Jesus Says, Follow Me

Alba 5-23-2021

JESUS SAYS, FOLLOW ME

John 21:18-24

I was looking at actuarial tables the other day. They predict that for a child born this year life expectatancy for a male is 75 years. And life expectancy for a female is 80 years.

But that is not the end of the story. The table continues. For example, if a man lives to be 75 years old the table gives a life expectancy of 85 and half years.

And if a woman lives to be 80 years old, the table gives a life expectancy of over 89 years. But there is even more on the actuarial table. If a man or woman lives to be 100, they give another two years.

It must work, because we celebrated my mother's 100th birthday on May 19, 2003. She lived two more fairly productive years.

The truth is, we will not know the day of our death until it comes. And, for the most part, we will not know the cause of death ahead of time. That is what makes what Jesus told Peter in John 21:18-24 quite interesting. Let's read that section of scripture.

18 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.”

19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”

22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”

23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?”

24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.

25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen

What Jesus tells Peter says a lot about each of us. There may have been a time when we did pretty much as we pleased, but the time comes when that is no longer the case.

As we become more feeble with the infirmities of age, and we begin to lose control both of body and mind, like Jesus says, others will make our decisions for us.

We certainly will not like some of them, but we will not have our own way as we did when we were independent earlier in life. The more we become dependent upon others, the more they will decide our affairs.

No one likes to lose control. When we lived in Kansas, I was making a call on an elderly lady who at that very time the family had decided it was time for her to move to the resting home. They were taking her out of her home.

As they were trying to get the lady out the front door, she was grabbing at anything she could. It was difficult to watch this lady holding on to the walls of the house she had lived in so long, as the family kept moving her out the door.

Even if a person loses the use of a car, one can become depressed and sad. It tends to symbolize the loss of other things important in life.

Peter is told that such things will come to him, (of course not the loss of the use of a car). Jesus is also predicting Peter’s ultimate death … being taken captive and killed for his faith.

What Jesus is saying here is something like, “O, by the way Peter, you know how I died on that cross, now this is how you are going to die. So truly follow Me ~ now and always!”

When Jesus said, “Follow Me!”, the word literally means, “Keep on following Me.” And from then on, Peter began to follow Jesus just as he had done before his great denial.

Jesus had told Peter to feed his lambs, and to feed his sheep. To be completely obedient to Jesus, Peter must now just "follow" Him. Jesus says to each one of us, Follow Me.

Where He leads, we must follow. And in doing so, we must sign a blank page of commitment to the LORD.