Jn 21:20-25
Just before this reading we find Jesus telling Peter about the way he is going to glorify God, in other words, Jesus is telling Peter how he is going to die. Peter asked Jesus what about John. And Jesus seems to say; how John is going to die is no concern of yours, "what if I want him to remain until I come?"
Jesus gives Peter a gift; he tells him how he is to die. Instead of Peter asking himself, how am I to use this information to bring about the kingdom of God, Peter asked a question that has nothing to do with his mission. "what about John?"
Now, we can put ourselves in Peter's place. If we were being told how we are going to die it would be shocking and frightening. So I can see my self turning the attention to John. Many of us would do the same in a similar situation, instead of asking God what can I do to accomplish my mission we look around to see who can take the pressure and the attention from us.
The truth is that my mission is a personal call from God which I could only answer. In a book called, Voices of the Martyrs, it says that Jesus' first and last word to Peter are "follow me". These are the same words that Jesus says to us and each day is an opportunity to answer this call. Peter comes to love his mission and in his death he glorified God to the point that when crucified he asked to be upside down because he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus.
"follow me".
Nelson Torres
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