now, at the expense of being considered old, this was a time when laptops weren’t too common and computer monitors were a bit bulkier than they are today.

Being somewhat courteous, I held the door open for him. He politely said thank you, and was starting to continue on his way. I felt badly for him, so I asked him if he needed help carrying something. He hesitated a little and then warned me that he was transporting this back to his dorm room, which not only happened to be in a tower, but on a completely different part of the campus than I was heading to, which was a lot farther than where we were. This was not what I was expecting, but being who I was, and not wanting to back down, I tightened my shoulder strap grabbed the monitor right off the computer tower and said “let’s go”.

It might seem a small thing, but he was grateful for the help. Looking back on it, I have a lot of questions about that moment. If I had known that he was going so far, would I have offered to help carry his burden? If I didn’t care about looking like a jerk, would I have said, “well… that’s out of my way, so you’re on your own?” If I was on my way to go study or more likely, play basketball at the gym, would I have offered help? If I knew everything my offer of help entailed, would I still ask?

In the passage from St. Luke above, a man walking with Jesus says to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” Did this man have any idea what he was offering Jesus? No. That’s why Jesus responds the way he does.

And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

It isn’t clear exactly who this person is, but it is clear that this man had no idea the path that Jesus was going to travel. Jesus is explaining to him, that even the beasts of the field and the birds of the air have a place to call home, but Jesus Himself didn’t even have a bed to call His own. Jesus wasn’t speaking a riddle, rather, He was warning this man not to offer something that He wasn’t prepared to. Jesus was warning him that the path to follow Him is not an easy one.

I remember clearly one of the first times I offered my services to God and the church; it was as an altar boy. Like the man that offered to follow Jesus, I don’t think I clearly understood the responsibility of what I was offering because the very same day I was brought into the altar, was the very same day I got into trouble for running around after the service making too much noise outside the church and not being a good role model. But the first time that I felt that God call out to me to follow Him, was different. It was during a sermon that I heard many years ago on that same college campus. And I remember feeling the weight of the offer, the heaviness of both the question and the answer. “Will you follow Me?” Now, to say that because I was a little older, I completely understood what God was asking of me is foolish, but I answered yes anyway. I answered yes to follow Him; yes to be held more accountable to the calling that was instilled in me long ago. I answered yes to follow Jesus and abide in Him. I answered yes, not because He offered me a place to lay my head or a comfortable lifestyle, but because He promised the forgiveness of sins and the gift of everlasting life. How could anyone refuse?

I won’t be arrogant to say that I know the full weight of what it means to follow Him, after all, I’m still struggling to follow Him daily. But I do know this; I don’t regret helping that other student with his computer, it felt good to help. And I definitely don’t regret accepting Jesus’ call to follow Him, it is good to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Questions for Meditation

1) Have you ever volunteered for something not fully knowing what was expected of you? Why?

2) Have you ever truly understood what it means to follow Jesus? What is it in your life that holds you back?

Name: Cibil Skariah

Area: NorthEast (Brooklyn, Queens, LI)

Email Address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it