28th Sunday after Pentecost. Parable of the Wedding Banquet (December 14, 2025)

Addressing the one who longed for perfection, the Savior said: “Follow Me…” At that time, these words were simple; they meant leaving behind all concerns – family, work, vocation, habits – and walking with Christ along the roads of the Holy Land, witnessing His miracles, listening to His words, becoming His disciple to the very depths of the soul, and awaiting what was yet to come, known only to the Son of God, who entered the world to give His life for it.

But what do these words mean when spoken to us today? They cannot signify a physical, bodily following of Christ along earthly paths; rather, Christ calls us to follow Him into eternal life. When the disciples of John the Baptist asked Him: “Where do You live?” – He replied: “Come and see…” In the earthly sense, He dwelt in a humble hut near the Jordan; but in another, deeper sense – the one that captured the disciples forever – He, as Scripture says of God, dwelt in unapproachable light, in the depths of Divinity; in that light which enlightens every person entering this world.

And so the Lord calls us to follow Him into those depths of divine knowledge, into the mystery of eternity and life. He Himself declared: eternal life is to know God and His Son Jesus Christ. Life is to be united with Him so inseparably, so profoundly, that we may say: “My life is Christ.” His teaching, His way, His thoughts and feelings, His will and His destiny – they are mine; I accept them as my cross, as resurrection, as death and as life, as the path.

This is what it means now to follow Christ: to listen to His divine word, which outlines and directs the way of life; and along this way, with all the strength we have – indeed, with all our strength – to be disciples of Christ. Yet for this, as in ancient times, we must be freed from all that enslaves us, binds us, and keeps us from eternal life. Each of us must reflect on this, for each has something that – perhaps not in words, perhaps not even consciously – he prefers to God. We must look deeply within and ask ourselves: if the Savior stood before me now and said, “Leave this; it is the one barrier between you and eternal life” – what would I answer? Would I leave it, or would I say: “I cannot, Lord, forgive me”?

This is what we must ponder, for we are all called to follow Christ into the glory of eternal life. This is our vocation: to rise in spirit before the time comes when we shall rise in body; to enter into the mystery of Divinity, to know God, as the Apostle Paul says, just as we ourselves are known by Him; to worship Him with our whole life, our whole spirit, our whole truth. Amen.