Following Jesus is not simply believing in him. It's walking with him. Walking behind him. Listening to him, imitating him, loving him. And this journey sometimes becomes demanding. It often begins with a surge of enthusiasm, as on Palm Sunday, but it continues in the darkness of the garden, in the silence of the trial, in the weight of the cross. To follow Jesus to the end is to agree to go through with him what seems incomprehensible, unjust and painful.
But Jesus doesn't ask the impossible. He doesn't want spiritual heroes. He's looking for open hearts. True hearts. Available hearts. To follow Jesus to the end is not to succeed in doing everything perfectly, it's to let God work in us. And to do that, certain inner attitudes can help us. Here are three simple but profound dispositions to hold fast on this path.
The humility of remaining small
Following Jesus to the end begins with a simple recognition: I am not stronger than the disciples. Like them, I am capable of sincere promises... and quick forgetting. Like them, I can say "I'll follow you wherever you go" and run away when the wind changes. Like them, I'm afraid. I'm fragile. And yet it is with hearts like ours that Jesus wants to move forward.
Humility is not self-contempt. It is a lived truth. It means accepting to be a learning disciple. To not understand everything. To fall sometimes. But to get up again. Humility also means not being discouraged by ourselves. It's knowing that God knows us better than we know ourselves, and that he continues to call us despite our weaknesses.
When Jesus looks at Peter after his denial, it's not a look of reproach. It is a look of love. A look that lifts him up. Humility allows us to receive this gaze without fleeing. To say, "Lord, I've let you down, but I still want to follow you."
Faithfulness in the little things
Following Jesus to the end is not played out only in the big choices. It is played out above all in the small fidelities of everyday life. A prayer said when tired. A forgiveness given without being asked. A discreet, invisible act of love, offered to God alone.
It is in these small gestures that faith is built. It is there that our relationship with Christ becomes true, solid, incarnate. Faithfulness doesn't need to be spectacular. It needs to be constant. Silent. Present.
Mary, at the foot of the cross, says nothing. She does nothing extraordinary. She is there. Present. To the very end. And that is enough. To be there. To hold. Accompanying. It's not nothing. It is perhaps, in the end, the strongest attitude.
At times when faith seems to fade, when prayer becomes difficult, when God seems far away, this silent fidelity becomes a precious offering. It says, "I no longer feel you, but I remain." And in that simple "I remain", everything is contained.
Trust in the midst of the incomprehensible
There are times when following Jesus takes us into areas we don't understand. Why the suffering? Why the silence? Why the injustices? Why the cross? Jesus himself, on the cross, cried out, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" This cry does not come from doubt. It comes from real suffering, lived in radical trust.
Trust is not about understanding everything. It's holding on when you no longer understand anything. It's believing that God is still there, even in the night. It's believing that love continues to act, even in silence.
Following Jesus to the end sometimes means accepting to walk in the night. But it means walking with him. It's not walking alone. It's walking with the One who has already crossed the abyss. And who has opened a passageway.
Trust is not built in a day. It is received. It is cultivated. It is whispered in prayer. It is learned in storms. And it gradually becomes an inner peace that does not depend on circumstances.
Conclusion
Following Jesus to the end does not require feats. It requires a true heart. Humble. Faithful. Confident. Jesus is not looking for perfect disciples. He's looking for hearts that want to love. Souls who are willing to walk, even slowly, even with doubts, but with him.
Humility, faithfulness, trust are like three inner pillars. Three ways of entering more deeply into the Gospel. Three paths that lead not only to the cross... but to the Resurrection. For those who walk with Jesus in the night will one day see the light of morning. And it will be a light that nothing can ever extinguish.
