Peter, James and John: Following Him

 Peter: Isn't it funny the way He called us?  "Follow me", He said, and the emphasis was on me! Like He was going to take us somewhere, somewhere we couldn't go on our own.

 John: Yes, but He had no doubt or question as to where He was going nor how to get there. Wherever it was, He would get us there.

James: Still, it's not really a journey, a trip, a going from one spot to another. He means it as a metaphor, right?

John: No! He definitely means it literally, as a real journey, but a life journey, a real journey through life from this world to the next.

Peter: So why didn't He make that clear from the beginning and say: Listen men, I want you all to join my group and spend your lives with me, here in the present and next in the hereafter? That's really what we're doing, living with him and moving around with him in the hope of getting to heaven, no?

John. No, it's more than joining his group and living together in order to get to heaven. What makes us a group, his group, is the following, the getting behind him, the imitating of him, the absorbing of his thoughts, his feelings, his ways,etc. A group united by following Him is what He wants us to be, not just a bunch of people on the way to heaven.

James: Is following the imitating, the learning from, catching from him what kind of persons we should be?

Peter: Maybe another way to put it is this: it's obeying him, doing what he says, not just putting it into our heads, but carrying it out, living it. That's the following He means.

John: Yes, it is both of those things. The imitating and the obeying shapes us into his followers. The following means keeping our eyes on Him, letting his words into us, letting the way He is and what He does shape us inside, change our thinking and feeling so we live more and more by his thinking and feeling, and make it our own, till we feel about one another the what He feels about us. This is the "group" aspect of following Him: his affection for us, not just individually or personally, but as a whole, as brothers.  He wants us to be more than individual persons who follow Him. He wants his feelings for us to shape us into a brotherhood. And that can only happen if we follow Him together.

 James. Why didn't He explain it to us like that in the beginning? Why did He invite us to follow him without  going into the details of what is involved? It's not fair. He should have spelled things out more.

John Why?  If He had explained everything more fully, would you have said yes?

Peter: I wouldn't have! Being with Him isn't so bad.  I like that part. But being with all of you all the time is what is hard to take.

James: I hope you don't think it is any easier for the rest of us to put up with you?! You're harder than anyone to put up with.

Peter: Why do you say that? At least I'm honest enough to say what I think! I don't keep my mouth shut and hide what I'm thinking like the rest of you.

James: Oh sure, you speak up, but you're just trying  to show us up! You want everyone to be impressed with how smart you are, but half the time what you say is really stupid!

John:  Cut it out! You two are getting off the track, arguing about how difficult it is for us to live with one another. That is the whole point of following Him: learning to live with one another because we follow Him.

Peter:What do you mean?

John: You were asking why He didn't explain in more detail  exactly what it mean for us to live in his company, to be with him day in and day out, right?

Peter: Yes.

John: Well, there is no way to explain that beforehand because it's a lived experience. It has to be lived and experienced before it can be understood and explained. Following Him means: learning how to love one another because we love Him,staying together and putting up with one another out of love for him, actually learning to see one another the way He sees us, letting our love for Him become the source of our love for one another. Because we all share the call to follow, we have to be brothers.

 James: You lost me. Why the emphasis on brotherhood?

Peter:  Me too. What has getting along with one another got to do with  following him? I can follow him even though I don't like everybody in the group.

 John: No, you can't. We can only be as close to Him as we are to one another, and as close to one another as we are to Him. Otherwise we're phony, pretending. He wants to be the bond between us. It is not a matter of acting nice and courteously with one another because He tells us we better get along, and so we do it. It is a matter of the love we have for Him overflowing into the love we have for one another. It's the same love because we share the same call. Our call is a companionship, a sharing, a brotherhood, in the same destiny.

James: Now I'm more confused than I was. What has destiny to do with it?

 Peter: That's right! And besides,  what about you and Him? You have a special relationship with Him, right? And so do I, right? And so does everyone else in the group. We are all individuals, aren't we? Our being called together doesn't do away with the fact that we are all different persons.

John: No, of course it doesn't. The call is personal, but it is also communal, a call for us separate persons to be brothers, and it's the following that makes us brothers, that shapes us in brotherhood. Following him together means that we learn to love one another so that the personal differences become the points of unity, not cause for distance and separation. Does that make sense to you two?

Peter: Let me think about it more.

James: Me too.

John: Look at it this way: Because He calls you and me, I want for you what He wants for you, and you want for me what He wants for me. He wants the same thing for all of us: union with Him, life with him, friendship with him, brotherhood. That's our destiny. It's the future, but it's the present too. We start living our destiny now, and the living of it is what makes it our destiny.The only way we achieve our destiny is by being brothers, and the only way we can be brothers is by following him. Right now we are only starting out, so we can't understand what we are supposed to be,  or the brotherhood He wants us to have, we have to grow into it step by step

James. Let me think about it.

Peter: Me too. Right now it is just words.

Threesome: Peter, James and John discuss Christ’s encounter with the rich young man.

 Mark: 10:23 “Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God.’ And the disciples were amazed at his words.” 

James: I’m surprised! I didn’t think the Master would let this young man go off like that.

Peter: I’ll say! What do you think He meant by promising we would all get everything back a hundredfold for following Him?

John: Never mind that. I have a better question: why do you think he told the young man to give up everything?

 Peter: Why is that so important? We all had to give up everything!

John: Yes, but for us, everything was a couple of fishing boats, our nets, and our business contacts for selling fish. Not a big deal.  But you could see from the way this man was dressed that he is wealthy.

James: Yes. He has a lot more to give up than we do.

Peter: You’re right. So, why make him give it up? Why not tell him to join us and bring everything he has with him? Wouldn’t that make more sense? And make life easier for all of us too?

John: That’s not the way the Master sees it. Obviously he liked this man. You could see that from the way He looked at him. And the man had a lot to offer. He was well educated, intelligent, devout, and an all around good person. He probably would have made a better preacher and teacher than any one of us. And he probably would have joined us, if he could have brought everything with him.

Peter: So you agree with me? Why not let him bring it all?

John: Because he would always have that wealth to fall back on. The riches would be his security, his source of life, behind everything else. The man would not be committed to Jesus. The wealth would be first in the man’s head, even if it was in the background, and Jesus would be secondary.  

Peter: Maybe that’s it. Jesus insists on being our center; He is what connects us all. That’s how He sees it.  And the money gets in the way. If the money is there, money becomes central. 

James: Why do you think the Master told the man not to call Him “good”?

Peter: That’s not what Jesus was doing.

John:  That’s right! Jesus was smiling when He said that.  He was using the word the man used, but with a different meaning. It was a way of telling the man: Good? You have no idea exactly how GOOD I AM!

 James: I guess I missed that. I was paying more attention to what He said next: “No one is good but God alone.”

John: Don’t try to figure that out.

Peter: Why not?

John: Because only He knows what He means by that. We could argue about that all day and never get anywhere.

James: What is there to argue about? He’s saying that only God is absolutely good; that’s all.

(Peter and John look at each other, and silently agree not to dig further into James’ statement.)

Peter: Fine.   John, you were saying that this man was special, how he seemed better educated than we are, and how he could have made a more effective disciple than the lot of us. I think you’re right. So why did Jesus let him walk off? Why not talk to him more, discuss, explain things, and reason with him?  He could have persuaded the man to leave his wealth behind if He really tried.

James: That’s right. Look how He never stops talking to us, explaining things over and over again, encouraging and correcting and moving us towards what He wants. He could have had his way with the man if he kept pushing.

John: Yes, but that’s not His way of doing things. He invites, He calls, He makes the opportunity available, but He doesn’t  pressure or force or manipulate.  He doesn’t play those games with anyone.  Even with us. He keeps at us because we did say yes and decide to follow Him. But even now if we decided to walk off He would let us go.

Peter: Suppose you had all the money and possessions this man had, would you still be here? Or would you leave the group and go back to it?

John: I’m glad I don’t have to make that choice, but I think I would stay.

Peter: Today I feel that way. Other days, well, I don’t know. I like following Him. But I don’t know where He is going. It is an adventure, I have to admit that. But it is scary too. You can never tell what is going to happen next, or what He is going to do.

James: What about this man who went back to his riches? Can he get into the kingdom of heaven? Is he still on his way to God?

Peter: Well, he was on the right road before the Master called him, because he was keeping all the commandments. As long as he keeps that up, what’s the problem?

John:  The wealth, the money. That’s the Master’s point.  At any moment the money can take over and become central. The man could not even recognize it when that takes place. But if it does, then the man is no longer on the right way. Then the wealth controls him and the way he relates to people. 

James: It's that dangerous?

 Peter: The Master says it is. It’s probably a blessing we don’t have to make that choice. We probably would get seduced by the wealth. But what about the question I asked to begin with? Jesus promised we would all get back a hundredfold what we have given up to follow Him, remember? What do you think He meant by that? We surely are not going to get rich!

 John: Relationships. That’s what He’s talking about, our friendship with one another because we follow Him. Look how different we all are. None of us would be close to another, or care about one another if we were not following Him. We would never choose to be friends or brothers in real life.

Peter: We still don’t like one another that much even though He keeps harping on it with us all the time.

 John: That’s the point I’m trying to make! Following Him is what unites us. Everything else about us would have us fighting with one another all the time. We are so competitive, and have such different tastes, we could never get along. Only He can make us brothers.

James: Well, He hasn’t done it yet.

John: We’re all still with Him, aren’t we? That’s the important thing. If we manage to stay close to Him, I think we’ll end up caring about one another in spite of ourselves. That might be the biggest wonder He performs!