Lord, what about this man?

John 21:22  Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. 

Jesus had just asked Simon Peter three times if he loved Him. Thereafter, the Lord foretold about the later stage of his life and his kind of death (John 21:18). Peter didn’t quite understand what the Lord was saying. But turning around, he saw John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he asked the Lord Jesus: “Lord, what about this man?” (John 21:21, ESV).

It was a natural question. Although Peter did not know the full meaning of the words just addressed to himself, he felt that they signified trial, sorrow, perhaps even prison and death. When, therefore, he saw his fellow disciple John following Jesus, nothing would more readily occur to him than to ask: “And what. Lord, shall be his fate?”  Probably, it was out of curiosity that he asked the question.

His question invited a gentle rebuke from the Lord: “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21:22, ESV). To say it bluntly, it means: “There’s none of your concern. You take care of your own business first. You follow me.”

Peter had denied the Lord three times that he knew Him. It was the lowest point of Peter’s life. It wasn’t something he would like to be reminded of. Yet, the Lord directed three questions at Peter if he loved Him. And like most of us, who really don’t like having the Word of God directed straight at us, Peter began to look at others to divert the conversation away from him. But the Lord answered in a direct way again, “What is that to thee?” And then commanded, “Follow thou me.”

What was in Peter’s mind? Probably these:

1. I am going to feed sheep; what about John? What’s he going to do? Shouldn’t he be working too?

2. I’m going to suffer and die as a martyr; what about John? Am I the only one to suffer? Why only me?

But the Lord said it was none of his business; his business was to follow Him. We too need not be concerned about the things of others, but concentrate our effort on following Christ. Remember these:

1.      There will be some Christians who don’t live as Christians. Let not their bad examples affect your faith; follow Jesus! (1 Timothy 4:12)

2.      There will be some Christians who will not serve the Lord. Let not their idleness affects you from serving God; follow Jesus! (1 Corinthians 15:58).

3.      There will be some Christians who will say wrong and hurtful things about you. Let not their words destroy your faith; follow Jesus! (Matthew 5:11).

Our Lord says: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19). The Lord will take care of the sins of others. We take care of our own life and make sure we do not walk like them because each has to answer to God for his own sin and not the sins of others: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

We need not be concerned about what others are doing; they are not our examples. We follow the example of our Lord Jesus (1 Peter 2:21) and the good examples of those who follow Christ (Hebrews 6:12).

The Lord gets to the heart of Peter: “What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” The commandment is also for us: Don’t follow man; follow Jesus!

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.