"Do I Love the Lord or Not?"
(No. 3524)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1916.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Peter was grieved because He said unto Aim the third time, Do you love
Me?" John 21:17.
THIS is a pointed question which demands a personal answer and should,
therefore, stir up full and frequent self-examination. "Do you love
Me?" It is a probing question that is likely to excite much grief when
pressed home to the sensitive, tender-hearted disciple, even as Peter
was grieved because the Lord said unto him the third time, "Do you love
Me?" Yet it is a pleasing and profitable question to as many of us as
can give a like solemn and satisfactory response to that of Simon
Peter, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You."
I. IT IS VERY NECESSARY THAT ALL DISCIPLES, EVEN THE MOST PRIVILEGED,
THE MOST TALENTED AND THE MOST FAMOUS, SHOULD OFTEN BE ASKED THE
QUESTION–HEAR IT IN THEIR SOULS AND FEEL ITS THRILLING
INTENSITY–"SIMON, SON OF JONAS, DO YOU LOVE ME?"
It must have been momentous, indeed, or the Savior would not have
repeated it to Peter three times at one interview. He tarried on earth
but 40 days after His Resurrection. The opportunities for conferences,
therefore, with His disciples would be few. On what subjects, then,
should He speak to them but those which appeared to Him of the
weightiest import? Of the times or the seasons that must presently
transpire, He refrains to divulge a secret. With the fulfillment of
ancient predictions that prompted the curiosity of the Jew, or the
solution of metaphysical problems that harassed the minds of Gentile
philosophers, He did not meddle. I neither find Him interpreting
obscure prophecy, nor expounding mystic Doctrine–but instead, thereof,
I find Him inculcating personal piety! The question He propounds is of
such vital importance that all other questions may be set aside till
this one question is positively settled, "Do you love Me?"
Hence, Beloved, I infer that it is of infinitely more consequence for
me to know that I love Christ than it is to know the meaning of the
little horn, or the ten toes, or the four great beasts! All Scripture
is profitable to those who have Grace to profit by it, but would you
both save yourself and those who hear you, you must know Him and love
Him to whom Patriarchs, Prophets and Apostles all bear witness that
there is salvation in none other, and no other name given under Heaven
whereby we must be saved! You may whet your appetite for logic, but you
cannot, with your heart, believe unto righteousness while you occupy
your thoughts, your tongues, or your pens wrangling about Calvinism and
Armi-nianism, sublapsarianism and supra-lapsarianism, or any of the
endless controversies of the schoolmen and sectarians! "Do you love
Me?" that is the moot point! Can you give an affirmative answer? Will
your conscience, your life, your God, attest the verity of your love to
Him? Then, though you are no doctor of divinity, though you cannot
decipher the niceties of systematic theology, though you are unable to
rebut one in a thousand of the subtleties of the adversary, yet you
have an unction from the Holy One! Your love approves you, your faith
has saved you and He whom your soul loves will keep you for time and
for eternity–you are blessed! To my mind, I say, the gravity of the
question is palpable from the time at which it was put. During the few
days of our risen Lord's sojourn, He would not have given it such
distinct prominence had it not been, in Peter's case, the evidence of
his repentance, his restoration and the full recognition he received.
But, Brothers and Sisters, what question can more closely appeal to
ourselves, to each one of us? Love is one of the most vital of the
Christian Graces. If faith is the eye of the soul, without which we
cannot see our Lord savingly, surely love is the very heart of the soul
and there is no spiritual life if love is absent! I will not say that
love is the first Grace, for faith first discovers that Christ loves
us, and then we love Him because He first loved us. Love may be second
in order, but it is not second in importance. I may say of faith and
love, that these are like two roes that are twins–or rather of faith,
and hope, and love, that these are three Divine sisters who mutually
support one another–the health of one betokening the vigor of all, or
the decline in one the weakness of all. "Do you love Me?" Why, the
question means, Are you a Christian? Are you a disciple? Are you saved?
For if any man love wife, or child, or house more than Christ, he is
not worthy of Him. Christ must have from every one of His disciples,
the heart's warmest affection! And where that is not freely accorded,
depend upon it, there is no true faith and, consequently, no salvation,
no spiritual life. On your answer to that question hangs your present
state. Do you love Jesus? If the answer is, "No," then you are still in
the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity! But if the truthful
answer of your soul is, "You know all things; You know that I love
You," then, weak as you are, you are a saved soul–and with all your
mourning and trembling, your doubts and misgivings, the Spirit of God
bears witness with your spirit that you are born from above! The
sincerity of your love to Christ shows more plainly than anything, the
verity of your relation to Him!
Oh, what searching of heart this question demands! Do not flatter
yourselves with any false confidence. Many persons have been deceived
upon this matter. Alas, they are partial judges who sit in judgment of
themselves–for every defect they have an excuse–they find mitigating
circumstances to whitewash their basest crimes. No marvel to me, but
infinite pity for them that they choose their own delusions and become
the dupes of their own infatuation! Their feelings, enhanced by the
music of a hymn, or impassioned by the fervor of a sermon, they mistake
for an inspiration of faith and love–and when the emotions pass off,
as they quickly do–they grow loud in their professions. At first their
own hearts were deceived. At length they practice deception on others.
O you church members! I beseech you, do not conclude that you are
members of the invisible Church because you are members of the visible
Church! Though your names may be inscribed on the roll of the faithful,
here, do not be too sure that they are written in the Lamb's Book of
Life! Never take your position before God for granted. Do not shrink
from a rigid scrutiny as those who never dare ask the question! Do not
disparage self-examination like those who dare to think it is the devil
who sets them to the task when he would beset them with legal terrors!
Believe me, Satan is too fond of lulling you into presumption to aid or
abet in awakening you to make sure of your condition! There is a gross
infatuation which is the counterfeit of faith in God. Its credulous
victims believe a lie and they fondly cling to it like limpets to a
rock. But sound Believers are not afraid of vigilant
self-examination–they are prepared to endure an even more severe
test–they say, "Search me, God, and try me." It is your hollow
dissemblers who resent all questionings and take umbrage at any
suspicions. The man who knows that he has pure gold to sell is not
afraid of the chemicals with which the goldsmith tests it, nor even of
the crucible into which he may cast it. Not so the impostor who hawks a
baser metal–he entreats you to be satisfied with his warranty, though
it is as worthless as his wares! Search yourselves! Examine yourselves,
whether you are in the faith! Prove yourselves! Know you not that Jesus
Christ is in you, except you are reprobates?" By the cries of souls
who, concerning faith, have made shipwreck, while they dreamed they
were sailing gloriously into harbor–I beseech you make sure work for
eternity and take care that your answer to the question, "Do you love
Me," is well weighed, truthful and sincere–lest you should crash on
the same reefs and be lost. Forever lost!
And, dear Friends, I am sure the more closely we examine ourselves, the
more need for self-examination we shall discover. Can you not recollect
much in the tone of your thoughts and the temper of your actions that
might well lead you to suspect that you do not love Christ? If this is
not so with all of you, I know it is so with me. Mournfully must I
confess that when I look back upon my past service for my Master, I
could wish to blot it out with tears of penitent compunction, so far as
my share in it has been concerned! Wherein He has used me, let Him have
all the glory, for to Him it belongs. His be the praise! For me there
remains shame and confusion of face because of the coldness of my
heart, the feebleness of my faith, the presumption with which I have
trusted to my own understanding and the resistance I have offered to
the motions of the Holy Spirit. Alas for the carnality of our minds,
the worldliness of our projects and our forgetfulness of God in times
of ease! It is strange to me if we have not all cause to mourn over
delinquencies like these. And if it is so with those of us who still
can honestly say that we know we love our Lord, what scruples, what
perilous scruples might some of you entertain whose conduct, character
and the tenor of your lives may well raise a graver question!
You imagine that you love Christ. Have you fed His lambs? Have you fed
His sheep? Have you given that proof which our Savior imperatively
requires of you? What are you doing for Him now? It is poor love that
spends itself in professions and never comes to any practical result!
Let this enquiry, then, pass round–
"What have I done for Him who died
To save my precious soul?"
Alas, then, if instead of having, like the beloved Persis, labored much
in the Lord (Rom 16:12), might we not, some of us, suspect ourselves of
having so acted as rather to dishonor His name? Are you not tenderly
conscious that Christian people full often lend their sanction by a
loose conversation and lax habits, to the sins which the world has
allowed and applauded? Jerusalem becomes a Comforter to Sodom when
those who call themselves people of God conform to the usages of
society–and of such society as is corrupt to the core! They say, "Ah,
you see, there is no harm in it, for the saints, themselves, indulge in
it! They are of the same mind as we are! They make a great pretence,
but to no great purpose, for they do as we do." God forgive us if we
have opened the mouths of the Lord's enemies after this fashion! Surely
such failures and such offenses make it necessary for us to ask whether
we love the Lord or not! And though we may hesitate to answer the
question, it is well to raise it, lest, closing our eyes in carnal
security, we should go on to destruction! Let us put the question to
ourselves again, and again, and again, for the question will not mar
our faith, nor even mar our comfort, as long as we are able to fall
back upon Peter's reply, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I
love You." And now, presuming that we are, all of us, convinced that
the question is expedient and becoming, let me remark that–
II. IT IS A QUESTION WHICH, WHEN RAISED, OFTEN CAUSES GRIEF.
Peter was "grieved," but the Lord Jesus Christ never grieved one of His
disciples heedlessly. This goes again to prove the need of the
question. He was rather for comforting, cheering and blessing them. He
inflicted no needless pain. He shielded them from bootless anxiety. Yet
Peter was grieved. Now why should you and I be grieved when the enquiry
turns upon our sincerity? You know that if we do not canvass the
matter, ourselves, our foes will be prompt enough to suspect us,
especially if we are in a public position. The clearer your character,
the keener the assault. Satan–and he is the accuser of the
brethren–said, "Does Job serve God for nothing? Have You not set a
hedge about him?" The devil's taunting question has become a proverb
with the profane! What worse can they say of the Christian minister
than this, "Is he zealous for nothing? Has he not a motive? Is there
not selfishness in the background?" Base insinuations will, I suppose,
be freely uttered about you whatever may be your position in the world.
Of the tradesman who fears the Lord, they will say, "Of course, he
makes it pay." As for the merchant who consecrates his wealth for the
love of Christ, they ask, "Do not you see that he is seeking notoriety?
Is it not a cheap way of getting up a name?" We are sure to have the
question raised. Sometimes it sorely grieves us because of our pride.
We do not like to have our feelings chafed in such a manner. I cannot
help thinking there was some sin in Peter's grief. He was grieved as
one who felt himself aggrieved–"Is it not too bad to ask me three
times! Why should the Lord thus distress me? Surely the blessed Master
might have put more confidence in me than to press a question which
stings like a reproach." Yet what a poor simpleton he was to think so!
How much harm comes from answering in a hurry? When our profession is
canvassed, we ought not to be angry. Did we know our own hearts, we
would keenly feel the accusations it would be reasonable to lay against
us–and the poor defense that conscience could make! When my enemies
are finding fault with me, and forging lies to injure me, I sometimes
think to myself that though I can exonerate myself from their charges,
there are other faults of which they are not cognizant that humble me
before God beyond their utmost surmise! Their conspiracies cannot
explore the secret of my confessions when I lay the imaginations of my
heart before Him against whom only I have sinned. How dare we whisper
into the ears of our fellow men the wish, the whim the like, or the
hate that haunts one's breast, or anything of the multitude of vanities
that float along the rapid current of one's mind! What would they think
of us who do not know how rightly to think of themselves? Surely pride
is put out of countenance, for the worst opinions our enemies can form
of us are probably as good as we dare to entertain of ourselves, taking
the evil of our hearts into consideration! The heart is a very sink of
evil! If we have not perceived it, we have yet to discover it. The
voice Ezekiel heard speaks to us–"Son of man, I show you greater
abominations than these." Little charm you can find, because little
cheer you can get out of these sermons which wither your vain conceit!
But they are not the less profitable. You prefer the small still voice
of a kindly promise, or the rich tones of a glorious prophecy–and then
you congratulate yourselves upon the happy Sabbath you have spent! I am
not quite so sure that your emotions are the truest test of your
interests. Is that always the most wholesome food your children get
which has most sugar in it? Do they never get surfeited with luxury
till they need medicine? Is comfort always the choicest blessing we can
crave? Alas,
we form so high an estimate of our estate, that to question whether we
love the Lord Jesus Christ or not, lowers our dignity, annoys, vexes
and sadly grieves us!
Not that pride is the only incentive. Shame crouches full often in the
same obscure cornerwhere pride nestles. Both alike are disturbed by a
gleam of daylight. Peter must have felt, when he heard the question for
the third time, "Do you love Me?" as if he could hear the cock grow
again. He recollected the scene and circumstance of the dark betrayal
hour. Does not the Lord remember my fear and my cowardice, the lies I
told, the cursing and swearing I gave way to, and the paltry excuse
that edged me on when the taunt of a poor silly maid was too much for
an Apostle? Ah, she annoyed me, she irritated me, I was conquered. I
became a traitor, a blasphemer, almost an apostate. The tears, the
bitter tears he wept on the morning of the crucifixion when Jesus
looked upon him, welled up again from his heart into his eyes as the
risen Lord looked into his face and made him conscious of how richly he
deserved to be asked the question, "Do you love Me?" Yes, and like
bitter memories may cover some of us with shame! Bitter as gall must
the recollections be to some of you who have so backslidden as to
publicly dishonor Christ. I do not want to say an unkind thing to you,
but it is good, sometimes, to keep a wound open. The Bible tells of
some sins God has freely forgiven and yet fully recorded. It is no
marvel if we cannot forgive ourselves for having in any way brought
dishonor and reproach upon the Cross of Christ. The grief is healthy.
We sing–
"What anguish does that question stir, 'If you will also go?'"
But what deeper anguish may that other question stir, "Do you love Me?"
Our cheeks may well mantle with a crimson blush when we remember what
grave cause for suspicion we have given to our Lord!
Not that wounded pride and conscious shame are the only sensations.
Perhaps fear distressed him. Peter may have thought to himself, Why
does my Lord ask me three times? It may be I am deluded and that I do
not love Him." Before his fall he would have said, "Lord, You know that
I love You. How can You ask me? Have I not proved it? Did I not step
down into the sea at Your beck and call? I will go through fire and
water for You." But Simon, son of Jonas, had learned to be more sober
and less loud in his protests. He had been tried. He had attempted to
stand alone and he had proved his palpable weakness. He looks dubious,
he seems hesitant, he feels scrupulous. He is alive to the fact that
the Lord knows him better than he knows himself. Hence the diffidence
with which he asserts his confidence–"You know all things; You know
that I love You." A burned child is afraid of fire and a scalded child
shudders at hot water. So a precocious Peter feels the peril of
presumption. His timidity troubles him. He hesitates to give his word
of honor. Distrust of self distresses him. He dreams his former
downfall over and over again. The hypocrisy of his own heart horrifies
him! What can he say? He answers the Accuser, or rather he appeals to
the Appellant, "You know all things; You know that I love You." His
previous guilt causes his present grief. Should like horrors haunt you,
Friends, give no place to grievous misgivings! Do not encourage them.
Go quickly to the Cross! Behold the crown of thorns! Fly at once, poor
guilty Sinner, to the great Atonement which was made by the Lord upon
the tree and let that fear be ended once and for all!
Not that it was all pride, or all shame, or all fear–I think there was
also love in it. Peter didlove his Master and, therefore, he did not
like to have a doubt or a dark suspicion cast on his sincerity. Love is
a very jealous emotion and keenly sensitive when questioned by those on
whom it intensely dotes. "Why," Peter seems to say, "my Lord and
Master, what would I not do for You? Though I was so false and so
faithless in that hour of trial, yet I know that I am true in the very
bottom of my heart. My fall has not been a total one, nor a final one.
There is in my soul, my Lord, a true, deep and honest love to You–I
know there is." He could not bear to have that love questioned. What
would the wife say if her husband should ask, "Do you love me?" And if,
after she had given a fond assurance of affection, he should repeat the
question solemnly, and with an earnest and a penetrating
look–especially if she had done much to grieve him and to make him
suspect her–I ask, what would she say? Oh, I can understand how her
love at last would make her heart feel as if it must burst! With what
earnestness she would exclaim, "Oh, my husband, if you could see my
heart, you would see your name written there!" It is hard, even in the
conjugal relationship, to have a suspicion cast upon your affection!
Because of the tenacity of his love, Peter was grieved. Had he not
loved Christ so ardently, he would not have felt the grief so acutely.
Had he been a hypocrite, he might have fired with anger, but he would
not have grieved after this fashion. I tell some of our dear young
people who get into trouble and say they are afraid that they are
hypocrites, that I never yet knew a hypocrite who said he was afraid he
was one, and those who say that they are afraid they do not love Jesus
and are
timid and trembling–though I do not commend them for their
trembling–yet I have a much better hope of some of them than I have of
others who are loud in their declarations and vehement in asserting,
"Though all men forsake You, yet will not I." One is comforted to hear
the confidence with which some of our young Brothers and Sisters can
speak. Their warm expressions of love refresh us. Yet we cannot help
feeling that they have got to be tried. Perhaps they will not be less
confident in Christ when trial comes. They may be less confident in
themselves and it is just possible that, though their voices may be
quite as sweet, they will yet not be quite so loud. Years of trial and
temptation–and especially any experience of backsliding–will pluck
some of the feathers out of us and make us feel humble before the Lord.
This grief of Peter, what a complex passion it was!
III. BUT IF IT HAS GRIEVED US TO HEAR THIS QUESTION, IT WILL BE VERY
SWEET IF WE CAN TRULY GIVE THE ANSWER, "YOU KNOW ALL THINGS; YOU KNOW
THAT I LOVE YOU."
Surely the preacher need not say any more if the hearers would just say
what is in their own hearts. Let the question go round. With all your
imperfections and infirmities, your wanderings and backslidings, can
you nevertheless declare that you do love the Lord? Can you join in
that verse–
"You knowIlove You, dearest Lord, But, oh! I long to soar Far from the
sphere of earthly joy, And learn to love You more"?
If you can say that you love Christ from your very heart, how happy you
ought to be! That love of yours is only a drop from the fountain of His
own everlasting love. It is a proof that He loved you before He made
the earth. It is also a pledge that He always will love you when the
heavens and the earth shall pass away. "I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord." Jesus' hand is on you, or else your heart would
not be on Him–and that hand will never relax its grip! He, Himself,
has said it, "I give unto My sheep eternal life, and they shall never
perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." Now let your
heart say, "What shall I do? What shall I render to Him whom I love?"
And the Savior's answer to you will be," If you love Me, keep My
commandments." You know His "commandments," as to the holiness of your
life, the nonconformity of your spirit to the world, your private
communion with Him. You know His commandment concerning your profession
of your faith by Baptism. You know His commandment, "This do you in
remembrance of Me," as often as you break bread and take the cup of
fellowship. You know His commandment, "Feed My lambs; feed My sheep."
Remember this–"If you love Me, keep My commandments."
As for you who do not love my Lord and Master, what can I do but pray
for you, that His great love may now overcome your ignorance and
aversion–until, having first been loved of Him, you love Him in
return? Jesus Christ would have you trust Him! Faith is the first Grace
you need. Oh, come and depend upon Him who did hang upon the Cross!
When you rest in Him, your soul is saved and, being saved, it shall
become your constant joy to love Him who loved you and gave Himself for
you! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN21.
Verses 1-3. After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the
disciples at the Sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed He, Himself
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called the Twin, and
Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee and two other
ofHis disciples. Simon Peter said unto them, I am going fishing. They
said to him, We are also going with you. They could not do better.
Idleness is the most injurious condition in which a man can be found. A
preacher is much better occupied fishing than doing nothing!
3. They went forth, and immediately entered into a ship; and that night
they caught nothing. Even Apostles may fish and catch nothing. Do not
be discouraged, you who, when you are endeavoring to fish for souls,
for many a day catch nothing.
4. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the
disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Yet He was their old familiar
Friend! Was it their unbelief? Let us hope not. Was it that a
remarkable change had passed over
the Master–that, after His Resurrection from the dead, there was a
glory about Him quite unusual, such as they had never seen before,
except when they were with Him on the holy mount? Perhaps so.
5. Then Jesus said unto them, Children, have you any food?Just the kind
of language you would expect from Him– to call them children, and to
inquire even about their temporal needs. For evermore the Lord had an
eye to the temporal condition of the 12, as well as to their spiritual.
"Have you any food?"
5, 6. They answered Him, No. And He said unto them, Cast the net on the
right side of the ship, and you will find some. They cast, therefore,
and now they were not able to draw it in for the multitude of fishes.
Christ knows where fishes are. He knows where you are, then, my Friend,
though you do not, perhaps, know where you are yourself! You have got
out of your own latitude, mentally and spiritually. You could not
describe yourself, but Christ knows every minnow in the brook, and
every fish in the lake, and knows where you are. Christ can bring fish
where He wants them to be. He brought them into the net. Christ can
bring souls into His net tonight. At His will, their will shall sweetly
yield itself up, and they shall come into the net!
7. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, It is the
Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, heput on his
fisher's coat, (for he was naked). He was in his undress.
7, 8. And did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came
in the little boat, (for they were not far from land, but as it were,
two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish.It is all very well of
Peter to be in such a hurry, but somebody must keep hold of the net. It
is not always the most venturesome that is the most practical. We are
glad to have some splendidly rash brethren, but we are equally glad
that the rest are not quite so rash and are a little more prudent.
9. As soon, then, as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals
there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Christ had provided this. We
are to catch fish as if we should have nothing to eat if we did not,
but yet we are to depend upon Him as if we never caught a fish
ourselves. Do everything as if you had to do everything–but trust in
God as if you had to do nothing! The blending of these two will make a
wise Believer. "They saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon,
and bread."
10. Jesus said unto them, Bring some of the fish which you have just
caught. "I do not need it in order to entertain you, for I already have
fish here. Still, bring it." Nothing is given in vain. Use it.
11. 12. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great
fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many,
yet was not the net broken. And Jesus said unto them, Come and dine.
And none of the disciples dared ask Him, Who are You? Knowing that it
was the Lord. Inwardly conscious that it was Christ's habit to speak as
He had spoken. Nobody could have caught His manner, and besides, what
secret instinct enabled them to discern their meek and lowly Lord, even
through the Glory which surrounded Him?
13, 14. Jesus then came and took the bread, and gave it to them and
likewise the fish. This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself
to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. Count the visits of
Christ. "This is now the third time." We ought to remember Christ's
visits to us so well and so thoroughly that we could tell how many
times He has been with us. "This is now the third time."
15-17. So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of
Jonas, Do you love Me more than these? He said unto Him, Yes, Lord, You
know that I love You. He said unto him, Feed My lambs. He said to him,
again, the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, Do you love Me? He said
unto Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said unto him, feed
My sheep. He said unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, Do you
love Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, Do
you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know
that I love You. Jesus said unto him, Feed My sheep.Nobody can feed
Christ's sheep unless they love Him, and when we love Christ, the most
practical way of showing it is by taking care of His lambs–His little
ones–and of all those that are His–His sheep. Love will teach us how
to do it. Love will sign our commission and ordain us to the work. The
Master went on to say–
18. Verily, verily, I say unto you, When you were young, you girded
yourself and walked where you wished; but when you shall be old, they
shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry
you where you would not. Peter, you will have to be girded with an iron
chain and taken off to prison–and taken off to a cross to die!
19. This spoke He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And
when He had spoken this, He said unto him, Follow Me. That is your life
business. Follow Me, even though you end, as I did, on a cross. Follow
Me. I am a Shepherd. You must be a shepherd, too, and as the sheep
follow you, so do you follow Me.
20, 21. Then Peter, turning about, seeing the disciple whom Jesus loved
following; who also leaned on His breast at
supper, and said, Lord, who is he that betrays You? Peter seeing him,
said to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? What about this man?
22. Jesus said unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is
that to you? Follow Me.We ought not to be curious about the future of
anybody. We must not be inquiring into what is not revealed! And what
the Savior said on this occasion was misunderstood–if the words of
Jesus, even when He spoke them–were misunderstood so as to become the
foundation of a false tradition, you may judge how little value can
ever be put upon tradition in the Church!
23. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple
should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die, but if I
will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you?The Word of God is
to be trusted–not tradi-tion–for in the handing of a message from
mouth to mouth, it generally varies. It sometimes loses its very
essential spirit, and sometimes may be made to say the very reverse of
what was said. Stick to the Word of God–and leave the traditions
alone!
24. 25. This is the disciple which testifies of these things, and wrote
these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are
also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be
written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not
contain the books that should be written. Amen. Such a full life–so
pregnant with meaning–so active, and all its activity so intensely
real and spiritual, that to write a life of Christ is an impossibility!
And though there have been many very admirable "lives of Christ" in our
time, I recommend you to keep to one which is the best of them all–and
that one is written by four Inspired authors–the Gospels according to
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the best life of Christ out of sight!
All others must be but mere helps to the understanding of these four.