Good Old Peter
John 21:18
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not."
Before Jesus ascended, he had a breakfast meeting on the beach with Peter and the boys. Then, there was a little 1-1 between Jesus and Peter, Jesus is asking Peter if he loved Jesus. After Peter says three times that he does love Jesus, replacing Peter's three denials, Jesus tells him the statement of the verse above. I love how Peter then points to John, "How about him?" Jesus tells Peter to worry about himself. Good advice in general.
Make no mistake about it, when we fail--Jesus or other people--it is more often than not because of a lack of love. There may be other secondary issues like fear, but the lack of love does much to explain causation. Then, Jesus really zeroes in on what it means for Peter love Him. First, Peter is to love Jesus. Peter emphatically states that he does and this is a true confession. Second, Peter is to love others (feed my sheep). Then, Jesus really takes it to the next level, drilling deep into Peter's soul.
"You know what this love is going to look like, Peter?" As an old man, you are going to be dressed for your death by another and carried away where you would really rather not go." Peter would make a terrible Islamo-terrorist...Jesus let Peter know that he would have no itching desire to die when the time came. He'd rather not. But, he was to submit unto it. I love the King James Bible but felt the need to translate.
As I have gotten older, I see too much of Peter in me. When I was young, I was headstrong, impetuous, and willful. Still am to a degree. I thought I knew the plan. Then, God let me bear enough of the weight of sin that my knee buckled and broke. It didn't take much for God to show how little and fragile my mastery of the world was.
Eight years ago when I started my Ph.D. program, I was 38 years old. Nearly 9 years later, I am pushing 47. In-between, my eyesight has really become much worse and I now need to wear "granny" reading glasses (I only buy the finest pairs, three for 18 bucks at COSTCO). I cannot read texts on my phone, maps, books, or anything else without them. It kind of scares me...I have glasses in my car, upstairs, downstairs, in my study, and in the bedroom. I fear being somewhere in an emergency where I literally will not be read something I need to be able to at the time.
My eyesight has deteriorated through age and probably staring at a stupid computer screen all of the time. I used to pride myself on not needing glasses (my right eye had always been 2o/20, the left eye and brain, has just really never worked). Now, I am like Mr. Magoo, blind as a bat without the radar. Yet, I see some things more clearly than ever: that I don't know that much, that life is short (I went from 38 to 47, the half-time of life is clearly over and I am playing in the second half somewhere), and that God is good. Loving Jesus and people is what it is all about. And, God does not necessarily give us what we want but what we need.
Peter had to learn to let go, a lesson that he needed to keep learning up until the moment he died. The good news...he passed the lesson, died, and entered into eternal life.
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not."
Before Jesus ascended, he had a breakfast meeting on the beach with Peter and the boys. Then, there was a little 1-1 between Jesus and Peter, Jesus is asking Peter if he loved Jesus. After Peter says three times that he does love Jesus, replacing Peter's three denials, Jesus tells him the statement of the verse above. I love how Peter then points to John, "How about him?" Jesus tells Peter to worry about himself. Good advice in general.
Make no mistake about it, when we fail--Jesus or other people--it is more often than not because of a lack of love. There may be other secondary issues like fear, but the lack of love does much to explain causation. Then, Jesus really zeroes in on what it means for Peter love Him. First, Peter is to love Jesus. Peter emphatically states that he does and this is a true confession. Second, Peter is to love others (feed my sheep). Then, Jesus really takes it to the next level, drilling deep into Peter's soul.
"You know what this love is going to look like, Peter?" As an old man, you are going to be dressed for your death by another and carried away where you would really rather not go." Peter would make a terrible Islamo-terrorist...Jesus let Peter know that he would have no itching desire to die when the time came. He'd rather not. But, he was to submit unto it. I love the King James Bible but felt the need to translate.
As I have gotten older, I see too much of Peter in me. When I was young, I was headstrong, impetuous, and willful. Still am to a degree. I thought I knew the plan. Then, God let me bear enough of the weight of sin that my knee buckled and broke. It didn't take much for God to show how little and fragile my mastery of the world was.
Eight years ago when I started my Ph.D. program, I was 38 years old. Nearly 9 years later, I am pushing 47. In-between, my eyesight has really become much worse and I now need to wear "granny" reading glasses (I only buy the finest pairs, three for 18 bucks at COSTCO). I cannot read texts on my phone, maps, books, or anything else without them. It kind of scares me...I have glasses in my car, upstairs, downstairs, in my study, and in the bedroom. I fear being somewhere in an emergency where I literally will not be read something I need to be able to at the time.
My eyesight has deteriorated through age and probably staring at a stupid computer screen all of the time. I used to pride myself on not needing glasses (my right eye had always been 2o/20, the left eye and brain, has just really never worked). Now, I am like Mr. Magoo, blind as a bat without the radar. Yet, I see some things more clearly than ever: that I don't know that much, that life is short (I went from 38 to 47, the half-time of life is clearly over and I am playing in the second half somewhere), and that God is good. Loving Jesus and people is what it is all about. And, God does not necessarily give us what we want but what we need.
Peter had to learn to let go, a lesson that he needed to keep learning up until the moment he died. The good news...he passed the lesson, died, and entered into eternal life.
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