Eyes front

I finished reading the last chapter of John's gospel yesterday. I've been using Tom Wright's John for Everyone book to help me through, a chunk at a time. It's been over a year to work through both volumes, so I've clearly not managed to get into God's word everyday, but for the most part I've enjoyed tagging along with Tom and getting closer to Jesus' words, in the hope of getting them more in my heart and head and having the Holy Spirit bring them alive for me, now, in the stuff I've got to do.

And he makes the point that, in the last chapter, the one that seems to be tagged on the end a little bit later on, the gospel writer is clarifying the rumour that was going round that Jesus would come back to earth before John himself died. And maybe because John was getting old (really old) the writer added a little bonus track to explain what Jesus had actually meant when he said "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" (which is a sassy kind of thing for Jesus to say). And what Jesus was getting at was that it wasn't any of Peter's business (or anyone else's) what John got up to after Jesus went up to heaven. Because Peter had been given his instructions: to be a shepherd for the flock ("Feed my lambs", "take care of my sheep"), and to be ready to die the same kind of death Jesus died.


So, as for Peter & John, so with us. It's not about comparing ourselves with other Christians and what God's asked them to do. We've got plenty to get stuck into, and if someone's got other fish to fry, what of it? (hopefully, on a charcoal grill, like the bit earlier in the Peter and Jesus restoration story, which Tom Wright points out would've been a powerful smell/memory trigger for Peter, taking him back to the charcoal brazier the people were warming themselves around the night he let Jesus down so badly.)

So, comparisons are unhelpful and unhealthy, and they go against the grain of that incredible uniqueness God's given us. Which is why I really want Kate to add to this blog, and to be able to do it in her own way and for it not to be just my thing (because for years, let's face it, blogging's been my thing.)