Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He said the following words to the apostle Peter:

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, 'Follow Me!' Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, 'Lord, who is the one who betrays You?' So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, 'Lord, and what about this man?" Jesus said to him, 'I I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!" John 21:18-22

Some Observations from the text

  1. I find it fascinating and scary how Peter would learn how he would die. My mind instantly goes to 2 Peter 1:12-14, where Peter knew how his time on earth was short.
  2. It’s humbling to see how Jesus reminded Peter twice to ‘Follow Him.’ Like Peter, we need to be reminded that we are to follow Jesus! Discipleship is a daily walk. We are to take our cross daily and follow Jesus. Not man-made traditions, not the preacher, not family, or a social influencer, or even ourselves but JESUS! Are you following Jesus? It’s hard to follow Jesus when we don’t know Jesus. Let’s spend more time at His feet this week.
  3. What recently caught my attention is Jesus saying, “What is that to you?” Jesus just told Peter what would happen to him in the future. But Peter quickly looks at another disciple and asks about him. I love how Jesus responds: “What is that you?” Why did Jesus say these words?
    • Possibly because Peter was not focused on what Jesus had just revealed.
    • Maybe because Peter didn’t like what he heard and wanted to see what would happen to the other disciples.
    • The answer is probably given in what Jesus said next to Peter.  “You follow Me!”
  4. It can be easy to get side tracked by looking at others instead of focusing on Jesus. It’s easy to play the comparison game. Jesus says, “What is that to you? Follow me!”  Sometimes jealousy, envy, or bitterness can creep in when we look at the lives of others and see what they have. Jesus says, “What is that you?” Take a moment and reflect upon last week. Did you focus more on others, their lives, their accomplishments, or did you Follow Jesus and your blessings? While we can care and have concern for others, let’s never lose sight on following Jesus personally.