Cedric Pisegna - Authentic Discipleship

I’m Father Cedric Pisegna, welcome to «Live with Passion»! I am producing a series about authentic discipleship. It all begins with a call, and I want to share with you from the Gospel of Matthew, this is chapter 4: «Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, and as he was walking he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother. They were casting a net into the sea because they were fishermen. He said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.' Immediately they left their nets and they followed Jesus. Going on from there, he walked a little bit farther and saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee, John, his brother in the boat with Zebedee, their father. They were mending their nets and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Jesus».

I want to proclaim to you something that’s very challenging. I want to push you during this series. I want you to get deeper with Jesus, because discipleship is more than going to church. Yes, I’m glad if you go to church, church is the expression of our faith, and we worship, and it’s important, but that’s not Christianity in and of itself. It’s more than going to church, certainly more than wearing a cross around your neck. I want to proclaim to you authentic discipleship. Let me do it with this humorous little story. I’ll begin with this. It’s about a chicken and a pig, and they were walking along the side of the road, and they came upon a homeless person who was very hungry. The chicken looked at the pig and said, «Hey, why don’t we make for him a bacon and egg breakfast»? And the pig thought to himself, he said, «No way,» and he told the chicken, «For you that’s an offering, but for me, it’s a total commitment».

Some people, when it comes to discipleship, they give an offering, they follow Jesus at a distance, but Jesus is after total commitment. Did you notice they left their nets, they left their boat, they even left their father? We’re talking about livelihood, relationships, money, everything, total commitment to Jesus. That’s authentic discipleship. It’s real, it’s true, it’s not false. Call stories like we just heard in the gospel today, Matthew chapter 4, they invigorate me, they energize me. Whether it be Moses at the burning bush, Samuel, remember, «Here am I, Lord. I come to do your will». Isaiah said the same thing. Jeremiah thought he was too young, but God called him, Paul the Apostle. When I hear call stories, no matter who it is of, it invigorates me because I sense God calling me again. Yes, I’ve been called a long time ago, but God calls us over, and over, and over again, and he wants a deeper commitment. He wants us, like the disciples in the story, to be all in.

One time, I received a recall notice on my car. A recall notice means that there’s something wrong, you gotta bring it in to get it serviced. And in some ways, no matter how long you’ve been in the program, no matter how long you’ve been a disciple, whether it’s from birth or whenever, we get recall notices, because God wants to do some servicing, if you will, in our life, some repair, some transformation. He wants us to go deeper. And when it comes to a call, it’s always God’s initiative. God is the one who does the calling, we are the one who need to respond. And when God calls, he takes the initiative and he calls by name. All throughout the Bible, people that are called are called by name, and rightly so, because God is the one who gave us our name in the first place.

In fact, it says in the letter to the Ephesians, «Before the world began,» and I looked that up in Google, 4.5 billion years ago, before the world began, God chose us, had us in mind, called us by name. Wow, 4.5 billion years ago you were called, and now here we are in life being called by God over and over again. It invigorates me, energizes me, motivates me to want to follow even more. What is your call? Yeah, we’re called, you’re called, I’m called, what is it? Number one, it’s an invitation. God is inviting us to follow Jesus, to get to know Jesus, to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

That was the number one thing that Jesus called his disciples to. He said, «Come to me all you who are burdened, and laboring, and heavy laden. I will give you rest». He wants us to come to him, to get to know him, to surrender to him. How do you do that? First of all, prayer, of course. You get to know Jesus in prayer. I love this saying, «Prayer is to the soul like rain is to the soil». It causes growth, causes intimacy. Then of course, spend time in silence with Jesus, watching good television programs, if you’re Catholic, celebrating the sacraments, confession, going to mass, surrendering yourself to Jesus. That’s our number one call, to get to know Jesus, develop your relationship with Jesus. That is primary, that is key. All of us are called to that.

And then number two, we are called to follow Jesus. I remember growing up we played that game, Follow the Leader. The leader moves his right hand, you move your right hand, leader moves his left hand, you move your left hand, you follow the leader. But when it comes to following Jesus, it’s not so much the body that we’re talking about as your morality, your mind, your decisions, your heart. Jesus wants us to become like him. Years ago, that little wrist band came out, «What Would Jesus Do»? And another one, «What Would Jesus Say»? And in some ways, that’s really correct. We have to become like Christ. As a Catholic priest, I’m an Alter Christus, another Christ, and it’s the same for every Christian.

Notice the name, Christian, partisans of Christ. We become like Christ, we follow him. We are the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and that’s our call also, to become a fisher of men and women. It’s exactly what happened at the Sea of Galilee. They were fishermen, Jesus said, «Follow me and I’ll make you a fisher of men». Wow, we are the light of the world, we are the salt of the earth. It’s really important that we understand that following Jesus we want to, our purpose, our destiny is to make a difference in the world, to reach out to people, that is so key. So, it’s real simple, what is our call? Our call is to come to Jesus, develop a relationship with him, become like Jesus, be transformed into his image, and proclaim Jesus, to make a difference in the world.

It’s real simple, not complicated, and all of us have that call. We have all been called even before the world began. I want to make a quick distinction between call and vocation. We’ve all heard that term, «vocation». We are all called to those three things, personal relationship, being transformed, making a difference, but we all do it in different ways. For example, some have the vocation to be married, some have the vocation to be a religious, or a minister, or a priest, sister or brother. Some have the vocation to the single life. Whatever your vocation is, whether it be single, married, or religious, the call is the same.

As I said, to come to know Jesus, be transformed, proclaim Jesus, and I’ll talk about that in subsequent episodes, because this is all about authentic discipleship, becoming all that we can be. I was struck in that call story by the immediate, underline that word, «immediate» response of the disciples. A decision was made on the spot, wasn’t wishy-washy or mamby-pamby, it was a firm, confident decision to follow Jesus. Immediately, it said, it was urgency to this, they left their nets, their father, their boat, and they followed Jesus. And that’s the thing about a call, it demands a response. The whole world is called, the whole world, only some respond. Only some respond fully to the call, and that’s what I’m hoping for you.

I want to challenge you in this series. I want to push you. I wanna help you. I want to motivate you to get deeper, to have authentic discipleship. I want to also express that a call is not just a one-time thing. As I said, we are recalled over and over again. It’s like a marriage. When you have that marriage ceremony and you consent to your husband or wife, you make that decision to say I do, well, that’s really wonderful on the wedding day and during the marriage, but that I do consent, that decision, that call, if you will, needs to be expressed over, and over, and over again, every day. Forgiving, being generous, being, loving. A call, therefore, is not just a one-time thing, it’s a 24/7 lifestyle. Wanna really impress that upon you, and you are being called deeper.

Love that song, if you’ve ever heard it, the words are, «I will choose Christ». It’s about a decision, a response, radical response. I will choose love. I will choose to serve. I give my heart, give my life, I give my all to you, wow, discipleship. A call demands a full response. I think about that haunting scene, if you remember in the gospels, Jesus was captured, he was being led to trial, and Peter followed, it says in the gospel, at a distance. At a distance. He had been with Jesus for three years. He proclaimed to Jesus, «I will follow you anywhere. I will give my life to you. I will give my life for you».

And then when he was captured, when Jesus was captured, he followed at a distance, and that’s exactly what happens I think in many people’s lives. They follow Jesus at a distance instead of the close, intimate walk that he wants with us. They kind of hedge their bets and back off a little bit. They let the world, they let the enticements of life cloud the vision, the discipleship. We have to be careful about that, because it demands a response that is full-hearted. There is a cost to following Jesus, and it’s expensive, let me tell you. It was never meant to be easy. It is hard, it’s difficult, it demands everything that we have.

As a Catholic priest, sometimes when I preside at mass, I wear red, wear green for ordinary time, and purple for Lent and Advent, but I wear red during the feast day of a martyr. The word «martyr» means a witness, that’s somebody who has died for Jesus. Could be St. Paul the Apostle, St. Peter the Apostle. And red is the color of blood, that’s why I wear red on an Apostle’s day, or some of the other martyrs in our church. There are strings attached to following Jesus There’s a cord connected that should not be cut. Have you counted the cost? It’s not just going to church, it’s not just wearing a cross around your neck, it’s costly. I studied marketing in college, business, I have a business background. Marketing is that discipline, if you will, about how to entice people. You sweet talk them a little bit, if you will, tell them the benefits of the product, try to convince them to buy it.

I think Jesus would have flunked Marketing 101. He was not a sweet talker. He did not sugar coat when it comes to talking about discipleship. In fact, just the opposite. It says in the gospels that big crowds were following him, he turned around and rudely said, «If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, even their own life, they can’t be my disciple». He would have flunked Marketing 101. «Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple,» he said. Jesus was not interested in lukewarm, halfhearted, wishy-washy disciples. Pardon me for getting a little bold here. In fact, he wants you all in. He wants total commitment. He wants intimacy with you. He doesn’t want you following at a distance.

One time I was just north of Orlando, a place called Leesburg, Florida. I was preaching there, preaching a parish mission. Walked into the pastor’s office, and I see this painting on the wall that struck me. It was a haunting painting, comes from 1883, Jean-Léon Gérôme painted «The Christian Martyr’s Last Prayer». It was a horrific scene. Here’s 25 Christians huddled in prayer, they’re in the Circus Maximus in Rome, thousands of people, it’s like a sporting event, are spectating. The lions, the ferocious lions were just being let loose. Other Christians, their bodies were being burned at the stake, and heres this gruesome, sickening, ghastly scene of these Christians praying as they’re about to be eaten alive by these ferocious lions.

This is what happened 2,000 years ago, martyrdom. There was a cost. It was hard to follow Jesus. The state was against Christianity, the state being Rome at the time. I’ve studied in Rome, of course now Christianity was legalized way back in the year 323, and Rome is the headquarters of the Catholic church. I studied in Rome, it’s the place of martyrs. St. Agnes, this young girl who gave her life for Christ, St. Lawrence the deacon who was killed for Christ, Peter, Paul, and the blood has soaked the ground of Rome, the blood of martyrs, and that’s why the Catholic church for one, over a billion, a billion believers, and other denominations, too, from these early martyrs.

Pope John Paul II, in an Apostolic letter, «The Advent of the New Millennium,» said there have been more martyrs in the 20th century than in all the other centuries combined. Now, you’re probably not called to be a martyr, let’s hope not, but Christianity is still something radical and demanding, and we must count the cost. Jesus told parables about that, about if you wanna follow me, count the cost. It’s difficult, it’s not easy. You may not be called to be a martyr, but we are all called if we follow Jesus authentically. That’s what this is all about.

Pardon me for pushing you a little here. We must forgive people. That can be so hard. Be generous to people. It’s better to give than to receive. Be dedicated to prayer, service, getting involved, participating in the community. Christianity was never meant to be a privatized thing, it’s about community, it’s about involvement, it’s about getting together with others. It’s not a spectator sport. Mark my words, it says this all over the place in the Bible, you will be judged by your deeds, by your actions. That’s why following Jesus is so important, becoming like him, who of course washed our feet and invited us to wash the feet of each other.

In the call story, I noticed that Peter and Andrew left their nets, James and John left their boat, left their father behind. How hard is that, to leave things behind? Gave my life to Jesus in college, born and brought up Catholic, but following him at a big distance, didn’t really know who he was, but then I made a surrender, heard the call, wanted to be an authentic disciple. It was hard for me because I was afraid. I was afraid of what people thought of me. I was shy. I didn’t really like getting involved in all that institutionalized religion, all these people and their judgments, but I did. I got involved.

Remember at the last supper, as I said, Jesus washed our feet, and he said if I do it, you must wash the feet of one another. And I became a lay volunteer right after college. Here I am this young man, 22 years old, and I stepped out in faith, didn’t know what to do, but I wanted to get involved because I felt the call. And I remember before I went to Missouri, I’ve never even flown on an airplane before, I didn’t exactly know where I was gonna be going.

I remember they had a going away party for me, my family, my friends, and there in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts where I lived, it was a great celebration and everything, but in the pit of my stomach, I felt sick because I didn’t know where I was going, but I wanted to follow Jesus authentically. Make a long story short, went to Missouri, youth ministry, taught in a school, reached out to elderly, felt a deeper call to become a priest. Preached for 30 years on the road, perish missions, calling people to Christ. God opened the door for television and radio, the rest is history. And Jesus said anybody who leaves family, or home, or parents, or money, or houses, will receive in this age a hundred times more, and in the age to come, life eternally. You see, God is not outdone in generosity, and when you give yourself to Christ in discipleship, you will receive so much more meaning, fulfillment, blessing, grace, wow.

Is there something you need to leave behind right now? I invite you to let go and follow Jesus, to make a move. The earliest designation for discipleship or Christians in the early church wasn’t Christian, it wasn’t Catholic, it was, the disciples called themselves The Way, why? Because they followed Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life. They’re on the way to heaven, and the way is a term or a designation that designates the journey, the pilgrimage, discipleship. You don’t arrive all at once. Remember, Paul the Apostle said that? He says I haven’t arrived yet. It’s a journey of maturity, and growth, and progression. You get better and better, and deeper and deeper, and that’s what I’m inviting you to. That’s what God is calling you to. Progression, movement, going forward.

Don’t stay stuck. We are all called, you and I. Take a moment now and receive that call. Take a moment now and respond to that call. What is the call? Number one, to come closer to Jesus, number two, to follow Jesus, to become like him, and number three, to make a difference, to proclaim Jesus. I remember I watched that play one time, it was called «Godspell». They had that beautiful song, it’s 24/7 discipleship, that song was «Day by Day». The verses were simply this, «Day by day, oh, dear Lord, three things I pray. To see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly, day by day». Jesus is calling you right now, and he’s saying, Come, follow me. Don’t just live, live with passion.