Follow Me

In the closing verses of John's Gospel (John 21:15-22), Jesus reinstates Peter. Just a few days earlier, when Jesus was about to be crucified, Peter denied that he knew Jesus three times.

Now, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him, and three times Peter responds in the affirmative. Each time, Jesus tells Peter to "feed my sheep."

Jesus then indicates the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. He then says, "Follow me."

"Follow me" should recall the same terminology used by Jesus when he called the fishermen to become his disciples. Now, Jesus is again calling Peter to follow him.

What is particularly striking is that Peter then turned and saw the disciple John and asked Jesus, "What about him?" Peter wanted to know how John was going to die. My paraphrase of what Jesus responded to Peter is this: "What about him? I have just told you that you are to follow me -- that you are to feed my sheep. I may give John something far better than what I'm giving you, but that doesn't lessen what I've given you to do."

The Apostle Paul talks about the Body of Christ. It's as if we're each a different body part, each assigned to a different function. We can't all be the eyes or the hands (seemingly important and noticable parts); some need to be the liver and the kidney -- parts that perform a vital service but which may not be most noticeable.

Sometimes I have to be reminded of this. Just recently, God caught me pointing out another disciple and asking, "What about him?" When I look primarily at others instead of at God, I tend to want what they have. I want to duplicate their successes. It seems unfair when others have better circumstances than I have.

But then God has to remind me that what they are doing is not what I've been called to do. God has to remind me that they have been called to some things and I to others. As parts of a body have different functions, so we have different callings. He reminds me of my call ("feed my sheep") and instructs me, "Follow me."