Yesterday we heard Jesus offer Peter the opportunity to profess his love for him and then gave him the command to “Follow Me.” (Jn 21:19). Today, in the conclusion of the Gospel of John, Peter turns to see John following behind and questions the Lord, asking “What about him?” Jesus replies to Peter “What if I want him to remain until I come. What concern is it of yours? You follow me.” (Jn 21:21-22) It seems to me that typically when this particular pericope is preached, we hear something about why Jesus is rebuking Peter yet again, essentially telling him to mind his own business. I don’t buy that. I believe Jesus has a great sense of humor, but I don’t see him as ‘Lord of the Snarky Reply.’ While it is true that one of the challenges of life is to balance genuine concern for one another with our natural propensity for nosiness, there is something much deeper in this exchange.
St. Augustine insists that Christ’s
command to Peter to follow him is a call to action. He is to follow in the
footsteps of the Lord, leading his Church, preaching the Gospel, healing the
sick, and ultimately dying on a cross. St. Augustine teaches that in the active
life, the more we love Christ, the more we are freed from sin. As we actively work
to free our lives of sin, the closer to Christ we become until we are fully
free in eternal life. Peter is to demonstrate his love for Christ in the works
of his life. St. Augustine says Jesus is telling Peter that John has a
different path ahead of him. John’s life is to be one of contemplation. He is
to spend his days in prayer, caring for the Blessed Mother, and preaching the Divine
Word. John’s love for Christ will grow in his innermost depths until is fully
realized when Christ comes for him at the end, at his peaceful death.
One could argue “that the one who
loved Christ the more, was the better man, and the one whom Christ loved the
more, the more blessed.”[1] For us as future diocesan priests, which then
is the better path in life? The answer is that we are to walk both paths. We
are called to be contemplatives in action. Our innermost being is to have a
monastic core, contemplating the love of Christ and drawing close to him in the
frequent intimate dialogue of prayer. But we then put that love into action in
our lives in our pastoral ministry, study, and formation. After ordination, it
will be…pastoral and sacramental ministry, more study, and more formation, all under-girded by a deep interior life of prayer. As Fr. George Aschenbrenner
terms it, we are called to an ‘Active-Apostolic way of life.’[2] Just
as Peter and John embodied our hopes and fears as they together rushed to the
empty tomb on Easter morning, today at the end of the Fourth Gospel, their
diverging paths illumine our walk of service to Christ and his Church. Worry
not about what another is called to – Follow Him!
St. Joseph, Model
of Workers and Mirror of Patience, Pray for us!
[1]
Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea: Commentary
on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers: St. John,
ed. John Henry Newman, vol. 4 (Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1845), 628.
[2] George A. Aschenbrenner. Quickening the Fire in Our Midst: The Challenge of
Diocesan Priestly Spirituality. (Chicago, IL: Jesuit Way, 2002). 7-15.
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