Last week being Easter, I am attracted to the final days of Jesus on the earth prior to His ascension. There are several stories, and Paul (years later) suggests that there were many more happenings than are reported in the Gospel writings. One of my favorite—probably because I find myself in the place of the antagonist in the story–involves Peter. Oh, Peter…he really becomes “everyman” for us…impulsive, loud, arrogant, eager to serve, eager to defend, quick to judgment, slow to learn and, sadly, able to betray.
So, in the historical writings of John, a story is recounted at the very end of the book in John 21. Peter, who you may remember had actually denied knowing Jesus prior to the crucifixion, has a private meeting with Jesus. In the meeting, Jesus is as cryptic as always and seems to repeat himself three time…with Peter answering the same way each time. However, after the third time, perhaps in a petulant fit, Peter tries to shift the focus from himself to someone else.
Peter turns around and sees “the disciple who Jesus loved” (most experts believe this is John himself, the man writing the gospel). Maybe Peter was annoyed that John had snuck up near the private meeting. Maybe he was just jealous of how close John was with Jesus. In any case, after being given these cryptic apparently identical instructions about a future task three times, Peter says “what about him?”
Isn’t that just like us? Right as the focus gets on us, we want to shift that spotlight onto someone else. This is particularly true when we are in trouble, but sometimes it happens even when there is no trouble. We just need to keep focus on the task ahead of us…but we start squirming under the intensity of it all and off we go….”hey, what about that guy”. We have a deadline due and instead of staying on task…off we go to Instagram or the TV or into a time-wasting conversation with any other human who comes by.
Well, Jesus has our cure (doesn’t He always). He doesn’t commiserate with Peter. He doesn’t express understanding with Peter’s shift of focus or frustration at John. Instead, Jesus snaps back quickly with some hyperbole—“If I want him [John] to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
Hey Peter…I just arose from the dead so I can pretty much do whatever I want, don’t you know, so maybe I’ll just make it so John doesn’t ever die. What is that to you?
Don’t know about you, but when my boss or mentor has one of those sharp retorts, I go looking for a hole to climb into. I can just see old rough fisherman Peter feeling much like a school boy who got caught doing something foolish. Even through his suntanned olive skin, I’m sure the red of embarrassment came shining through.
He should have known better. This wasn’t the first time that Jesus had smacked around someone who had lost focused and wanted Jesus to come up with a solution that would shift the spotlight from the speaker to another. Look at Luke’s account of an exchange Jesus had with a younger brother whose parents had died (Luke 12:13-21). There was an older brother and by law and custom, the older brother was getting the land of the deceased father. So, the younger brother thinks Jesus will do some commando magic and force his brother to pony up some of the inheritance. Jesus instead turns the tables on him with a response much like given to Peter.
“Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” You’d think Peter would have remembered that.
In this instance, Jesus goes ever further and urges the younger brother to restore his focus on how to live well. Jesus calls him out, saying that he is greedy, or at least being tempted by greed, and that life is not measured by how much you own.
That point was similar to another story Jesus told. The Gospel of Matthew (chapter 20) gives us this parable. Jesus said that the Kingdom of heaven was like a workplace. The owner had hired his normal crew who began to work for an agreed-upon daily wage. Later, that owner saw some other people who didn’t have any work, so he hired them too…for the same wage. This happened three other times, including towards the end of the work day. After the work ended, he paid them starting with those who had been hired last. He gave them the daily wage, the same amount that he had promised the folks who started early in the morning. When they saw that, they naturally assumed that they would get more; that’s what I would have probably thought too.
Nope. When it was their turn, they got the daily wage…the amount they had agreed to at the start of the day. So, of course, they were upset and complained. “Hey…what about those guys?”
See a trend here? In the story, the owner gives a similar response as Jesus gave to the younger brother and to Peter. He reminded them that he had not been unfair; that he had done for them exactly as he had promised. Then he chides them for being jealous, for looking over at the other guy. In other words, they had lost their focus and Jesus was determined to get it back.
Peter is told very clearly this point. Jesus says, as reported in John 21:22, after telling him that whatever Jesus would command John that it didn’t matter to Peter, “As for you, follow me.” When you read the entire exchange, and especially if you know Peter’s life, that is easily understood as Jesus saying “stay focused.” Or, to drop a Star Wars quote….”stay on target; stay on target.”
As you head into the weekend, I bet you have some deadline looming. Maybe you have a test due on Friday or a paper to complete by Monday. Maybe you are in sales and you midway through the reporting period. You could be an artist needing to finish your song or painting. Maybe you are trying to stop drinking alcohol or trying to keep a friendship strong. Don’t lose focus. Don’t start thinking about what other people need to be doing or that they aren’t doing as much as you.
“What is that to you? As for you, stay on task and complete the work already assigned.”