John 21:18-19: Peter’s Challenge
The Challenge That Lay Before Peter
Put yourself in Peter’s sandals for a moment. What has your life been like over the last three and half years? Peter was already married when Jesus bade him follow. He had a wife to support and a mother-in-law as well. Andrew appears to have lived in the same house with them, and there was a fishing boat to maintain and a business to operate if the family was to survive. Yet when Jesus called, Peter knew where his first duty lay. He had followed the teaching of John the Baptizer, and he knew One was coming whose greatness would demand an allegiance like no other. John had identified that man as Jesus, and Peter’s brother, Andrew, had spent the better part of a day with this Teacher and coming home had assured Peter: “This is the Christ” (1:41). So Peter had left his fishing boat and the nets and trusting only in the providence of God and the generosity of Jesus’ supporters, he began a new life as a disciple.
During Jesus’ ministry Peter saw many amazing things. In the same synagogue Peter had attended every week, the disciple saw a demon-possessed man identify Jesus as “the Holy One of God,” and he saw Jesus silence the demon with a word and then rip the evil spirit out of the man’s body with only the power of his voice. Peter had heard of exorcists before, but he’d never seen anyone like this! When Peter returned home that same day, he discovered his wife’s mother gravely ill, incapacitated in bed with a high fever. Jesus came to the bed and took her hand, and suddenly she was completely well! Over the next year Peter saw Jesus heal hundreds of sick people and cast out many demons. Lame men were made to walk, the deaf to hear, the blind to see. Lepers were cleansed, and the oppressed were set free.
One day a synagogue ruler came to Jesus for help. His daughter was very sick, near the point of death, and Jesus agreed to come and heal her. But they were delayed on the way. The Lord stopped to help a woman who had been sick and unclean for many years. Jesus even took the time to stand in the street and listen to her story. It was an amazing work, but in the meantime, a servant came from the ruler’s house to announce that his daughter had died. If only Jesus had not wasted so much time with the woman! Maybe the girl might have survived. But Jesus seemed to take little notice of what the servant said. He went on to the house with the grieving father, and Peter was one of only three disciples he allowed to accompany them. When they got to the house, Jesus told the crowd of mourners not to cry because the girl wasn’t dead, just sleeping. They mocked his foolishness. It must have been very awkward and embarrassing. But Jesus seemed unfazed. He put all of them outside the house, took Peter, the other two disciples, and the girl’s parents into the room where her body was laid out. It was obvious she was dead. Peter didn’t know what Jesus was thinking to say otherwise. It seemed callous and ridiculous, not the kind of thing a holy man ought to say. But then Peter watched as Jesus walked over to the body, grasped the dead girl’s hand, spoke to her gently, and then the girl’s eyes opened… and she sat up. That wasn’t the last time Peter would see Jesus raise someone from the dead, but he never got used to it.
Peter heard parables by the sea and explanations in the house. He watched Jesus feed large crowds in the wilderness with just a few loaves of bread and fish… twice. He saw Jesus instantly stop a storm on the sea by speaking to the wind. On another night he saw Jesus walk on top of the water, and when Peter called out to the Lord--what was he thinking that night?!--Jesus told him to step out of the boat, and Peter did.
Peter knew Jesus had enemies, and he observed many confrontations between Jesus and them as well. He suspected they wanted to kill him, and a couple of times he saw angry crowds try. But Peter was prepared for the possibility. He kept his sword close and was ready at a moment’s notice to fight and die so that Jesus could escape and survive. As Passover once again drew near, Jesus seemed increasingly somber. He had been talking a lot about his death. He seemed to think it was certain, even when Peter assured him it was not. Peter tried to help Jesus see that these morbid predictions were unnecessary and liable to discourage the other disciples, but Jesus simply didn’t understand. Peter tried to be patient with him and encourage him whenever he could.
The night of the Passover, Peter was with Jesus and the other disciples in the Upper Room eating the meal. The Lord had been acting strange all night. He washed the disciples’ feet after supper, something he never should have done as Peter tried to point out. Peter wanted to help Jesus understand the proper decorum for a future King, but the Teacher could be rather stubborn and unwilling to receive wise correction and suggestions. But then Jesus began talking about how all of the disciples were going to abandon him. This was beyond a morose or depressing moment; this was completely inappropriate and wrong! Peter had to speak up. “Not so, Lord! That’s not going to happen. Don’t talk that way. We will stand by you.” But Jesus doubled down. “Really, Peter? Before this night is over you will deny me three times” “No way!” Now Peter was upset. It was too bad Jesus was feeling discouraged, but Peter wasn’t about to let this kind of slander go uncorrected. “Even if all the rest of these guys leave you, I never will! Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you!”
You know what happened after that. Peter went to the garden with Jesus, and that traitor Judas showed up with a group of armed men. Peter drew his sword and swung for the closest man’s head. He just needed to buy Jesus enough time to slip away in the dark, and if he was lucky, perhaps Peter’s sword would reach Judas before the rest of the men took him out. Peter was ready to sign his promise with blood that night. He did not expect to leave that garden alive. But then Jesus spoke in the dim flickering torchlight. “Stop, Peter. Put away your sword. I don’t need your help. You can’t save me.” Peter did as he was commanded, albeit in a daze. And as he watched, Jesus was arrested and led away by his enemies, and Peter’s whole world collapsed.
Jesus was alive again, and evidently, for reasons Peter would never understand, Jesus had forgiven him and still loved him and still wanted to use him as a shepherd for his flock. Peter was still trying to wrap his mind around it when Jesus spoke again on the beach that morning.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”
This He spoke, signifying by what death [Peter] would glorify God.
And when He had spoken this, [Jesus] said to him, “Follow Me.” (vv.18-19)
There it was. Peter had been ready to die in the garden that night, but that proved not to be God’s will. But now Jesus told him in no uncertain terms, “If you choose to follow Me on this next journey, it will end in your death. You won’t survive the next part of this story. Now, Peter, follow Me.” There was no question what following Jesus would cost. Peter had been ready to be a martyr, and now he knew for certain that if he followed Jesus, one day he would be.
Scripture does not record the circumstances of Peter’s death, but since ancient times the fathers of the Church have spoken with one voice that he died in Rome during the reign of Nero. Tradition says that he was crucified upside down, which is historically plausible though in Peter’s case the evidence for this manner of death comes later. In the end Peter’s promise was signed with blood, but not in the way it would have been in the garden that night. There Peter hoped to die as a warrior, laying down his life in order to spare Jesus from shedding his blood. In the end Peter died as a martyr, a witness, a preacher of righteousness, laying down his life in service to the One who had first shed his blood for Peter and by doing so redeemed him from sin, pride, and foolishness.
When Jesus Calls a Man, He Bids Him Follow Through Death into Life
Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s death is extraordinary. Few disciples ever know conclusively that they will be martyrs when they begin their ministry. There is a particular way in which this admonition and exhortation applies to those whom Christ calls as pastors of the flock. Though not all will be martyred as Peter was, nevertheless those ordained to feed and tend Christ’s sheep are called to “spend and be spent” (2Cor. 12:15) and to “die daily” (1Cor. 15:31) in that service. Many of us who are pastors should be ashamed at how little we give, how quick we are to complain, and how weak is our commitment in the same office of service where so many men gave their lives.
This is not a sermon for pastors, so what does our Lord’s words to Peter have to say to the rest of Christ’s sheep? Is this only a personal word from the Lord, one that has little relevance for the rest of us? It is personal, and we should not twist it into a command for all people. But it is valuable as an illustration of the nature of discipleship. When Jesus calls a man to follow, he bids him to follow through death into life.
We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, but what does the life of a justified person look like? What does discipleship demand of us? Jesus said, “If any man desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross every day, and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23). To follow Jesus means to love him alone, not merely more than our family, our fishing business, or even our own lives (cf. Lk. 14:26, 33). Forsaking all others, we give ourselves wholly to him. Paul states it this way in Romans 14:7-8: “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” How does the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism explain it?
That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has delivered me from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
The disciple knows that “in the midst of life we are in death” (1662 BCP). As Paul would say in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me,” or again in 2 Corinthians 5:15: “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
You may not be called to die as a martyr, but you have been called to live as one. Your life does not belong to you. You belong to Jesus Christ. He bought you with his blood. You don’t find time to make for him, he gives you time to work for his glory. Prayer and worship is not secondary but primary. All of life is now a vehicle for and exercise of Christian service. Whether reading your Bible, washing the dishes, rocking the baby, loving your spouse, reading fairy tales to your kids, or sharing a meal with your brothers: “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1Cor. 10:31). Because soon you will stand before him, and then it won’t matter so much how far you advanced in your education or career. No one will care about your grade point average on Judgment Day. We won’t be comparing annual salaries, stock portfolios, or the various cars we owned and drove during our lives in this world. None of these things are evil, by the way. In fact, being a disciple of Jesus transforms every one of them. But your motivation in each pursuit has now changed. You no longer seek to excel for your glory and self-advancement. You pursue excellence because you seek to bring glory and honor to him.
Would you follow Jesus if you knew for certain that doing so would end in your death? Because as a matter of fact, unless Jesus returns first, it will. You may not be crucified or stoned or shot by a firing squad. But you will die in the service of Christ, because that is the only way that a disciple ever leaves this world. Death is the doorway into the presence of Christ, and since every breath that we take and everything that we do we do as disciples through faith in Christ and for God’s glory, then you will die in the same way. It may be in a car crash or from a heart attack or from cancer or simply old age. But whenever and however it happens, you will die in faith and hope and for God’s glory. You can be sure of that. You won’t finish this next part of the journey alive. You must walk through the valley of the shadow of death to reach Mount Zion on the other side. But Jesus will walk there with you. He knows the way, because he walked it before. And now he says to you, “Follow Me.”
Pastoral Application: Are You Prepared to Die Daily with Christ?
We are weak, complaining, selfish, and easily discouraged people. I say we because that is easier than saying me. But it’s just as true of me as any of you, and it is considerably more true of me than some of you. One of the ways the stories of the martyrs in both Scripture and Christian history helps us is in admonishing us to stop acting like spoiled, selfish, whiny children. Jesus calls us to be child-like, not child-ish. Calvin develops the point in this way:
“In Peter we have a striking mirror of our ordinary condition. Many have an easy and agreeable life before Christ calls them; but as soon as they have made profession of his name, and have been received as his disciples, or, at least, some time afterwards, they are led to distressing struggles, to a troublesome life, to great dangers, and sometimes to death itself. This condition, though hard, must be patiently endured. Yet the Lord moderates the cross by which he is pleased to try his servants, so that he spares them a little while, until their strength has come to maturity; for he knows well their weakness, and beyond the measure of it he does not press them. Thus he forbore with Peter, so long as he saw him to be as yet tender and weak. Let us therefore learn to devote ourselves to him to the latest breath, provided that he supply us with strength.
“In this respect, we behold in many persons base ingratitude; for the more gently the Lord deals with us, the more thoroughly do we habituate ourselves to softness and effeminacy. Thus we scarcely find one person in a hundred who does not murmur if, after having experienced long forbearance, he be treated with some measure of severity. But we ought rather to consider the goodness of God in sparing us for a time. Thus Christ says that, so long as he dwelt on earth, he conversed cheerfully with his disciples, as if he had been present at a marriage, but that fasting and tears afterwards awaited them, (Matthew 9:15.)”
--John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel of John
I have no doubt many of you would be glad to die with Christ if called upon to do so. But how many of us are joyfully living for Christ right now? Will we gladly die daily? We may not be martyred in a dramatic moment, but we are called to live as martyrs every day. Will you lay down your life for Jesus: when the dishes need to be washed, the clothes need to be folded, the kids need to be comforted, the bills need to be paid? Will you lay down your life when the TV beckons but the Scripture has remained unopened? Will you lay down your life when your body craves rest, but your soul is parched for lack of prayer? Will you lay down your life when you are weary and discouraged and when it feels as though there is no point in going on? Will you lay down your life by living it for God’s glory, and keep pressing forward because you know he calls you home?
Conclusion
Our word martyr comes from the Greek word for witness. The martyrs bore witness of Christ and sealed their testimony with their own blood. Without minimizing the magnitude of their sacrifice, do you see that it is only a particular manifestation of the kind of dedication every disciple is called unto? Live for Christ, die, and be received into glory. That is the pattern, the plan, the path that we are called to walk in this valley of shadow. We are men and women, boys and girls, who live eternally, but we live and walk among the dead while we are here. Let our lives bear witness to God’s glory. Let our love for one another--for saints and spouses, children and co-workers, neighbors and enemies--be a testimony of God’s grace and power which has transformed us. Let that testimony be sealed in how we die, as we face the moment of death as those who have been delivered from the fear of it, who welcome it, embrace it, and enter into it knowing we will live with Christ on the other side. If you follow Jesus, you must die. Now Jesus beckons you, “Follow Me.” Amen.
