What Of John? (J79)

Jesus had told them they would be hated;
Now, He warned Peter that when he grew old,
A horrible death for him awaited—
He’d be compelled to do what he was told!
“But what of John?” Peter asked aghast;
Jesus said, “What has that to do with you?
If I want him to live until the last,
You must follow me, as I’ve taught you to!”
Because of this remark, a rumor spread
Through the brothers, that John would never die,
But that is not what the Son of God said—
He meant that Peter was not with John to vie!
Jealousy is sin, where’er it appears;
What a cost it’s exacted through the years!

Special Note: This is my last poem/commentary on the book of John. There are 79 commentaries in the last 80 that chronologically cover verse-by-verse the entire gospel written by the apostle John. My next poem/commentary on Nov. 17th and every other day after that, if God permits, will begin a new series from God's perspective on His Master Plan for the world. It should prove interesting, as it attempts to give answers to questions about the Bible as God may have pre-planned them.

Scripture Quoted: John 21:18-19, 25 (NIV)
“ ‘I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted, but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.’ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said, ‘Follow me.’ “ … “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room enough for the books that would be written.”

Commentary on: John 21:18-25 (NIV)
After restoring Simon Peter to fellowship for his sin of denying the Savior, Jesus made a prophecy to him indicating that he would be martyred. It was fulfilled in 64 A.D. Simon was crucified by the Romans under the emperor Nero. He asked to be crucified upside down, saying he was unworthy to die like his Savior. They complied with his request.

Evidently there was a bit of jealousy in Peter toward John, the author of this book; in it, John referred to himself as the “disciple that Jesus loved”. The jealousy, if there was, did not come from Peter’s reading of the book, for John did not write it until after Peter’s death. John described himself as the “disciple leaning on the breast of Jesus” at the Last Supper the evening before the crucifixion. He was the youngest apostle and lived at least to 100 A.D., longer than any of the others. John died a Roman prisoner on the Isle of Patmos, just off the edge of “Asia”, which is Asia Minor, or Turkey, today. All of the apostles were martyred. Notice that a Christian who dies for the name of Jesus is said to “glorify” his Lord. Jesus told His disciples that the world would hate them for His name’s sake, and it has throughout history. The United States was founded by Christians. They did not call it a “Christian” nation, but they provided for freedom of religion and Christian principles underlay the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Today, however, there is hatred for the name of Jesus and a definite antagonism toward Christianity. President Obama is leading the nation away from the faith, though 78.4% of Americans are members of Christian churches.

John concludes his gospel book by stating that Jesus did many more things than those described in his book. John was very selective about the miracles performed by Jesus. He only included seven of them; the other gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke describe many more. John stated that he chose these seven in order that the reader might believe that Jesus was the Messiah sent from God. In my last 80 blogs I have tried to interpret the book of John, so that you who read them would see and accept that Jesus was the Christ.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not die, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)