John 21:16-25: a reflection

16He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” 19Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” 20Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ chest at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” 21Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” 23This saying therefore went out among the brothers that this disciple wouldn’t die. Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, but, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you?” 24This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true. 25There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.

After restoring Peter with the threefold question, do you love me?, and recommissioning him to feed his sheep, Jesus foretells the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God, and then says simply, Follow me. But Peter, turning, sees the disciple John following too, and asks, Lord, what about this man? What will happen to him? Jesus' answer is gently pointed: If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.

Notice Peter's instinct and Jesus' correction. Having just been told about his own costly path, Peter immediately looks to compare it with John's: what about him? It is the instinct to measure our own calling and lot against another's, to wonder why our path is harder, or different, or costlier than someone else's. And Jesus redirects him firmly: John's path is not Peter's concern; Peter's task is simply to follow. What is that to you? You follow me.

That gentle correction speaks to a common temptation. We are prone to compare our calling, our circumstances, our burdens, with others', to wonder why our path is harder or different, to be distracted from our own following by watching someone else's. Jesus' word cuts through it: what is that to you? You follow me. Your task is not to compare your path with another's, but to follow Christ faithfully on the path he has given you. When you find yourself comparing your lot to someone else's, asking why theirs seems easier or different, hear Jesus' redirection: what is that to you? You follow me. Fix your eyes on him, and walk your own path faithfully, without comparison.

Lord Jesus, when Peter, told of his own hard path, looked at John and asked, what about him? you redirected him: what is that to you? You follow me. Guard me from the comparison that distracts me from following you, the instinct to measure my calling, my circumstances, my burdens against others', to wonder why my path is harder or different. Help me not to compare my lot with another's, but to fix my eyes on you and walk faithfully the path you have given me. When I am tempted to compare, remind me: you follow me. Help me simply follow you.