Is Jesus Part of Our Social Network? – Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

Our youngest daughter is playing in her very first Hoopfest this weekend, so I went online to find out when she was playing and what bracket she was in, and I noticed there was a place where you could follow particular teams. You register with your email address, type in the name of the team, click the follow button, and you’ll get updates about how well the team is doing in the tournament.

Technology has made following other people very easy but it might also cause a bit of confusion about the gospel. I remember a picture that was going around the Internet about a year or two ago, a picture of Jesus sitting on a bench with a young man next to him, and Jesus is speaking to him and saying, “No, I’m not talking about Twitter; I literally want you to follow me.”

So we do use that word “follow” in a different way than Jesus does. We talk about following people on Facebook, following their pictures on Instagram or their careers on LinkedIn. Even Pope Francis has a Twitter account we can follow. We click follow because we want to hear what a person has to say. We’re interested in their life or in their thoughts.

And so when we click that follow button, whenever they post something we get to see it. We’re able to watch them from a distance.

We also use the word follow with sports. We might say that we follow the Mariners (this year not so much). Or the Zags, or the Cougars, or the Huskies, or the Shock, or any number of teams that we might have watched when we were kids. Even if we’ve moved to Spokane from another part of the country, we still may follow those teams. To follow a team means we might own a jersey that we wear on game days, or we might follow the scores in the newspaper. We might even use an app on our phones to follow the games live at work. In the off season we might follow which players are leaving the team or which ones they’re adding.

We follow that team. We play close attention to that team.

But following Jesus is different than following someone on a social network, or following a sports team.

We could follow Jesus the way we follow people on Facebook or Instagram. “Sure, I follow Jesus, I like Jesus, I listen to what he has to say.”

But that kind of following is more removed. The same thing with following sports. “I’ve got the jersey, I know what to wear. I wear my Zag gear during the tournament, it kind of unites us a community.” But still, it keeps us on the sidelines. And that can happen too in following Jesus.

We can say, “I’ve got my Miraculous Medal, here’s my Rosary, come see the crucifix on the wall of my house or the St. Francis statue in the garden. I’m part of the team.”

But again, that’s following from a distance, more from the sidelines.

What Jesus is talking about to the people in today’s gospel–and to us–is a change of heart, a conversion, a spiritual revolution, that moves us from where we are to someplace else.

We can’t follow Jesus and remain where we are. We can sit in front of the computer and follow our friends on Facebook. We can plop ourselves in front of the TV or at the sports bar and follow our favorite sports teams.

We cannot sit still and follow Jesus.

To be a follower of Christ is to be a person of movement. Physical movement, at times. Going down to Catholic Charities and serving meals to the poor, preparing funeral receptions, taking communion to the homebound. At home it might mean giving the kids our full attention, or reading that story for the fifth time.

But more importantly, to be a follower of Christ is to be a person of internal movement. To listen with the ear of our heart to where Christ is leading us. It means leaving selfish or trivial desires behind and embracing a way of life that is simple, humble, and prayerful.

This isn’t easy to do. There’s a certain fear of being a follower that’s embedded in our culture. We teach our kids not to be followers, because we don’t want them to get in trouble.

We’re wary of following our civic leaders. Approval ratings for congress are at their lowest point in history. Even in the Church, there’s a great distrust of authority.

We’re nervous and even afraid to be followers. We’re afraid of being taken advantage of; we’re afraid of losing our freedom; we’re afraid of being dependent on someone else.

This fear gets in the way of our relationship with Jesus. Instead of following Jesus with our whole heart, mind, and strength, we settle for making Jesus just another part of our social network, just another voice among many.

In our fear, we’ve forgotten the words of St. Paul. “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”

Following Jesus doesn’t take away our freedom, it sets us free. It frees us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

That’s the movement that occurs when we follow Jesus. It’s the movement from slavery to true freedom.

In a few days we celebrate Independence Day. What a perfect day to reflect on our freedom. If we think back to the person we were on the Fourth of July a year ago, are we in the same place spiritually? Or are we moving forward with Christ on the road to Jerusalem?

Are we moving closer and closer each day to the true freedom for which we were called?

Jesus “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.” Are we resolutely determined to follow him?

Or is our Catholic faith simply another team that we follow? Is Jesus just another member of our social network?

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