“Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going.
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?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.””
John 13:33, 36-37 NLT
Jesus knew that His time in this world would soon be over. The end of His mission was soon to come, and there was nothing more that He needed to do. Mission accomplished. He was going home, to be with His Father in Heaven once again. Just a few loose ends to tie up, to be accomplished in the forty days or so after the first Easter morning. But Peter was devastated and pledged his allegiance to Jesus, expressing a desire to be with Him wherever He was going. Perhaps, Peter just hadn’t grasped that there was no big fight coming, resulting in the establishment of a physical kingdom. Instead, as we know, Jesus was soon to pass through death into life eternal, death and satan defeated, leaving an outpost of the Kingdom of God remaining in the hearts of all His believers everywhere. The relationship between Jesus and His disciples, particularly Peter, had strengthened over the past three years and Peter didn’t want it to end.
How strong is our relationship with Jesus? Would we, like Peter, express a willingness to die for Him? Is Jesus so real to us that nothing else in this world, or what it can offer, have any significance for us? A sobering thought, because we have so much we are attached to, our families, our possessions, the things and activities that we enjoy, just for starters, and to leave it all behind and then follow Jesus into another world, a spirit world that we know little about other than what we read about in the Bible. We read about ordinary people on fire for Jesus who did in fact die for Him. The first martyr was Stephen and we can read about what he said when he died in Acts 7:56-60, “And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honour at God’s right hand!” Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died“. Stephen, and other first Century martyrs, gave their lives rather than compromise their beliefs. They joined the other saints, the Old Testament ones listed in Hebrews 11:32, “How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets”. And many more people in New Testament times right up to the present days have given their lives just for believing in Jesus. According to the UK charity “Open Doors”, 5,000 Christians died for their faith in 2023. In 2013, the Vatican claim that this number could have been as high as 100,000.
We pilgrims in the West don’t suffer the persecution and danger that Christians in totalitarian states like North Korea do. We are comfortable in our religious freedom and never find ourselves in a position like our Christian brothers and sisters do in other parts of the world. But we mustn’t become complacent. Jesus warned His disciples in John 16:33, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world“. There may be trouble ahead, and if we read the Book of Revelation we will get some idea of what is coming. But in the meantime, we must be on our guard, always ready for anything the world and the devil hurl against us, trusting in the World Overcomer, Jesus Himself.
Father God. Thank You that in You we have eternal life and that we are safe from the devil’s attacks. We worship You today. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 