Matthew 16:21-28
These verses are the start of Jesus’ preparing His disciples for His crucifixion and resurrection. Here Jesus is quite explicit about what is involved in following Him.
He told His disciples that coming with Him involved following. He was to lead, to control the direction. As the Message puts it. Jesus is in the driver’s seat. He told His disciples to embrace suffering instead of running from it. He didn’t leave them to wonder how to do that. He told them to follow Him and He would show them how to embrace suffering. He warned them to not do things for themselves, but instead to ask Him for help. I love the way the Message puts it: “Self help is no help at all”.
Jesus told the disciples that self sacrifice is the way Jesus leads to finding your true self. That is the danger of trying to do things on our terms. Of trying to get the things we want that are not what God has in mind for us. If we do that we lose ourselves.
Society today has a deep focus on finding yourself. Books are written, courses are run, even movies celebrate the pursuit of self. But unless you follow Jesus, you will not find yourself. When I say follow Jesus I mean that deep personal relationship with God that is directly between you and God. Not one mediated by others, by institutions, by books. The relationship you seek is to surrender yourself to following Jesus, to accepting whatever life gives you and turning to Jesus for direction in how to move forward. When you have that relationship then you have a relationship with God.
I have found in life that as my relationship with God has deepened, then my ability to discern His direction for my life has become easier. I have learned the art of being. Of sitting with what is and waiting patiently for God. I have discovered who I truly am and that is a wonderful feeling. I feel lighter, less burdened, each step of the journey to discovering my true self.
To rest in relationship with God. To move forward through life knowing He is with me. That is a wonderful way to be. This is the path of the follower.
 

Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus travelled through Judah he called people to call him. He even called a tax collector. It is interesting to note that even the tax collector followed Jesus when called. Fishermen could be seen as decent ‘salt of the earth’ people, but tax collectors were not seen as decent people. Tax collectors were known to demand extra tax from people. This extra money would be kept from the Roman government and pocketed by the tax collectors so they were often rich. On this occasion Matthew not only obediently answered Jesus’ call to follow, he also left his lucrative money making job to follow Jesus.
Such was Jesus’ attraction to people that Matthew hosted a dinner at his house and invited fellow tax collectors and others considered sinful by the Pharisees. In those days the Pharisees decreed that those who were sinners were to be avoided as though their sinfulness was contagious. Yet here was Jesus eating a meal with tax collectors and other sinners. This was too much for the Pharisees.
Jesus said I desire mercy (that is, a readiness to help, spare and forgive those in trouble), not sacrifice and sacrificial victims. This takes us back to Cain and Abel offering their first fruits sacrifices to God (Genesis 4). No amount of sacrifice could cover Cain’s lack of mercy. In Jesus day, no amount of sacrifice could cover the lack of mercy of the Pharisees. As far as Jesus was concerned, the Pharisees condemned the guiltless.
Jesus came to call the sinners, not the righteous. The genuinely righteous would be following Jesus anyway. The sinners were willing to answer His call. The ones who believed they were righteous were too busy believing in that righteousness to hear Jesus’ call, let alone follow Him.
There are three places in the Bible where you will find the words I desire mercy not sacrifice. There is Matthew 9:13 and 12:7 and Hosea 6:6. In Hosea 6:6 God states He desires and delights in dutiful and steadfast love and goodness, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of and acquaintance with God more than burnt offerings. So Jesus was telling the Pharisees that He wanted to see love and goodness from those who took the time to know God. His charges against the Pharisees were that they did not take the time to know God. It is easy to get caught up in the doctrine of a Christian church and forget that believing in Jesus is not about legalism and strict adherence to doctrine. It is about loving God, Jesus and your fellow humans. And it is about knowing God. It is so easy, especially in this fast paced world, to forget to take the time to surrender yourself to God. To surrender your time and your desires and just be with God. To allow God’s love for all to govern your behaviour, rather than your own desires. Rather than focusing on rules and harsh adherence to them, focus on God and loving Him and those He loves.