Follow Me
“He found Philip and said to him, ‘follow me.’”
John 1:43
“After this he said to him (Peter this time), ‘follow me.’”
John 21:19
The call was the same at the beginning and the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry. I love that.
I am learning to read the bible with fresh eyes. I have had a lot of changes in my life over the past couple of years and that has certainly included how I read the bible. I have read these verses many times, and even preached on this call to simply follow Jesus, but I have never quite made the connection that the call was the same at the beginning as it was at the end.
This realization is not small and insignificant.
Especially considering the circumstances that lead Jesus to issue the call afresh and new to the apostle Peter. Peter had recently denied Jesus three times during his trial leading up to the crucifixion (John 18:13–27). Then, during this post resurrection appearance of Christ to his disciples, he asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” The significance was not lost on Peter I’m sure. Then, Jesus closes with the same call he gave at the beginning, “Follow me.”
Jesus gave this call. The same Jesus that had said he would deny someone before his Father in heaven if they denied him here (Matthew 10:33). This Jesus gave the call to the one disciple who had done just that. Amazing.
I am thankful for that. I am thankful that Jesus issues the call more than once to Peter, and to us. I am thankful for grace. Yes, there are those hard sayings from Jesus and they are no less valid to me, but I am eternally grateful for the gracious sayings as well. I am thankful that Jesus’s call to us all, regardless of what we have done (even denying that we know him), is still to follow him. Simply that. Nothing more. Nothing less.
So, let’s do that.
Love one another.
