It is really not easy to follow Jesus no matter how beautiful his words sound. Following Jesus reverses the trend and expectations of the world. It puts one in the position of vulnerability and recaliberates that vulnerability as true power.

I doubt if the world honors that option. It is even hard for most Christians to honor this option. It is a yoke to difficult to accept; a burden to heavy to bear.

But here is the twist! Once we get to the point of accepting and bearing this yoke and burden, we encounter the liberating effect of Jesus’ option. It sets us free to live only for God and gives us an inner joy that all of the world’s schemings and craftiness can never afford us.

Jesus calls us towards perfection. While we may not achieve perfection here on earth, we can at least strive towards it. This striving has the effect of making our world a better place. After all, the other option of the world has never served us any better. The choice remains ours!