John 21:21-22

John 21:21-22. Peter therefore seeing him Saith to Jesus, Lord, and what of this man? It was a natural question. Although Peter did not know the full meaning of the words just addressed to himself, he felt that they betokened trial, sorrow, perhaps even prison and death. When, therefore, he saw John following Jesus, nothing would more readily occur to him than to ask. And what. Lord, shall be his fate? Yet the answer of Jesus evidently implies that there was something not altogether to be commended in the spirit or in the tone of Peter's question. We cannot imagine that such an answer would have been given to a question in which affectionate interest was the leading feature. We have indeed no reason to think that the question was dictated by envy, but there was probably impatience of the calm spirit of John, of that calmness which had immediately before contrasted so strikingly with his own impetuosity, for when he had thrown himself into the sea to hasten to his Master's feet, John had remained in the boat dragging to the shore the net with fishes. To this spirit accordingly Jesus replies.

Jesus saith unto mm, If I will that he abide till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. In other words: ‘Thou hast no right to be impatient of the quiet and meditative spirit of thy brother Apostle. True, I have spoken to thee of heavy trials only. But it does not follow that he may not be as faithful as thou art, or that he may not have his own trials, in the work given him to do. Thou art right, I praise thy spirit, only preparing thee for the inevitable consequences. But his spirit is right too. Let it be thy concern' (‘thou' is emphatic) ‘to follow Me; and as for him, if I will that he abide till I come, what is that to thee?' By the ‘coming' here spoken of can be understood nothing but the Second Coming of the Lord. It is the object of Jesus, as we shall see more fully on John 21:23, to give emphasis to the thought of His Second Coming, that He may thus bring out the truth that then shall be the end of all toil and waiting, that then His witnesses shall rest from their labours, with their works following them. At the same time we would not venture wholly to exclude the thought of the destruction of Jerusalem. But the relation of that event to the ‘coming of the Lord' is a topic upon which we cannot enter here.

The point of the contrast then between the words spoken respectively to Peter and John, is not that between a violent death by martyrdom and a peaceful departure; but that between impetuous and struggling apostleship, ending in a violent death, and quiet, thoughtful, meditative waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus, ending in a peaceful transition to the heavenly repose. Neither Peter nor himself is to the Evangelist a mere individual. Each is a type of one aspect of apostolic working. of Christian witnessing for Jesus to the very end of time. But the struggling witnesses are impatient of such as are meditative, the active of the passive, the warring of the waiting. They do not see that the work of the latter is not less important than their own, and that it touches the very springs of the Church's life. They undervalue it, because its struggle is not visible enough. They cry, ‘This work, Lord, is it really like our work, work for Thee?' And Jesus replies, ‘I judge of that. If will that it go on until I come, what is that to you? Your path is clear; follow ye me.'