John 21:21-22
When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”
After learning about his own future martyrdom, Peter asks the Lord about John’s future. We aren’t told what Peter’s motivation is. Perhaps he’s concerned for his close friend. Wouldn’t that be just like Peter? He takes action; he’s a leader and he worries about others. And what a glorious thing it is in a selfish and sinful world for Peter, instead of scheming of ways to advance his own cause, after learning of his own future death, to be concerned with his friend.
The lesson here is both simple and powerful for us today. Jesus answers Peter’s question with a hypothetical statement. It’s the biblical pattern and we should take careful possession of this deep truth. The disciples had asked Jesus why some Galileans had suffered under Pilate (Luke 13:1-2), why a man had been born blind (John 9:1-3), and Jesus never answered in a way they expected. Peter does it again here and it’s a common error of Christian living, which is the want of future knowledge. True trust in God is knowing that our future is secure in Him so much that we say always in our hearts, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 17:25). Thus, the point to Jesus’ answer is that whatever He does will be good. Paul makes this case explicit in Romans 8:28 when he says that all things will work together for good for those who love God.
The question is, however, how are we to live in the gaps? How are we to face the valley of the shadow of death, life’s trials and tribulations, and the uncertainty of our time?
First, we must remember that salvation means fellowship with the Lord through faith in Christ, not omniscience. The goal of life is to glorify God through faith. In Ecclesiastes 8:17, which is a wonderful book on this exact subject, we read, “…then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.” The issue before us is one of intellectual pride and conceit, which is, quite naturally, antithetical to faith. We must be prayerful and vigilant lest the weeds of pride grow in our hearts and make us resentful when the Lord sends us into a wilderness.
After the Israelites were supernaturally delivered from Egypt, magnificently and gloriously defeating, through the work of the Lord, the world’s greatest army, God’s people found themselves exposed to the elements. They had defeated Pharaoh without even having an army themselves and now they were in the uncharted territory of faith. In captivity they had the security of slaves. Suddenly, miraculously, they were freed but their freedom, like ours from sin, left them in a wilderness of confusion. They were babes in the woods, unarmed, unprepared, and completely surrounded on all sides by enemies.
It’s like this that Christian freedom begins. The Jews followed the pillar of cloud, moving when it moved, stopping when it stopped. Their goal wasn’t, truth be told, the promised land, but trust in God. They had to learn this after their deliverance, and so do we. Our promised land is the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s there for us, in Christ, and He will lead us as God led the Jews after they were brought out of physical slavery. How did they stumble? By grumbling and complaining! At the first sign of hunger, they wilted and accused God of bringing them out to die! Do you see what a serious sin this is? Do you see how great an affront it is to accuse God of malfeasance after all He’s done? “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)” And our offense is worse today. At least the Israelites were in the wilderness. Where are you? What is your complaint against God? To grumble against the God who died for your sin is the grossest form of ingratitude.
This is why Jesus tells Peter, “You follow me!” He’s telling him to keep his eye on Jesus and not get distracted. And, be sure, earthly distractions will always lead, inexorably, to grumbling against God because the Enemy will make sure that your eyes are never satisfied. The base sin of mankind against God is thanklessness, which is based in presumption and pride. And we see it fully when a trial comes. The antidote is to stay focused on Jesus…you follow Him!
Does another Christian have a life of ease whereas you do not? Is some person advancing in life where you appear stagnant? The principle of sin is always to think of life as the judge rather than as the servant of God. The principle of sin sees a fact and says, “I think…”. The principle of the Christian, equipped with the new mind that’s set on the Spirit says, “What does the Scripture say?” We must be careful, therefore, to mind our own business. We must be careful to let others follow Jesus Christ according to Scripture and not micro-manage the details of their life. Who are we to judge the servant of God (Romans 14:4)? The point of Jesus’ answer to Peter is simple: we are not the Lord and He doesn’t share His sovereignty or omniscience with us. Period. End of story.
The desire to know the future is the root of all sorts of anxiety. Christian contentment is rooted in “you follow Me.” There’s a tendency in the church to “save” people to a program or a particular way of doing things rather than to the Jesus Christ of the Bible. The way to avoid the dreadful traps of antinomianism (lawlessness) and legalism (man-made, extra-biblical rules) is to stay focused on the Jesus of scripture. And the best way to do that is to keep coming here, to this very verse – and to keep in mind the nature of the God who says this. Jesus Christ died for our sins, suffering horribly in our place. Then He rose again. Sin is so terrible that it required the cross but in faith we have the assurance of the resurrection. Surely the Jesus Christ who died for us and then defeated death can handle our daily lives. Surely He’s to be trusted to make our path clear to that promised land. And surely He’s worthy to be trusted not only with our lives, but with the souls of our fellow believers. Thus, we lean not on our own understanding but keep the Lord Jesus Christ preeminent in all our thinking.
We follow Him.
The world says, in arrogance, “you got this.” We reply, “…no, Jesus does.”
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