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Some people like their homes very much. These are people who love to say, “There is no place like home.” They don’t like to travel because, as far as they are concerned, traveling would only mean experiencing discomfort. They say, “I have a roof over my head, I have walls to protect me, I have water when I want to take a bath, I have food on the table, and I have my loved ones whom I want to be with.” These people who love their homes don’t like to leave home.
They just want to stay in the coziness and comfort of their homes, and they feel jittery, insecure, and lost when they are outside familiar walls and the familiar roof over their heads.
On the other hand, there are also some people who consider the home as a wallpapered trap. For them, the best place in the home is the front door. And the best appliance in the home is the telephone because it is a way of staying in contact with the outside. They like to stay outside the home as much as they can because at home they feel trapped, enclosed, and fenced in. Although their homes do not have people who beat them, they feel that the walls imprison them and restrain their freedom of movement. These people want to have the sky as their roof and they do not want to have any walls to confine them because the whole world is a friend.
You have two kinds of people. People who like their homes very much; they don’t like to leave them. And people who like the world so much, they don’t like to stay at home.
Most of us are somewhere in between. We love our homes, we want to sleep there, we want to enjoy a good meal there.
And when we want to travel, we do so because we want to experience something new; but we look forward to coming home.
And when we make mistakes outside the home, we know that there is a place that we can return to, that is our nest. We know that in that nest, we can nurse our bruised wings and put together our shattered hopes.
The call to discipleship is a call to leave home. The call to be a disciple is a call to leave the comfort, the coziness, the roof, and the protection of the home. Leaving the home, facing the insecurities of the world, that was what Jesus did. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He was raised in Nazareth and He was called to leave Nazareth to go to Jerusalem. Why Jerusalem?
Because Jerusalem is the city of the crucifixion.
That is what being called by God means. When I received God’s call to be a priest, I had to leave my father and mother. I had to leave our home and go to the seminary. That is what discipleship means. It is leaving home, leaving the comfort, the coziness of being with people we love and who love us, to face the insecurity of the world outside.
In this journey, as Jesus experienced, there will be troubles.
For example, there will always be people who will be inhospitable. Like the Samaritans, who did not like to give any hospitality to Jesus. There will be people who will be tempted to look back, as the young man looked back and said, “I want to bury my father or I want to take care of my property.” In this journey from home, we will be tempted, as Jesus was tempted in the Garden of Olives when he said, “Father, I am afraid.” And He sweated blood because He was very afraid of what was awaiting him. He was afraid of the impending conclusion. The beautiful news is, when Jesus reached Jerusalem, He found that Jerusalem was actually home.
When He reached Jerusalem He knew that He had not left home because God was journeying with Him all along.
You and I are being called to leave something behind. You and I are being called to leave somebody behind. You and I are being called to leave familiar places, familiar people behind. Do not be afraid. God will be with you in your journey. And when finally you reach your Jerusalem, the city of your crucifixion, you will discover Jerusalem is also your home.
LEAVING HOME
Mk 10:14
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