Following Jesus on the Narrow Path to God

As a man Jesus walked those pathways that other men and women had made before his arrival. Jesus from his birth was dependent upon his family for his very life, just like you and me when we were infants. God through Joseph and his mother provided a home that protected Jesus from the weather, they put food and drink upon his table, they provided the clothes upon his back, Joseph and Mary provided the funds for them to travel to and from Jerusalem during the holy times. Joseph and Mary surrounded Him with unconditional love and taught him how to read scripture. Joseph taught him a trade in which he made a living from during those years he lived in Nazareth. In a sense Jesus followed the footsteps of His Father in heaven through the footsteps of his step-father Joseph and his mother Mary for those thirty years, but Jesus was called to blaze a whole new kind of path for mankind to follow, a path that leads us to His and our Father in Heaven. This is the path in which you and I must now follow through life, we must leave behind our old pathways and join Jesus on this new path towards heaven, our very life and future depend on us closely following Jesus each day and moment.

I remember on a trip out west; my friend and I were in Las Vegas looking for a church to attend mass one Sunday. Since, I had been to that church before I had thought I could find this church from memory, Gladys said to stop in a gas station and ask for directions, I said no, I was pretty sure we were going in the right direction down the street I had travelled several years before this trip. We never did find this church before mass started, because I was going in the wrong direction all along. Sometimes our own pathways take us away from Jesus at times, and other times we might cross Jesus’ pathway and we feel close to Him for awhile, then our pathway again may often lead us away from Jesus and we become lost again. My pride kept me from wanting to ask for help back in Las Vegas, but when I did ask, I was put on a path that led us to the church for mass, twenty five minutes late. Jesus says, “I am the way and truth and life,” (John 14:6, NAB) which means that there can be only one path to Heaven and that is through Jesus, so put your pride aside and stop and ask Him for directions, for Jesus knows where we must go in life.

Physically Jesus followed other people’s pathways as he travelled from village to village, but spiritually Jesus became the new pathway for us to follow in the world, a pathway bringing us home to the Father. There is no other road to the Father except the road through Jesus. Everything in Jesus life was a reflection of the will of God, from where he travelled, to the people he called as Apostles, to the people he healed, or the words he spoke, or the prayers he prayed, his suffering and death on the cross happened because it was His Father’s will that he should suffer and die this way. You and I must be a reflection of the will of God through Jesus, from where we travel in life, from the people called to be a part of our lives, from the people we will heal during our lifetimes, in the words we speak each day, or in the prayer life we have with God through Jesus, and we must accept God’s will for the times we are called to suffer in this life.

Jesus gave his will to His Father while being tempted in the wilderness for forty days, following this period of temptation Jesus came into Galilee and began to preach the gospel of God’s love for the world; “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15, NAB)

Following this proclamation of God’s new Kingdom, Jesus called his first disciples saying, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”(Mark 1:17, NAB).

Simon and Andrew responded by following Jesus immediately. The other Apostles were called in the same way by Jesus, they all dropped the direction they were going in life and began to follow Jesus, including Judas Iscariot. (From Chapter 1: The Narrow Path)