But You, Follow Me

How easy it is to identify with Peter, the fisherman disciple. What a person of true humanity! He asks Jesus during the transfiguration if he should build Him a shelter. He finds himself rebuked by the Master when he tells Him not to suffer and die. He asks Jesus what exactly his reward will be for having forsaken all to follow Him. He asks the Lord how many times he has to forgive. He walks on the water and finds himself sinking. He sleeps during the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. He promises to be faithful to the Lord unto death only to listen to a cock crow three times to remind him of his denial.

However many times I have related to Peter's tendency to talk when listening was in proper order, I have found myself most recently identifying with Peter in his conversation with the Risen Lord. After Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him, and promises him a life of submission to suffering, ultimately to crucifixion, Peter sees the disciple, John, and asks the Lord, "What shall this man do?"

The Lord responds with perfect insight, "What is that to you? You follow Me."

How many times have I received the calling of circumstances from the hand of the Lord only to stand in Peter’s place and wonder why my calling isn’t that of another? How easy it is to find the gift in another’s calling and somehow hope that another’s calling could be my own.

It is my heart that must receive these words of Christ, “What is that to you? You follow Me.”