[31] "When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. [32] If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
[33] “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come."
[34] “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. [35] By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
[36] Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
[37] Peter asked, “Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
This is a great study in being distracted by something and totally missing the more important statement immediately following whatever caused the distraction. Here we have Jesus really getting down to the final serious impartation and explanations to the Apostles, for He knew His time was short. As soon as Judas leaves, He shifts gears, knowing that the events are now in motion that will lead to His death, and starts down that path in verses 31-33.
He starts by saying the Father is going to be glorified, and will glorify Him (Jesus) at once! The last time the Father was Glorified was at the raising of Lazarus from the dead, so the Apostles should have recognized that something huge was about to happen and been listening intently!
Jesus then says He is only going to be with them a little longer - alluding to His death (verse 33) - and He tells them that they can't follow Him down that path. We know from other scriptural references that the Apostles just didn't understand any time that Jesus spoke about his impending death, no matter how clear he was, and this is no different. Apparently this statement so confused them, especially Peter, that He just stopped listening and focused on what Jesus said about going somewhere they couldn't follow. We know this by Peter's response in verse 36.
What Peter apparently missed was verses 34 & 35, where Jesus gives them His new Commandment! Wow talk about missing the forest for the tree in front of you, Peter apparently locked in on Jesus' previous statement, and was still thinking about that, and probably just heard "blah, blah, blah, love, blah, blah".
Here is a NEW Commandment being given, spoken to life by Jesus at the command of the Father, and Peter was wondering where Jesus was going! This is like the issuing of the Ten Commandments - yet greater, for this is the new Commandment of the New Covenant, which Jesus had just established (see Luke 22:20). This new Covenant was instituted by the breaking of the bread and drinking the cup, before Judas left. John doesn't add that dialogue here, my guess is because by the time John wrote His Gospel the New Covenant was widely understood. So Peter, even though he was in the same room with Jesus, and even though He physically heard the words spoken about the New Commandment, apparently just totally missed them (at least that is the way I read these verses)!
This gives me great hope for my own distractedness, in listening to the Lord! It doesn't excuse my distractedness or my inability to understand the situation, but it gives me hope that Jesus has seen this before, and was patient with Peter, and still called Peter forward into his purpose and true calling. Sometimes I read things that are very familiar in scriptures, but the words just go in one ear and out the other. Sometimes I will go back to something the Lord said years ago, and all of a sudden I get what He was really saying! I am so encouraged that Jesus continues to be patient with me, in spite of my ability to get distracted over just about anything!
Sometimes I think the Lord must be slapping His forehead and rolling his eyes constantly over our inability to listen and hear, and actually understand what He is saying. At the very least his probably shaking his head in disbelief that we can be so slow to hear and understand. We are an easily distracted people, and these days with all the demands for our time and focus, our ever present phones and social media apps, or constant barrage of news and opinion, it is super easy to lose our way, to lose our train of thought and to miss what Jesus is wanting to say!
I'm so glad Jesus then goes on to talk about the role of the Holy Spirit as the one who will help us remember all things, and He was probably looking at Peter when He said it! :-) John 14:25-27 NIV: “All this I have spoken while still with you. [26] But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. [27] Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
Lord, thank You for Your patience and love! Thank You for Your understanding of our limited human attention, and our inability to grasp Your perfect word! Thank You for loving us and for reminding us of everything You said! Help me to pay better attention to Your word in my life, that I might hear what You are saying the first time, especially those things that are significant! Finally help me be patient with my brothers and sisters in the same way You are patient with them and me!
Amen!!
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