In Joshua Chapter 24:15-17 the commander of the Lord’s army who successfully led the children of Israel into the promised land, was old and knew he was about to die. He gathered the people to himself just like Moses before him did in Deut 30:15-16. He took them through a ritual of renewal, to renew the covenant they had signed with God on Mount Sinai. He confronted the people with a critical decision: He simply asked them to choose. “Choose this day whom you will serve… the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or the pagan gods that the Canaanites among whom you live serve. … As for me and my house… Of course the people all responded “We will serve the Lord.” Joshua wanted to be remembered not as the great war commander who led the people to the promised land, but as the great prophet who led the people to God. This critical decision which Joshua asked the people to make is significant for us, as in the Gospel of John, when his message proved to be most difficult, Jesus confronted his disciples with the need to make a clear choice for or against him.
When he saw that the crowd of fans who kept on following him since the multiplication of loaves, had all left because they considered his language intolerable and his message unacceptable, he turned to the disciples who were still hanging around him and asked. What about you? Would you also go away? Of course Peter answered on behalf of the others in those gracious words of verse 69: “To whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life. We believe, yes we know, you are the Son of God.” Recall the same kind of answer Peter gave when Jesus asked the question: Who do people say I am? And who do you say I am in Mark 8:27-35.
In the face of divine revelation the believer has the freedom and must decide. He must choose to go the way of wisdom or the way of folly, to go the way of life or the way of death, to stay with Jesus even when the times are hard, or join the gang of unbelievers who consider his language intolerable, and who seek alternative solutions and explanations. This choice has to be renewed on daily basis. Believers cannot just coast along. Faith decisions are not a once and for all affair. We cannot remain dedicated today because of the commitment we made at our baptism 30 or 40 years ago. No past choices must be kept alive by renewed commitment. This is why after our initial commitment at baptism we still need to renew our faith in Christ and our renunciation of the devil on daily basis. At Easter we use the baptismal ritual for the profession of faith: We say, “I reject Satan, and all his works, and all his promises…
The decision to follow Jesus is a very critical one. It is not imposed on us. It is personal. Jesus asks us to make a serious commitment to him that costs no less than everything. This often challenges our own ideas of life, and especially our selfishness. This is why many of the followers left him, and considered his language intolerable. This is why Judas, and many people through the ages have betrayed Jesus. Though many of us were baptised as infant who did not know what was happening when the commitments were made on our behalf, nevertheless there is no room in Christianity for a second-hand faith. The faith we inherited from our parents must be constantly made our own, in the choices we make for or against Christ on daily basis, in the circumstances that confront us.
Peter and his companions chose to stay with Jesus, even though they did not understand clearly what He was saying. They stayed with him, believing that He was the Holy One of God, the One who has the message of eternal life. Though they never fully grasped his teaching, they nevertheless signed a contract of fidelity, to be with Him as it were, come rain, come shine, for better, for worse. With the loss of popularity on the part of Jesus, and more so with the accusation of blasphemy, they knew that the going was going to be tough. Persecution and perhaps violent death was inevitable for their master and themselves. They knew this, yet chose to stay with Jesus.
In Luke 16:13 Jesus says that "No one can serve two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave of both God and money." In Matthew 7:13 he speaks like Moses of the two ways - the narrow way that leads to life, which only few people take, and the wide and spacious way that leads to destruction which many people take. You've got to make a decision; you've got to choose.
Christian discipleship has its own cost, and it is a very high cost. The standards set by Jesus for those who choose him are very high. He told the rich young man who wanted to follow him, and who had kept all the commandments, "If you want to follow me, go and sell all you have and make treasures for yourself in heaven, and then come follow me." He told his followers in Mt.5:44-45, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in heaven." To James and John, the two disciples who wanted to sit one at his right and the other at his left in the Kingdom, he asked: "Are you able to drink the cup (of suffering) that I must drink? Can you accept the baptism with which I must be baptised?" He told his disciples to forgive those who hurt them as many as seventy-seven times, if they are to be true followers of Him. Condemning divorce in Mt 19:10-11 he said that whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. When the disciples heard it they said this was almost impossible to accept. He says you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt.5:48). Indeed, the standards of Jesus are very high.
Many of us accept the Jesus of miracles, the Jesus of the prosperity preachers, but when it comes to difficult moments in our lives, we often compromise, we equivocate, we engage in double-speak. But there is no room in Christianity for compromise or equivocation. No, in Christianity you must make a choice. You must make a choice for or against Jesus. In the episode recorded in John 6:60-69 Peter made a choice for Jesus. And faced with the temptation to betray Jesus or choose to be faithful to Him, Judas Iscariot exercised his freedom the other way. He betrayed Jesus. So in the conflicts that must arise in your life, Jesus stares at you each time and asks you as He asked the disciples of old: "And what about you? Would you also go away?”
In conflicts that must arise between the values of the kingdom - the values of justice, honesty and truth, and the culture of bribery and corruption, you cannot be ambivalent. You must make a choice. In the conflicts that must arise between the virtues of transparency and accountability and the regime of embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds, you cannot equivocate. You must make a choice. In the conflicts that must arise between the Christian ideals of political leadership such as shepherding and selfless service, and the reality of rogue leadership and oppressive governance, you cannot be neutral. You must choose either to say yes to God and denounce evil political structures or ally yourself with the evil dispensation.
In the conflicts that must arise at home in marriage and family life between the values of sacrificial love, mutual forgiveness, fidelity, chastity and total commitment, and the temptation to harbour resentment, to contemplate revenge, to engage in extra-marital affairs, and to seek separation or divorce, you cannot compromise. You must make a choice. At those crisis times in your life when a decision must be made either to abort a pregnancy or to face the agony and embarrassment of having a handicapped child or of ending abruptly a promising career or educational pursuit because of an unexpected pregnancy, you must make a choice.
In the conflicts that must arise between the ethics of the Kingdom of Christ and the inordinate desire for pleasure, power and security, you must make a choice. In the conflicts that must arise between the gospel values of love, mercy, compassion, humility and meekness that Jesus Christ inaugurated with his very life, and the logic of the survival of the fittest, expressed in aggression and control, which appears more appealing to the men and women of the world, you must make a choice. In the conflicts that must arise between the logic of human solidarity and universal brotherhood and the tendencies of the modern society towards crass individualism and exaggerated materialism, you must make a choice.
In all these conflicts that must arise between the ways of the Kingdom and the ways of the world, Jesus asks you each time as he asked the disciples: "Will you also go away?" At such difficult moments, Jesus stares at you with love and asks: "Will you also go away?" In such circumstances of those who walk away from Jesus are exercising their freedom, but by the same token, they are cancelling their pledge. By walking away, they are breaking the contract agreement they made at Baptism when they renounced the devil, declared their faith in Jesus, and promised Him fidelity, come rain, come shine, "for better for worse." And going by the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 30:15, those who reject God and His commandments for whatever reason, and in whatever circumstance, are deliberately choosing death and doom. Yet how often do Christians in moments of crisis choose to look elsewhere for solution, satisfaction and fulfilment!
The Christian faith is a decision, a resolution, and a commitment to God. Such a commitment is supposed to be made with full knowledge of the implications. It is about making concrete choices in the various circumstances that challenge the individual each day. Authentic Christian life is hardly a jolly ride. Christian discipleship costs a great deal. Perhaps too many people accept the Christian calling without ever sitting down to calculate the cost of discipleship, especially in a world dominated by evil. Many people do go some way with Jesus, but when it comes to the difficult demands that He makes, they part ways with Him. The challenge of today is for Christians to recommit themselves to their covenant with God in Christ, and to stick to it like Moses, Joshua and Peter, even when the going is rough.
