Life-spark: As for you, follow the Lord of life. (John 21:20-25)
Jesus came to reveal God’s gift of deep, unending aliveness, and to deliver that gift to us through His death. That lift-gift is sourced in our (vertical) relationship with God and is expressed in our (horizontal) relationship with others.
John’s gospel – his account of God’s aliveness wrapped in Jesus – ends with Jesus coming to His disciples workplace – the sea – to make sure that they didn’t confuse ‘making a living’ with ‘living a life.’ He wanted them remember the Signs of Life that He had shown them over the last three years.
Jesus helped Peter re-enlist, and then He told Peter that his tenure on this planet would end with martyrdom, just as the Lord’s did. Peter was eventually crucified, upside down, because he refused to do a re-run of his earlier denial of Christ.
When Peter caught what Jesus was saying, he asked the Lord if his dear friend John would fare better. “What about him, Lord?” Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” (John 21:22a, NIV)
We make a mistake when we put the horizontal (our relationship with others) before the vertical (our relationship with God). Jesus gently chided Peter with the words, “As for you, follow me.” (John 21:22b, NIV) Following Jesus is, in its primal state, an individual thing. You shouldn’t follow Jesus because someone else does, or if someone else does. You should follow Him even if and even when no one else does. When He returns, we will stand before Him individually, not as couples or groups.
Maybe you’ve allowed the horizontal, your relationship with others, to have a negative affect on your relationship with God. Maybe you’ve been in a painful church split. Or you been divorced by someone who claimed to be a Christ-follower. Or you’ve been abandoned by someone who should have helped you.
Jesus didn’t say, “Get over it.” He said, tenderly but firmly, to Peter, to you, and me, “As for you, follow me.”
Life-challenge: Is there a person you would ask the Lord about, “What about him/her?” Hear the voice of the Living One: “As for you, follow me.”