Die for me? lol

“Simon Peter asked, ‘Lord where are you going?’ And Jesus replied, ‘You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.’ ‘But why can’t I come now, Lord?’ Peter asked. ‘I’m ready to die for you!’ Jesus answered, ‘Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.’ 

John 14:36–38

After having His last meal with the disciples before His crucifixion, Jesus has some good conversations with His followers and friends. 

And we all can guess Peter was engaged in most of the dialogue. Jesus is talking about how He will only be here a little while longer and Peter understandably is like, ‘Yo Jesus where are you going?’ Sometimes you know there’s an underlying question beneath the questions we ask and Jesus knew this. Peter wasn’t really thinking as much about where He was going as much as how he wanted to tag along. So Jesus answers the real question burning in Peter’s heart and responds with something interesting.

“You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”

What I think is interesting here is that Jesus recognizes that there is still work to be done in the maturation of Peter, but also confirms that he will be ready when it is time. 

I think a lot of times we gripe over what perfection is. We think there’s a certain standard we need to meet in order to be good enough for God when we all (should) know that it would be impossible to make that. We cannot on our own become like Jesus. That’s impossible. If we could become perfect in the sense of not being able to improve further, we wouldn't need God--we would be God. 

I think this story helps us to see part of the gospel.

Philippians 1:6 says, “I am certain that the God who began a good work in you will continue His work until it is finally finished when Christ returns.”

He (God) will continue the work He started and is directing until it is completed.

You may not be all put together, but because we trust the work of Jesus we can already bank on the finished product. He is doing the work of sanctification. 

I want to look at this a little. 

You may have things that still need to be worked on. Peter said he would die for Jesus at that moment and Jesus was like, “Woah, you definitely got too much dip on your chip but I got you. i'll get you there. It’s ok.” And even Jesus was able to affirm that Peter would still be in heaven with Him, even before he was ready personally, cause Jesus trusted the work He was doing for Peter.

Jesus knew Peter was not perfect. He knew he was not ready. But He also knew that he would be when the time came. 

Why?

Because of who he knew. 

Further along in this story, Jesus is talking more about heaven and Thomas steps forward and is like, “How are we going to know the way to where you are going if we have no idea where you are going?” And Jesus responds, “I am the way... No one can get to the Father except through Me.”

“...and you know Me.”

The salvation and rest of heaven that Jesus brings us is not based on us being good enough to receive it. It’s based on Him being the ticket. 

You may not be perfect, but because you have Jesus covering you and fighting for you, you will be in heaven if you believe. Jesus will do all the heavy lifting. He will be the refining fire. You just worry about the belief. 

The key is belief. And Jesus even helps us with that too! 

Allow Jesus to be your Savior and trust Him to guide you and fight for you. There are ups and downs. You won’t always be doing the right thing, but because He is working you are straight. Keep trusting. Keep believing and trusting in His work.