You’ve probably seen the Darwinian depiction of the evolution of man. It shows 5 stages, beginning with an ape, on the left, with its long arms on the ground by its feet, then the gradual “coming up” of his arms until he becomes “homo sapien”—fully human—walking along proudly on the right, headed in that direction. Facing him, in the same direction, are all the intermittent-stage humans-in-the-making.

A few years ago, our son posted a meme with this picture with the caption “Quit following me!”

That makes me thankful for four things: 1) Humor; 2) That the Lord, not gradual evolution, created us fully human; 3) That we can follow Jesus, the truly Perfect, God-Incarnate, Man, not some end-stage product of evolution; 4) That He wants us to follow Him!

For those of us that decide to follow Him, we need to ask ourselves why we do.

In Mk. 5:22-34, we see a number of people come and follow Him for various reasons.

²² Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³ He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years… ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed…”

Jairus, someone who was used to being in charge and respected, came to Jesus with a direct purpose. He recognized that Jesus had even greater power and authority. By being the first to come to Jesus for help, Jairus demonstrated humility and trust in following Him, as well as setting direction for others.

Others joined in the following to be part of the crowd and get in on the action. They had no idea who was up front, where they were headed or why, but that didn’t matter to them as long as they could be part of the crowd.

Similarly, many in the crowd following Jesus joined in out of curiosity to see what would happen. Jesus was famous. Jairus was well respected. Surely something exciting and good was “going down” and they didn’t want to miss being there when it did! Maybe some 1^st-century “paparazzi” were among these.

Then came the woman who’d been suffering for twelve years with bleeding that had made her constantly ill, uncomfortable, unclean, and therefore ostracized from society, not to mention the doctors who’d “bled her dry” financially! She came and followed out of desperation and hope, based on good reports about Jesus, and her own faith in Him.

Finally, there were those who saw Him act— healing the woman and raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead— they believed in Him and continued to follow. These included Jairus, his family, the woman, and anyone else in the crowd that day.

What about us? Why are we following Him? To be with our friends and part of the crowd? To be part of the action? For entertainment? Out of desperation and last-resort hope? Out of faith? Out of thankfulness?

Yes, Jesus says, “Follow Me…!” (Mat. 4:19; 9:9; 16:24), not “Quit following Me!” Just make sure we’re following Him for the right reasons. Why? So we don’t give up and turn away when the going gets tough, and we grow in faith, gratitude, and character as we follow.