Following Eventually?

Have you ever wished you could go with someone you admire?

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times. - John 13:36-38

If you knew you were headed into the abyss, would you not tell those who love you to stay behind?

Jesus knows they will all eventually follow, but not now.  Now they must stay and do the work he picked them to do.

When Peter insists that he will not be like the others, but will follow and even lay down his life for Jesus, Jesus loses patience with him.  You will deny me three times, he tells him.

Peter must have been devastated.

Imagine believing you will be able to endure anything to support the one you love and want to defend, only to find out he knows you will chicken out in the end.

Maybe that is why Jesus told them they could not follow him.  He knew they were not able to suffer the way he was going to suffer.  Not yet at least.  That would take some time.

Once they experience his resurrection, and they are visited by the Holy Spirit, then they will be able to follow.  Then, they will have the strength and the courage to stand up to the powers that want to defeat them.

Today, we will walk with Jesus to the cross, and we will find ourselves standing there alone, while he suffers for us.  We probably would not want to go through the same agony, and that may make us feel guilt along with our sorrow.

It will be ok, we tell ourselves, because we know what will happen next, after the suffering.

It is a prelude to our own death, and we find that hard to accept.

For now, though, we will endure.

More to come...