“20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them;
he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is My will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” 23 So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you” John 21: 20-23?
This is a somewhat strange — even tragic — text about John and Peter who were very close during their years with Jesus. Jesus had just finished telling Peter that as a shepherd he will one day have his chance to prove his love by dying for Jesus: “…when you (Peter) grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go” John 21:18. So Peter wants to know what will happen to John, if he too will suffer the same fate as Peter. Jesus’ response to Peter’s question about John, “Lord, what about him?”, is really “None of your business, Peter!” Here we can see the still-rash and impetuous Peter. Those in the community misunderstood Jesus’ response regarding John, thinking that John would live until the second coming of Jesus, which the disciples all thought was going to happen very soon and within their own lifetime. Many remember Jesus’ earlier words when He said: “34 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place” Matthew 24:34, and they believed Jesus was saying that John and some of the other disciples would live to see Jesus return. So when John died before the parousia it shook the faith of some.
It is not certain how John died, but the most plausible theory of John’s death states that John was arrested in Ephesus and faced martyrdom when his enemies threw him in a huge basin of boiling oil. However, according to the tradition, John was miraculously delivered from death.
The authorities then sentenced John to slave labor in the mines of Patmos.
On this island in the southern part of the Aegean Sea, John had a vision of Jesus Christ and wrote the prophetic book of Revelation. The apostle John was later freed, possibly due to old age, and he returned to what is now Turkey. He died as an old man sometime after AD 98, the only apostle to die peacefully, shortly after completing the Gospel.
None of us knows when or how we will die. What matters is that we pray and stay in the Word of God and try to live as Jesus planned us to live.
We have to continue to hear God’s voice, not our own. What is of great significance is that twice in these final verses Jesus tells Peter: “Follow Me!” Those are words to live by for all of us!
Dear Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner. May I live in love and follow You. In Jesus’ name I pray.
From the Bible:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” Matthew 11:28-30.
“And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” Mark 10:21.
"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven”
Matthew 5:16.
“Jesus said this to Peter to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying this he said to Peter, “Follow me” John 21:19.
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him” 1 Peter 3:18-22.
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