“If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”
John 12:26
This verse contains the words of Jesus, not long before he was to be arrested and crucified. In fact, this verse comes just after he told his disciples, Andrew and Philip, that his hour had come. So what is the significance of this verse, and what is the meaning of its timing?
First of all, we can take this verse as a guide to our lives as followers of Jesus. If we are to be his servants, he says we have to follow him. In Christian culture today, to be a follower of Jesus may have lost a little bit of its meaning. Think about it. If I told you, “Hey, follow me!” You may not listen because I’m a total stranger, but you would know that I was telling you to do something very specific – follow me. The assumption would be that I would lead and that you would track behind me, going where I go. So when Jesus tells us “follow me,” why have we turned it into some vague word that doesn’t have any literal meaning anymore.
He says that if anyone will serve him, they must follow him – literally. He says that wherever he is, his servant will also be – if indeed they are his servant. So you may wonder how we can literally follow Jesus around if he’s not walking the earth anymore. You’re right, it’s not as literal now as it may have once been when Jesus walked the earth, but there still some tangible meaning to it.
Where did Jesus spend most of his time? Was it on his couch at home relaxing? Was it eating and drinking and having a good time? Or was it on the road ministering to the poor, the sick, and the spiritually needy? Clearly it was the latter of these.
Did Jesus hang out with the richest, most well-thought-of people in town? Or did he spend time with prostitutes, thieves, and lepers. Again, the latter.
So, where is Jesus asking you to follow him? Is it into a life of comfort, luxury, and ease? Is it into a well-to-do social circle? Is it into a Church building once a week and nothing more? Or is it into the rough parts of town where people need help, into the hospitals and prisons where people are afraid and alone, into the homes of widows who have lost their families, into the orphanages and foster homes where children have no one to raise them? You guessed it, the latter.
Jesus doesn’t ask us to metaphorically “follow” him in some vague spiritual sense. He said that where he goes, his servant will go too. Jesus went into the homes of the most hated, reviled, and rejected people. He went to the sick and dying. He went to the depraved and afflicted.
Will you follow him there?
Prayer:
God,
It’s scary to think of all the challenging places that Jesus went to minister. I know, though, that you didn’t give me a spirit of fear but of power and boldness. I pray that you will help me follow Jesus into the difficult places and bring the hope of the gospel with me.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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