Follow Me...


In John 21 we read that after the Resurrection Jesus gently, but without avoidance, opened up the wound of Peter's betrayal when Jesus was being tried by the High Priest and the Roman authorities. Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him reminding Peter that he had denied knowing Jesus three times. Jesus ensured these denials were brought out into the open and dealt with so that Peter could be confident that he was forgiven and restored. After this, Jesus then told Peter what his future would hold and that he would die in old age and in his death he would glorify God. He then challenged Peter by saying "Follow Me". 

Peter by now is feeling so much better than he had felt for days and is grateful that he is restored in his relationship with Jesus but he also seems to be excited by what Jesus has said and questions the Lord about John's future. Jesus responds with:

John 21:22 “If I will that John remain till I come (again), what is that to you? You follow Me.”

Basically Jesus is saying to Peter "stay focused on your walk with Me and mind your own business'!

Reading this challenge to Peter made me wonder how do I go about following Jesus? We talk about being followers of Jesus all the time but we are often vague about how to quantify what following actually means?
With this question in mind I started analysing Peter's life primarily by reading the Book of Acts to try and identifying what following Jesus meant for Peter. What I uncovered will be described over the next few posts but before we do this it is worth noting that when Jesus rebuked Peter for questioning Him about John's future He was making it clear to Peter that the first step in following Him was to "own" this relationship for himself. He wasn't to measure himself against the experience of other believers (such as John) but to remain in a close spiritual relationship so that he could discern what Jesus wanted him to do. This didn't mean Peter forsook fellowship and sharing with other believers but he was to be careful to compare his life with Jesus' life and not the lives of those around him. 

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

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