Bjcorbin's Blog

At the end of John’s gospel (John 21:18-22), he speaks of an incident, which happened at the time of Peter’s restoration, following the crucifixion. Within the context of the story, Jesus foretells some of the unsavory circumstances which will accompany Peter’s eventual death; and in response Peter questions Jesus about John’s death. In typical Peter bluntness he asks, “Lord, what about him?” From a human standpoint, it isn’t hard to relate to Peter at that moment; after all, he just found out that he is going to meet a bad end and he’s wondering if he’s the only one who’s going to have to endure that kind of thing. But even with a small amount of wisdom, it’s hard not to cringe at the idea of posing such a question to Jesus.

Repeatedly, the scripture speaks of the folly of trying to use other people or their circumstances, as a reference point for our own journey. In the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matt 20:1-16), Jesus spoke of the workers who grumbled about those who received a full days wage for only an hour’s work; even though they’d been paid the full and agreed upon price. Paul also warned about measuring ourselves against each other (2 Cor. 10:12) and admonished us to “fix our eyes on Jesus”, who is the “Author and Finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). Even the commandment against coveting has this idea of comparison (e.g. what we have with what other people have…) entrained within it.

Questions like the one Peter asks in this story are bound to lead us in a bad direction and they implicitly question the goodness and/or justice of God. Undoubtedly, Peter was to some degree challenging the fairness of his fate, if John wasn’t going to have to face a similar circumstance. Jesus quickly slammed the door on this line of questioning by saying, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

Whether we want to admit it, each of us has had moments like this; times when we’ve questioned why we got what we got, or didn’t get what someone else got; times where we’ve viewed other people’s trials or gifts or callings or circumstances as more desirable than our own. In those moments we need to remind ourselves that we are completely unique beings; handcrafted in our mother’s wombs by the God of creation and that all of our days were written in His book before one of them came to pass (Psalm 139:13-16). We need to trust in His goodness and mercy toward us; and we need to remember Jesus words to Peter, “What is that to you? You must follow me.”