JOHN 13:36-38 “O, Peter, Peter, Peter…”

36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

Following Jesus is about humility and not bravado. We are to open ourselves to the truth by listening, rather than calling attention to ourselves by making groundless claims. If we have to say something in response to the Gospel challenge, it should be, “I will, with God’s help.” Following is a matter of submitting to the authority and will of the Leader. As soon as we begin to articulate what we are going to do without listening to the guidance of the Leader, we are no longer following but going our own way. When it comes to the Christian life, if human beings were able to find their own way back to the Father, then Jesus’ coming into the world was unnecessary. Rather, as the Prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (53:6). Elsewhere it is written,

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Most of us are more subtle than Peter. In general we are an impatient people, so our tendency is to decide something needs to be done and done now, which is another way of getting out in front of Jesus rather than following him. Notice that Jesus’ statement has to do with timing. He tells them that they “cannot follow now, but [they] will follow later.” God’s will involves God’s perfect timing. As any gardener knows, you can do everything correctly, but if you put the plants in the ground too early, you do not get an early yield, you get dead plants. When it comes to following Jesus, it takes humble patience to truly trust in his timing, rather than go our own way.

True faith is a matter of humble submission to the will of God; both his commands and his timing. But it is in the soil of such submission that the Gospel seed of the kingdom grows in your life and in the world around you.

I confess to you, Lord Jesus that I have too often gone my own way instead of faithfully following you. Save me from my impatience, as well as my impudence. Guide me through your Holy Spirit so that I can keep my eyes solely on you and live my life in absolute submission to your will. May my focus be on glorifying you and not on me glorifying you. Amen.