Follow me!

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011820.cfm
1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1
Mark 2:13-17

It was the spring of 2006, and I was on my way to Nigeria for the first time. I was flying to join my wife Susanne in Lagos where she had already been working as a geologist for ExxonMobil. I had stayed in Houston to sell the house and oversee putting some of our belongings in a cargo container for delivery to our new home, a large apartment or “flat” as they called it in one of the protected housing areas owned by the company. The rest of our household furniture and “stuff” had been packed up for storage in Houston for are eventual return some 3 ½ years in the future. I had rented a car to drive to Minneapolis to visit with my dad before heading out on a 20 hour or so journey to Nigeria with my 7 large suitcases of clothes and other items, my laptop computer bag, and a carry-on bag with my cat, Danger.

I had never even been to Europe before, and I now I was on a plane that had left Minneapolis REALLY late, headed to the Charles de Gaulle Airport just outside Paris. The takeoff had been delayed almost 4 hours and I was pretty sure that meant I was not going to get to Paris in time to get to my connecting flight to Nigeria, the only flight that day from Paris to Lagos, Nigeria. I checked my watch several times and looked at the location map on the screen in front of me. Maybe the pilot knew a shortcut or could somehow go a little faster to make up the time. That was not to be.

I was resigned to the fact that I had missed my connection. I gathered up my computer bag and the cat carrier and because I was in business class, was one of the first to be allowed to de-plane.

As I stepped off the plane, I saw a rather stern looking woman wearing a uniform and holding a sign with my name on it. I pointed to the sign, then pointed to me. “Follow me” she said. We hustled up the jetway but stopped before we got to the terminal. She quickly tapped some numbers into a door lock and opened the door. “Follow me” she said, taking me down a long flight of stairs to the area outside the terminal where the baggage carts, food service trucks, security vehicles, and everything else that works behind the scenes to make airline travel possible.

As we hit the pavement, she turned and said, “Follow me!” She was almost jogging as she led me through a serpentine route like she knew where she was going. After a quick dash under the international flight terminal, we came to a two and half story flight of metal stairs. Guess what? Checking to see that I had kept up with here, computer bag over my shoulder, other bag in my hand, she says, “Follow me” and we run up the steps. Another combination lock and we are back in the terminal.

I’m now sweating from the run as we approach a long line at security. A stern glance over her shoulder and another “Follow me!” as she leads me around the jumbo jet sized security line, heading towards the boarding gate. We almost made it, when one of the French TSA-equivalent security officers blocks our way. We might be able to bypass the line, but there’s no way he’s going to let my bypass security. He motions for me to put my bags on the conveyor belt. Everything happens so quickly. I’m scanned with a metal detecting wand and sent ahead. My computer bag and Danger get X-rayed. I grab my bags and with one last “Follow me”, I am delivered to the open door of the Air France flight that has been held at the gate beyond its departure time.

I never would have made the connection without the coordinated efforts of the airline and my new friend who only spoke two words of English. I settle into my seat and check my cat. She’s OK, too!

As we prepare for takeoff, I wonder if my seven suitcases made it (they didn’t) and then reminisce about all the activity I saw in the underbelly of the airport. It reminded me of Richard Scarry’s Busy Busy Airport, a picture book that I used to read to the kids at bedtime. His books were famous for having vast amounts of detail about all the working pieces of an airport, city, boat, or whatever the main subject is about. I would read the story for the current page, and then I would talk with the kids about many parts of the picture.

“Watch out, Peasant Pig” the story would say as Peasant Pig was being a bit reckless with a baggage train. As we looked at the book, we would talk about the different service vehicles needed to run an airport. One of the pickup trucks was used to lead the jumbo jets to their gate, and then guide them back out to towards the runway when they are ready to depart. Such a vehicle is called a “follow me truck”, because the sign on the truck says “FOLLOW ME”.

So what do these “follow me” events have in common? In this case, both events are airport related. In both cases, we have someone in authority issuing a directive from a position of authority with the expectation that the recipient of the message will comply at that moment. A pilot of a jumbo jet follows the follow me truck, showing his absolute trust that the truck will guide him to where he needs to be.

In my making my connection at the Paris airport, I was told “follow me” and I followed. No discussion. No considering other options. I put my faith in the fact that my uniformed officer was in charge of getting me to where I needed to go.

Today's gospel is like that.

It begins:

“Jesus went out along the sea.
All the crowd came to him and he taught them.
As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus,
sitting at the customs post.
Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed Jesus.”
[Mark 2:13-14]

The story goes on to show Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. When confronted, Jesus tells those taking issue with him “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” That’s the usual main point of today’s gospel, but my memories of the events on my long international flight and a familiar bedtime story book took me back to Jesus saying, “Follow me”. So I dug deeper.

The person receiving the follow me command from Jesus is identified as Levi, son of Alphaeus. In the parallel gospel of Matthew, the same tax collector is identified as Matthew. So what we have here is Jesus calling Matthew to a lifetime of following the teachings of Jesus - - to become a disciple and eventually one of the 12 apostles.

“Follow me” seems so familiar, I wonder why? Well, it turns out that Jesus actually said that 22 times in the gospel books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Sometimes in the context of something like “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”, sometimes just a simple “Follow me”. (see https://www.quora.com/How-many-times-does-Jesus-say-follow-me-in-the-Bible for the list)

Notice that it’s not “please follow me”. It’s more of a demand without explanation. The expectation is that if you have the faith, you will stop what you are doing right now and follow. And following isn’t just tagging along behind. As we come to understand, we are really being asked to have the faith to follow Jesus with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds.

Will you be ready when he says unto you, “Follow me”?