You Follow Me
“When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus,
‘Lord, what about him?’
Jesus said to him,‘What if I want him to remain until I come?
What concern is it of yours?
You follow me.’”John 21:21-22
At the end of their conversation by the sea, after Jesus tells Peter what will happen to him (dressed by another and led to where he do not want to do), he asks Jesus what will happen to John. The answer Jesus gives to Peter is similar to what parents say to one child after he or she is told to do something and then he or she asks, “Well, what about Tommy?!” Mind your own business. Do what you’re asked to do. Do not worry about what Tommy is going to do. I can almost hear Jesus say, “Peter, don’t worry about what will happen to John. I just entrusted my entire flock to your care, worry about that!”
Jesus’s “worry about yourself” answer is not one that should inspire indifference, but rather one that should stir up within us a deep sense of charity. What Jesus is really saying is “Peter, you have been entrusted with a special mission that only you can carry out, and likewise with John. You have your own cross to carry and so does John. If you worry too much about John’s cross and mission you will come to neglect your own. And, if you neglect your own cross and mission, the people of God will suffer.” Hence, Jesus says to Peter, “You follow me.” By living out the call with which one has been entrusted, one is living out the virtue of charity. By doing what one has been called to do, one is doing good for the other. Each one of us has been entrusted with a unique mission that only we can carry out, and each mission helps builds up the Kingdom. How amazing is that?
Brothers and sisters, it can be challenging sometimes to discern what God is calling each one of us to do, and that is why prayer is so important. By immersing ourselves in prayer, nurturing our relationship with God, we will come to learn to hear God’s voice more clearly, hearing Him call us His beloved and say to us what it is that we are to do. And when He does, He will also tell each one of us what Jesus told Peter, “Follow me.”
None of the Apostles were given a step-by-step manual on what to do, how to do, or where to go. They were simply told to follow Jesus. They followed Him for three years and after Jesus ascended into heaven, they continued to follow Him. They remembered all that Jesus had taught them, all that they had seen Jesus do, and they did likewise. They followed Jesus in word and in action, and we are asked to do the same. Follow me. But we know that the Apostles were not alone even after Jesus went back to the Father. Tomorrow we will celebrate Pentecost Sunday, the day the Father sends the Holy Spirit so that all who would come to believe would have life.
When Jesus says to us today, tomorrow, and the day after, “Follow me,” He is not simply saying “Follow the example that I left you,” rather He is saying to us, “I am truly present. I am here. I am with you always, right here, right now. Do not be afraid. Follow me.”
