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Discipleship Can Be Messy

Discipleship is a good thing:
something to seek
and make an effort for
like food and shelter.
It takes guts and gumption
to follow Jesus when called,
to leave that net or field or family
and press forward for a high ideal.

Jesus loved his twelve disciples
as the Christ loves you today…

He rejoiced in their breakthroughs:
“Upon this rock I will build my church!”
“Blessed are your eyes for they see
and your ears for they hear.”

And he forgave them their failings:
one betrayed him for money
and hung himself from a tree,
one denied him three times
and balked at having his feet washed
claiming to be unworthy,
some fled and others slept,
not able to watch with him one hour.

He rebuked them and questioned them
but he also encouraged them, saying:
“Have faith as a grain of mustard seed
and you can move mountains.”
“I don’t call you servants, I call you friends.”
“The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.”
“Fear Not.” “Feed my lambs.”

Sometimes it gets messy
when you bake a cake or build a house
and maybe that is how it should be.
It is a process, a labor of love.
It will be all cleaned up when it is finished.

And in the meantime,
if you make a mistake
like cutting off the ear
of the priest’s servant,
the Christ will patiently fix it,
without even bending over
to pick up the pieces.

So perfectionism is not required;
since it all will be worked out, step by step,
as we remember the lilies of the field that toil not
while they effortlessly glorify God.

Polly Castor
3/2/15

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