The very phrase "following Christ" shows how voluntary must be our service of Him. He recognizes the freedom of choice that He has Himself given us. There must be no compulsion, no being dragged after the chariot wheels of His triumphal car, no long line of captives grimly led behind Him. His own ministry among men - though it might be at the behest of His Father ("I am come to do the will of Him that sent Me") though even His death, according to His own phrase, might be "necessary," was yet the free and willing service of His subjection. "I lay down My life," said He: no one took it from Him. The imagery of our English poets such as Milton and Dryden, who have attempted to depict in language the offering made by the Son of Himself as a propitiation to the Father in atonement of the sins of the world, show Him as stepping forward in the Divine Presence and offering to take the proffered burden from which the angels shrank in fear. This is, of course, purely metaphorical, for to none other than Him could the office of Redemption have been suggested. But it is so far true in that it expresses the doctrine that the whole tragedy of the Incarnation was freely undertaken by the Second Person of the Trinity. He became man of His own choice, without any necessity from His own nature, acting in this way not from any inherent compulsion (such as that from which the Trinity proceeded), but by the simple decision of His will.
As, therefore, His own ministry was freely undertaken and pursued to its own sublime end, so of the same nature was His own appeal to be made to those who wished to come after Him. The purity and strength of His life, the fathomless tenderness of His love, the keen agony of His sufferings, the winsome appeal of childhood and boyhood, the charm and fascination of His manly grace and bearing, the wonder of His language, the sympathy of His heart, the boldness of His denunciations of hypocrisy and cant, His love of freedom, His passion for justice, His devotion to truth - all these, we say, compel our love and our affectionate discipleship, but it is the compulsion of free service. This marvellous appeal to human nature is the sole secret of His power. What alone He asks of us or would be willing to accept, is the devotion of a son, not the forced labour of a slave. His parables and sermons and prayers are full of this idea of sonship; and through His Apostles, whom He had instructed in His own principles and teachings, He is for ever insistent upon " the glorious liberty of the sons of God." We are free, therefore, in our choice, can take or reject His yoke. At the most and best, our highest title must be that of follower; that is, of one who comes behind, perhaps a very long way behind, but who deliberately and of set choice, without any penalty of force, walks in the footsteps of love.
Yet if there be any penalty, it is the penalty not of force but of love, since though the choice be free, the cost must always be paid. And the cost here is the yoke of Christ. The yoke is sweet indeed, and the burden is light; but for all that there is a yoke and a burden. There is something to be borne by us, some difficulties to be overcome, some disappointments, some agonies in the garden, some cross-carrying in the busy streets, some loneliness, some betrayals, some jeers. We are free, yet have called ourselves followers, and He will take care that we do follow Him. Perfectly conscious of what will meet our eyes on each day's awakening and of what will form the retrospect of our working hours when we turn to our sleep in the evening, we yet freely follow in the footsteps of love. Not spasmodically, like Peter - at one time zealous and promising to die for Christ, at another denying all acquaintanceship with Him; but deliberately and with full knowledge of what the consequences are likely to be, calmly striving to keep up to His stride and pace, we hurry after Him. Certainly we shall never catch up to Him. He will go for ever swinging down the great highway, His figure heading the great Crusade. Right away, His form showing against the grey and dusty pathway, can He be seen leading His followers. But at least I am going in the same direction: stumbling, failing, footsore, hot, tired, weary, it is a blessed thing for me to be still following with a heart glad and gay.
- text taken from Meditations for Layfolk by Father Bede Jarrett, O.P.