Climb up

Those he wanted (3:13)

We all want to get selected for the team. It goes back to lining up on the school playground wall while the captains choose. Oh not to be last! I was last once - new school and me skinny and shy. It didn't feel nice and I cannot imagine what it is like to be always the unpicked one.

With Jesus it wasn't anything like this bad. He chose a few out of many, so the unselected were in a significant majority. Still, it must have been nice to be chosen. That is until you realised quite what you were chosen for. To lead the future church, for sure, but also, with a lone exception, to die a martyr's death. That's why it was a high mountain. No wonder Judas opted out.

You see, to go up a high mountain is to make the ascent to God - to chose to put God above all else. As the Psalmist writes, 'lead me to the mountain that is higher than I', take me to the place where my own concerns disappear in the face of the call of God. This is the test for all vocation, for all 'ordination', for anyone wishing to see great things in God's service. Are you prepared to go up a high mountain, to allow everything to be put aside so you can follow Jesus, wherever he goes? If you are, he offers quite an adventure, not always easy but certainly exciting, as part of God's team. 


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