WHAT IS THAT TO YOU?

DAVID TAGOE repeats the necessary question we feel uncomfortable asking daily

I am not done reflecting on how to maintain the appropriate attitude in the Kingdom of God as a child, and another stunner comes along: What is that to you? Efa wo ho ben? Please do not go away. I am not talking exactly to you. I am just repeating what Jesus told Peter when he asked him about what happens to John when the Lord the leaves. Because that is the angle that this stunner of all time came from, and as uncomfortable as this question would make anybody, and as utterly cheeky as it sounds, it should be a top self-examination question.

David Tagoe, at devotion today used just 15 minutes to drive home this point so poignantly that it will remain with all HQ staff forever. Some may feel like toying with it and letting the point go, others may devote themselves to prayer for the Word to purify them and put them better in touch with their calling, but efa me ho ben? Let me concentrate on telling you exactly the import of the message.

The incident happened at a time when the preoccupation of Jesus was to reinstate Peter as head of the disciples after Peter had denied him three times. He used symbolic language to define what He expected of Peter as the expression of his devotion to Him as Master, thus:

“Feed My lambs, … Shepherd (tend) My sheep…Feed My sheep.” See John 21:15-17

Jesus was then proceeding to show Peter how his end would be like, when John, the disciple reputed to be Jesus’ favorite appeared on the scene. Peter, the newly reinstated, then did what we now see as the unthinkable, and the unexplainable: He ostensibly interrupted Jesus … just to ask about the fate of another, John!

Now, why would Peter do that? Tagoe raised the ancient puzzle: What did Peter want with John (and what do I want with the people I gossip about)? Before we spend time on that speculation, let us picture the absolutely important issues at stake for Peter at the time:

1. Having denied your Lord, three times and living out your hopeless situation by returning to your previous occupation, not alone, but along with some of the disciples, your situation was absolutely dire! You had just been pardoned, and needed to take in the moment, ponder how to express your gratitude, and resolve never to repeat the offense;

2. Your life assignment and what your Lord expects of you were being laid before you in language for which you need to seek clarification in humility before Him;

3. Your end was being revealed to you, and it seemed even the nature of your death had been mentioned.

Peter could take his eyes off all these to gossip about another. Well, but what is that to me? Let me mind what the Lord is using this to tell me now.

Do I also concern myself with the Lord's priorities for me, appropriately as the Word of God has shown me, or I also preoccupy myself with others, their omissions and commissions?

Or, am I not also just another pardoned sinner? Has the Lord not assigned me to make disciples for Him? And should I not be concerned all the time about how I will end this race in the Lord? Should my prime focus not be to follow the Lord fully?

If I let these occupy me fully, I wonder if I will ever need to ask, “Lord, what about this man?”

You may conclude this discussion on your own, reading what Jesus’ full response to Peter was in the circumstance:

Jesus said to him, If I want him to stay (survive, live) until I come, what is that to you? [What concern is it of yours?] You follow Me! John 21:21

Thanks, David Tagoe.