Welcome back again to another podcast of Struggling Well, and we have been in the days after Easter. Kind of focusing in on some of the events that surrounded that time frame in Jesus' life. And in John 21, Jesus restores Peter particularly and then says to Peter at the end of verse 19, two words, follow me. And we're just unpacking what that means today for us
and in today's culture. Follow me has a completely different meaning. Completely different.
How so?
Well, you we've been sitting here at the table prior to the recording and just batting a little of this around. Okay. Follow me means on Instagram. Follow me on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter or X or whatever it's called. Follow me. Like me. text me if you want the link for X Y and Z. I mean, it's all a different kind of follow with a different a goal than what Jesus says to Peter and what he says to us in other places in scripture.
Yeah. And so in the culture of today, you can follow somebody and you don't even have to know them. You just click a button
and what are we following though when we do that? Like we're clicking a button to follow their what
I guess their story, their life, their whatever that they've posted about. But it's a very impersonal doesn't require much of me. when Jesus said that to Peter in John 21, it comes after he restores Peter and restores him after the maybe the darkest day of Peter's life when he denied Jesus. and it's interesting because if you just go a couple chapters over in scripture to Acts chapter 4, Peter is in jail because of his preaching of the gospel. And when he gets released, the members of the Sanhedrin say they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men. They were astonished and recognized and here here's the phrase they had been with Jesus.
They'd been with him.
Yeah.
They knew him
and they followed him.
And that is in the culture back in the day, the Jewish culture, if someone was chosen by a rabbi to be his student,
the students would walk so closely with the rabbi. They would try to mimic the way he spoke. they did everything to be like that rabbi and there's a lot of good stuff out there about they would literally have the dust of the rabbi on them because they would follow so closely to everything that he said and which was an incredible responsibility. But these guys, the disciples were just ordinary guys and Jesus chose them to follow him. I mean, from the very beginning when they're fishing and he's calling Peter and he's calling Matthew the tax collector, all of it was follow me. The difference between that follow me of Jesus and the follow me of today is the goal was to become like Jesus and to spread the gospel. Well, maybe it's not as different because people today have their own story, their own gospel that they want spread, whether it's a product or the way they eat, the way they live, the way they raise their kids, whatever. But with Jesus, he said in Matthew 16, he said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul? So the following here is very very different because it's becoming less to become more like him.
Yeah. And when we stop and look back on the life of Jesus, the life that he lived, we have to understand that there was a part of that involves suffering and involved him coming with one purpose to do the will of the father. And when we follow him, it's to do the will of the father, to follow his footsteps. And so when there are difficulties that come into my life, I shouldn't be surprised.
Yeah.
If I'm going to share in the resurrection, in the glories of the resurrection and eternal life, I can't have one without the other. I have to take it all.
You know, there were a lot of people following Jesus in his ministry. Started out small, but there were a lot of people. And I've been thinking about this a lot for my own life. where am I in the following? you know, we know that he, you know, hordes of people, thousands of people followed him. Am I part of that crowd that I'm following him because I'm physically hungry? I've heard that he's done miracles, raised people from the dead, brought sight to the blind. Am I looking for a show? or am I following him to the point that the dust of his robes is on me? So that like Peter and John, someone would say, "Well, Suzi's been with Jesus."
Yeah. And so it's earlier on in Jesus ministry, his public ministry where he hits one of those places where the crowds had gotten large following him like you said either because they needed to be fed or they wanted to see the next miracle or whatever and then he makes a statement and they leave and he turns to the 12 and says are you going to leave too and again one of Peter's highlights he has both low lightss and highlights was
you have the words of life where else would we go? And so that kind of understanding that following Jesus requires my paying attention to him and paying attention to what he said regardless of what the outcome may be.
Yeah. Yeah. So maybe the question we're asking that we would like you to ponder is where are you in your following? There are a lot of people that claim to be Christians. you know there are religions that are quote Christian. But where are you? Where am I in the following? Am I part of the large crowd looking for something to eat? Looking for relief for my immediate need? am or am I looking for a miracle and will only believe him if I see that miracle? or am I willing to follow him and pay the cost of being his disciple? That's a question we want you to ponder. Yeah, because it is a journey. It is a lifelong journey and it doesn't mean that there won't be times where we hit use this expression speed bumps along the way. I mean, go back to that scene by the lake after the resurrection when Peter's restored. his denial of Jesus was not the end of the story for Peter.
It felt like it, I'm sure.
It felt like it, I'm sure. And yet Jesus with all grace and mercy says to Peter, "We're not done yet."
Yeah.
And so on your journey of following him, maybe you've hit a time in your life and in that journey where you haven't bought closely with him.
it doesn't mean it's the end.
Yeah.
And the grace and mercy of Christ can be received by you as well. But it will be a journey that will continue until you take your last breath. And so we hope you'll think about it, ponder it, and have a great week.