Called to be Radical
There are very few people who generally enjoy standing out from the rest of humanity. There is something comforting about being one of a crowd. We like the security of believing or knowing that we are not really all that different from everyone else. However, this sort of an attitude can be a problem when it comes to our Christian life.
Jesus tells His disciples that one of their goals must be to stand out from the crowd.... to the pint of aiming for radical perfection. Earlier in this chapter we have heard Jesus teaching us that our righteousness must be deeper than that of the Scribes and Pharisees. This is only possible by the grace of God as on our own we will not be able to overcome temptation and sin.
A Christian must be different from the rest of humanity who do not know Christ. His or her focus must be the promise and reality of eternal life and not the mere pleasures of this earthly existence. The promise of eternal life is the one that undergirds all that a Christian will do and, as such, will govern their lives. Jesus calls his disciples, and we who follow in their footsteps, to become beacons in a world of indifference and mediocrity. He calls humanity to a higher calling – faith in God and a life lived according to His will.
This is a call to be radical. This is a call to put aside the cares of the world and focus upon the Kingdom of God and all that it promises to us. This is not easy as it is not as concrete as the pleasures of the world – the here and now that we can touch and interact with in a physical fashion. If we read the Gospel of John we will discover that Jesus constantly comes back to one theme, namely that He has to come to do what God the Father wants him to do. Here is the key to a radical way of life – discover the will of God for you and be obedient to it. This is the ultimate secret of the saints. They are no different from you and me. All they have done is exactly that – listened to God's word for their lives and done their best to put it into action.
