The Difficulties of Following Jesus

The title of this column can provoke different reactions from different people. One set of these are people who would say, “Oh no, I don’t have any difficulty at all in following Jesus. I go to our parish church on Sunday; I put some amount in the collection, receive Holy Communion. I also go to the novena-Mass on Wednesday. We have Mass in our office every first Friday of the month. I am a member of a catholic association and attend its monthly meeting. It is not difficult being a Catholic.”

The other set refers to those who say, “I read the bible and Jesus calls me saying, ‘if you wish to follow me deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me’ (Luke 9:23). Isn’t that terribly difficult, like fasting and abstinence, pains and sufferings?”.

One of them claims it’s extremely difficult if not impossible to take seriously Jesus’ words, “Foxes have lairs and the birds of the sky have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”(Mt. 8:20). This statement refers to a life without a place or house to stay like that of Jesus who was an itinerant preacher.

A reader of this column who claims to have studied the bible might react and dismiss the difficulties of the people by saying, “Ah, these people do not know how to read the bible and don’t understand the words of Jesus. The first set of people reads the bible and interprets the words allegoricaly; the other set does it literally.”

What then is a literal and allegorical reading of the scriptures?

Everyone I’m sure knows what is literal reading and interpretation of the bible. For those who may not know or remember it, an allegory is “a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; or a figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another” (Webster dictionary). Another meaning of allegorical is symbolic. For instance: “And if your eye should be your downfall, tear it out, it is better for you to enter heaven without an eye …” (Mark 9:47).

For hundreds of years many have been confused and misled by literal reading and interpretation of the bible. Also the same happened to those who did know allegory and other literary and linguistic elements of the the different books of holy scriptures.

The Church over the years did provide the necessary help and guidance for all her members. We have scripture scholars and teachers, theologians, historians, linguistic experts, catechists. missionaries, formators, campus ministers. We find them in all the dioceses around the world. Here in Davao the Vicarial School of Theology serves our lay leaders in the parishes. This is something unique in this country. It is part of the programs of our Ignatian Institute of Religious Educatton Foundation(IIREF). Only in Davao at the Holy Cross of Davao College can one find IIREF.

It is a pity that many lay people and religious do not take advantage of this free theological formation and education in IIREF which includes courses on the bible. Our GKK leaders never go beyond the obligatory Basic Bible Seminars (BBS) of our Archdiocesan Bible Apostolate (ABS). It is said that ignorance of the bible is ignorance of Christ. For, you cannot follow whom you do not know. This is the real difficulty.