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After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. \u201cFollow me,\u201d Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. \xa0But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, \u201cWhy do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?\u201d Jesus answered them, \u201cIt is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance\u201d (Luke 5:27-32).

There\u2019s a story of a young woman whose heart sank reading this question on a college application form, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, the college replied: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."

Many of us desire to be leaders, to be at the front of the crowd. Yet, to be a Christian implies never being at the head of the column, but rather to walk behind the master. As we walk, to grow, to learn.

Jesus\u2019 call to follow him is an invitation to let go. To let go of understandings, perceptions, and beliefs that he would have us do without. If we are to live and grow in Christ, there are things we must willingly give up\u2013mind you, not just willing to loosen our grip on, but to drop.

Jesus\u2019 \u2018love your neighbour as yourself\u2019 ethic means that we must be willing to give up our hostility and apathy toward those who are different, understanding that they are not deficient and not inferior, but divinely and splendidly different. His flagrant forgiveness strategy means that we must be willing to give up our appetite for vengeance when we are wronged, remembering that even if our enemies do become our footstool (as David hoped), God gives us enough love not to step on them.

And perhaps, most fundamental, and fantastic of all, this closeness to God teases and taunts us to see the love of God as the heartbeat of live, the real meaning of life. Amazingly, to follow Christ is to give up the search for the \u201cmystery\u201d of life. Its meaning is found in Christ, and it is the love of God.

Follow me, Jesus calls, and lose the thirst for anything other than the love of God, which fills, fully and finally, your deepest longing. Lose egotism, anxiety, dread, and fear in favour of a living sense of the love of God. To follow Jesus is learning to be as vibrant, as content and as fulfilled as he was in the love of God.

Love can lift us above the petty jealousies, the dividing differences, the horrible hatreds that take the life right out of us, that deaden us while we are yet alive. Because of bitterness, anger, and hate, many die while they are still living. They are truly the walking dead. But love enlivens.

To follow Jesus means that we are willing to love the sinner. In ancient culture, to sit at the table communicated an acceptance. The religious leaders didn\u2019t approve of Jesus getting so close to sinners. They thought he ought to keep himself distant and pure. But Jesus was not afraid of them. He was willing to get up close and personal with them.

I think that many Christians follow the way of the religious leaders, rather than the way of Jesus.

Following Jesus does not imply that we have reached the destination. We follow so that we can get there. He also said, \u201cTake up my yoke and learn from me\u201d (Matthew 11:29). Jesus does not call those who have arrived. When I go to the doctor, I know several things: I am sick, I need help, and I cannot help myself. In other words, Jesus\u2019 call goes out to those who realize they need help. Ironically, they are the only ones who seem to hear his call.

He seeks sinners, keeping his eye out for them and reaching out to them is a priority for him. Yet, we Christians often avoid sinners. Rather than seek them out, we run from them, often filled with fear about what issues they might bring up or what types of situations we might find ourselves in.

Maybe, if we remember where we began, how much we have received, his invitation to us to follow, we would not be so afraid of those who haven\u2019t responded to the invitation.