Follow Me
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“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 he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” (John 21:18-19)
Jesus had been crucified, then gloriously resurrected. After His resurrection, Jesus had unfinished business to settle with Peter, the disciple who had denied Him.
Jesus asked Peter to remember when he was younger, when he had less responsibility and could do more as he pleased. Most of us know what these younger years were like. Then Jesus spoke of Peter’s future: when you are old, you will stretch out your hands. Later, another would bind Peter (gird you) and carry him to a place he would not want to go – a place with stretched out hands, crucified on a cross. It would be by this death he would glorify God.
Trusting that Peter understood what Jesus meant, this must have given Peter a moment of sober reflection. Peter, you will die on a cross. Yet it also gave Peter assurance. In the crucial moment a few weeks before, Peter denied Jesus three times to save himself. Jesus assured Peter he would face the challenge of the cross once again and he would embrace it. Jesus promised Peter that he would die in utter faithfulness to his Messiah and Lord.
Many ancient writers report that about thirty-four years after this, Peter was crucified. He was so honored by the opportunity to follow the steps of Christ that he asked to be crucified upside down, because he didn’t consider himself worthy to die in the same posture as Jesus. When he denied Jesus, it was out of proud self-confidence. Here restored by Jesus, Peter was not perfect. But as Jesus prophesied, a much humbler Peter would pass the final test and truly glorify God by being faithful to death.
In a dramatic moment, Jesus gave His last words spoken to Peter in John’s account: Follow Me. Years before Christ called Peter to follow Him (Matthew 4:18-19). Now Peter knew that continuing to follow Jesus would mean a certain cross. Peter was once again challenged to follow his Messiah, Teacher, and Lord.
According to Merril Tenney, the command Jesus gave to Peter (Follow Me) is a present imperative verb which literally means, “Keep on following me.”
When Jesus restored Peter, it is as if Jesus said to him: “A few years ago, along the shores of this same lake, I called you to follow Me. You have both excelled and stumbled along the way. Now it is time to keep following Me, and to continue do so, even if it means laying down your life for Me.”
This is what Jesus says to everyone who wants to be His disciple. Jesus says to you, Follow Me. How will you answer Him?
Click here for David’s commentary on John 21