“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Another of [his] disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.” (Matthew 8: 19 - 22).
Two enthusiastic would be disciples received one answer to their application to follow Jesus:
You must count carefully the cost of discipleship. How far and how long are you prepared to follow Me? What will you do when the going becomes tough? I will show you what a prudent and faithful disciple looks like. That disciple followed Me from the beginning of my ministry to the end.
“What sort of servant, then, is faithful wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at his employment. I tell you solemnly, he will place him over everything he owns.” (Matthew 24: 45 – 48)
Pope St John Paul II writing on faithfulness says:
It is good to be faithful for one day.
It is better to be faithful for ten years.
It excellent and blessed to be faithful day after day to the end.
This is why the Blessed Virgin Mary is called the most excellent and faithful disciple of Jesus. She received the message of salvation from the Archangel Gabriel. She followed Jesus learning everything she could. She walked the Via Dolorosa with her Son to Calvary. She received the body of her Son from the Cross from the Roman soldiers. She laid Him in the tomb and witnessed the sealing of the tomb.
Call this: faithful from womb to tomb.
A disciple of Jesus must be prepared to give all.
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