Or, Glorifying God When Things Get Out of Hand
Scripture: John 21:18-23
Date: September 28, 2014
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Outside the city of Vanity Fair in The Pilgrim’s Progress, Evangelist told Christian and Faithful that one or both of them would not make it through alive. Then he narrowed his forecast that one of the two would give his life to “seal the testimony…with blood” and the other would face a different sort of difficulty on his longer journey to the Celestial City.
He that shall die there, although his death will be unnatural, and his pain perhaps great, he will yet have the better of his fellow; not only because he will be arrived at the Celestial City soonest, but because he will escape many miseries that the other will meet with in the rest of his journey.
What does Bunyan mean by “have the better of his fellow?” Does the martyr glorify God more? Taking the illustration from 2 Corinthians 4:7, does a clay pot that is smashed at once glorify God better than a pot worn out in daily use pouring out the treasure of the gospel?
The conversation in John 21:18-23 is not a fictional account, but in these verses Jesus predicts that Peter will die a martyr’s death and that John may (or may not) have a longer pilgrimage. We pick up after verses 15-17 where Jesus reinstated Peter to public responsibility as a representative of the Chief Shepherd. Peter would show his love for Christ by caring for Christ’s sheep. Three times Jesus asked, three times Peter affirmed, and three times Jesus admonished Peter to lay down his life to serve the flock.
In verse 18 Jesus tells Peter that he will lay down his physical life as a witness to Jesus. John confirms this in verse 19. Then Peter has a question about John’s future in verses 20-23. While there is no doubt about the particular importance of Peter and John in the early church, in these verses Jesus teaches us something about every disciple’s destiny, especially about glorifying God when things get out of hand.
Jesus forewarns Peter about his death and John makes sure his readers understand.
Having examined Peter’s love and exhorted Peter to work, Jesus predicts and makes a promise about Peter’s future.
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18)
Most Bibles mark the paragraph from verse 15 through verse 19. Many editions even have a heading over verse 20 separating it further. But verses 15-23 are part of the same conversation; all of this is part of Peter’s restoration after breakfast on the beach (21:1-14). If any division should be made, it would be better to connect verses 18-23 since they all concern the issue of death. In Peter’s case, his death will come after a life of service, which is how Jesus switches the subject in verse 18.
The double “amen” adds authority and irrefutability: “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”
By itself this sounds proverbial, a reference to loss of independence as one gets older and can’t do as many things for oneself. When arthritis makes it so your fingers can’t work buttons and you need to be dressed by another, and when hips and knees are so worn down that you can’t walk, you’ll be pushed in your wheel chair where you don’t want to go. This is not what Peter thought it meant, otherwise Jesus answer about John “remaining” in verse 22 wouldn’t make sense. Peter wasn’t asking if John was going to have similar aging difficulties. Besides, John himself clarified what Jesus meant in verse 19.
Jesus predicted Peter’s death. When Peter was younger he would be free, free to serve the sheep. When he was older he would 1) die 2) against his will 3) by crucifixion. When you are old doesn’t provide a particular date, though history says Peter was killed around AD 64, a little more than 30 years after this conversation. Where you do not want to go doesn’t mean that Peter wouldn’t obey God, but that his obedience would be costly. And stretch out your hands was a way to refer to crucifixion, tied to the crossbar. In the 2nd century Tertullian wrote that Peter was crucified and in the 4th century Eusebius (in his Church History) added that it was upside down: “At last Peter came to Rome, where he was crucified head downward; for so he himself had desired to suffer.” Even if that part is too much legend, the prediction of his death is clear.
Maybe the most crucial part of the prediction is implicit: Peter would make it to the end this time. He would not deny his Lord again. Jesus, in effect, tells Peter that he will persevere, even if the reality of a martyr’s death loomed over his ministry year after year. It is “as if he had said, that Peter would be a very different kind of champion from what he had formerly shown himself to be” (Calvin, 292). Before, Jesus promised that He would protect Peter amidst difficulty, even though Peter would fail. This time Jesus promised that Peter would remain faithful to the end.
John leaves no doubt for his readers regarding what Jesus meant with an author’s aside.
(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21:19)
John narrows the issue in verse 18 to death, but Jesus did not say anything about how martyrdom would glorify God. Yet the promise of endurance to crucifixion leads to this. Peter would follow the Lord’s way of death and, even more importantly, Peter would follow the Lord’s way of glorifying God. Earlier, when Peter claimed that he would follow the Lord anywhere, Jesus told him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” (John 13:36). This is what Jesus meant.
And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” At this point Jesus got up from the fire and called Peter away from the group. It is the work of a disciple to follow his Master.
As if Peter didn’t have enough to keep him occupied, feeding sheep and considering his death, he looked back over his shoulder.
Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” (John 21:20–23)
Jesus and Peter got up and got some distance from the group when Peter saw John following them. John, who is recording the story (verse 24), refers to himself in two different ways without using his name. He is the disciple whom Jesus loved and he is the one who also had leaned back against [Jesus] during the supper and asked Jesus who would betray Him.
Why does John refer to himself like this? Wouldn’t “the disciple whom Jesus loved” be sufficient, as it had been earlier in the Gospel? The reason seems to be that John was close to both Jesus and Peter. We’ve seen these two disciples together a lot in the last few chapters. And Peter’s communication through motions at the table to get John to ask Jesus about the betrayer indicates that they were close. John’s description of himself explains some of the motivation behind Peter’s question.
When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” It may not be an unreasonable question, but it is also not applicable. Peter had plenty to take care of: feeding sheep until his death. That was enough for him to worry about rather than also about John.
Based on Jesus’ response, we can tell that Peter’s motive in asking was more than concern for John, Peter was comparing himself with John.
Before we get to the application, Jesus’ response was apparently misunderstood among the brothers as a promise that John wouldn’t die before Jesus returned. But whereas verse 18 predicts what would happen, verse 22 is about whose business what happens is. The emphasis is not on John’s future but on Jesus’ will.
Who would, who did from our perspective, glorify God more: Peter or John? Was living for 30 more years and dying as a martyr more honoring to God than John living for 60 more years, writing this Gospel, and eventually being exiled on Patmos? More importantly, why can we answer that question so easily and yet still wish that we could have the life (or death) of some other disciple?
These comparisons are not only covetous of a neighbor (“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17), but complaining against the Lord (think Numbers 11).
Every disciple’s destiny is the same, and it isn’t. Every disciple’s destiny is what the Lord wills. And, of course, He creatively wills hardly any two disciples to walk the exact same path for the exact same distance. There are similarities. The pilgrimages overlap for stretches along the way. There are common encouragements and snares. And there are also unique positives and negatives that are out of our hands.
Even when things get out of hand, when things are tough, when everything seems out of control, all things are in God’s hands. We need this both for sake of trusting God in our trouble and trusting that God gave us the right trouble for us. He does not give us someone else’s trouble.
Look again at Jesus’ question to Peter. It’s as if He said, “My will for him doesn’t change my will for you. Be concerned with my will for you.” Jesus’ will for Peter was to be killed against his will. The necessary implication is that the “another” is an agent of Jesus’ will. Our enemies do to us what He wants for us for His glory.
Jesus chose how He wanted Peter to glorify Him. Peter needed to concentrate on Jesus, not if someone else would get similar treatment. Peter’s hands were tied. His own destiny was out of his control, and it would not benefit him to know, let alone compare, the destiny of another disciple that was out of his control.
We are not the captains of our own ship. We are followers. We follow when we are called. He calls us to different ways to glorify Him, often through different paths of suffering. Jesus has us where He has us, going through what we are, as is best for the advance of His kingdom.
If we will concentrate on following the Lord then we will be less likely to compare our path with that of other disciples. Comparing positions with other pilgrims will not help us concentrate on obeying Christ. Obeying Christ, even and especially when we are suffering, will keep us from comparison driven complaints.
Faithfully following Christ when we suffer will also be a witness. Hopeful saw Faithful’s steadfast suffering and became a follower himself.
Hopeful (being made so by the beholding of Christian and Faithful in their words and behaviour, in their sufferings at the fair), who joined himself unto him, and, entering into a brotherly covenant, told him that he would be his companion.
So hold on. You’re in Good hands (John 10:28-29).