Our gospel reading is reflecting 2 images of Jesus. First of all, He is a God with no exception of persons. For Him everybody is a friend. Nobody is left behind. We can see how He consider every disciple a friend when He invited each one of them to be with Him, without considering their background. For Him everybody is a friend. He want to have an encounter with us. For Jesus, background is not a hindrance or barriers to have us as a friend and companion. Just like us who been called by Him to be with Him, no matter who and what we are.

The second image that Jesus shows is His personal touch that makes the disciple follow Him. “Come and follow me,” a powerful word of Jesus that made the disciple leave everything behind. And even in our case, we too have been hooked with the powerful word of Jesus, “Come and follow me,” that made us leave everything behind and follow the call of God. Even in the midst of uncertainty, we hold to the word of Jesus to embrace the life consecrated to Him.

And here we are, faithfully trying to fulfill the precept of God, because we know in God we are all secure. In God, we know, things will run smoothly. So the question is: what are the things that hindrance us from being faithful in our encounter with Jesus? What are the barriers that make us keep distance with Him? What are the things that we need to let go? For God’s friendship, no matter who we are, we are all welcome. He will always invite us to feast in His banquet. Here is the word of God for us, “this is the time of fulfillment, repent, and believe in the gospel”.  Remove the barriers in our way. Let us be like little children. “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them.” Children that had no status whatsoever, nor have title to be competing for positions of power.  As a respond to God’s invitation to “Come and follow me.” We are called to plea to God, “Teach me your ways, O Lord”, and with this, we may enjoy fully His presence in the midst of countless changes and challenges of life.

Perhaps we could ask ourselves: in what way I have been barred from coming before God’s presence and how did I overcome this?