Scripture: John 13: 31-38

When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”

Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”

Consider:

I’ve shown you how to love one another, so go and do it. Jesus’ most powerful words (to me). Jesus notes that he has lived this life constantly showing HOW to love as God loves, HOW to extend the arm of grace, HOW to be in community with one another. The teacher has taught, the students have learned, and now the time of transition from learning it to living it must take place.

And like so many of us, Peter seems to get stuck on the wrong point. Rather than hearing the command to go out and love, Peter only hears Jesus say “you can’t go with me.” Like a child to a parent, Peter focuses in on the “can’t” rather than the message of sending, so much so that he swears he will lay down his life for Jesus…to which Jesus says “no you won’t.” Man I can feel the sting of that moment for Peter.

But sometimes the stinging truth is the one that needs to be heard the most. This is the moment when Jesus knows his time is short, and so GETTING this message to stick is of the utmost importance. And even worse than the lack of understanding of the importance of the message, Jesus has to let Peter know that he will not only NOT lay down his life, he will in fact deny knowing Jesus at all!

It gives me pause; how often do I vehemently “take up a cause” about something I feel is important, and yet, when it becomes really important to speak up, I can’t seem to find that loud and clear voice. I wonder about how many times I’ve missed the point of God’s message entirely because I was too busy blustering about something I thought would be “the cause” to get loud over. How often have I missed God’s loving call to follow because I became busy building my own causes? May we seek to remember that the “hills we choose to die on” are perhaps not the ones God is looking for at all… God calls us to slow and steady, persistent and gentle, ever present love for one another. That’s it.

Respond:

Is there something you’ve been really fired up about recently? Are you taking to social media regularly to rail against something? I challenge you today: Take a pause from “the cause” and sit with someone who fills you up spiritually…take a moment to send a card or call a friend, or take a walk with a pet. Do the gentle act of daily love and see how you feel after.

Pray:

Loving Lord, we are constantly urged to love AND live loudly…teach us how to love well, live with soft but strong voices that always speak to You, and lives that point in Your direction. Amen.

These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com