Our Own Duty and Our Brethren's Welfare
W. A. Gray. John 21:21-23 Peter seeing him said to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?… 1. This is the last recorded dialogue between Peter and Christ, and it has therefore a touching interest. How many and how varied these dialogues had been! Had we no other fragments of Christ's life, we would still have a tolerably full indication both of Christian doctrine and duty. And now the interviews were to cease. Could there be a more fitting and consistent close to the whole? "Follow Me," Christ said three years before by the lakeside, and now at the self-same spot He reminds him that the omega of his life is the same as its alpha, even the duty of personal discipleship, the word "Follow me." 2. Peter's question about John is a common one, and the answer Christ gave is fitting and final. There is nothing in it to discourage feeling for a brother's welfare. Yet mark, it may be one thing to say, "What shall I do for this man?" and another to ask, "What shall this man do?" Take the question as that of — I. LOVING BUT OVER-ANXIOUS SOLICITUDE. 1. Perhaps, as in this case, the relation is that of friendship. You stand with a neighbour at the outset of life. Your own track is laid down, be it attractive or difficult. And no sooner have you faced the disclosure than your thoughts revert to your friend, and the question starts up, "How shall life shape itself for him?" You may fear for that future, or you may envy it. But if your forecast of your friend be such as to affect your own present, deranging its plans or obscuring its claims, it is plain that you ask amiss. It is met with the rebuke, "What is that unto thee? Follow thou Me." 2. Or the tie may be the closer one of family. What shall that future yield for them? Some may be sick; shall it bring them health and long life? Some may be thoughtless and easily led; shall it give them wisdom and stability? Once more comes the message, "Leave their future in My hands; and for your own part, follow Me!" 3. Or, again, this question is asked by those who are burdened with the state and the prospects of the Church. And no doubt an interest in the Church is the token of a thriving Christian life. But there is a morbid apprehensiveness which is totally different, unbefitting belief in the Church's destiny and loyalty to its head. Most certainly these forebodings are amiss, if they are permitted to interfere with attention to the Church's claims, and lead to the toleration of a present evil on the score that a worse evil may follow its removal. Christ answers, Leave the future of the Church with Another, and do thou follow Me. And surely, if each took the lesson home, the problem of the Church's future would soon solve itself. For the Church will be just what its members are. 4. The question involves indirectly a care for oneself. It really meant much to Peter what was to become of his partner. If John was about to depart, his heart would be emptier, his life weaker, his path lonelier. And just so still. John's track in due time did diverge. But Peter found a better and a stronger by his side than his own loved John — even the Shepherd and the Bishop of his soul. The future hides many paths to-day, but whatever the paths, the guidance and example are the same. II. VAIN SPECULATION, which may sometimes be stirred by affection to a person, but often is curiosity towards facts. There are those whose present state and future prospects, religiously speaking, are matters of curious and perplexing interest. They have so much of the practical religious spirit, while, in point of saving religious doctrine, they diverge. May there not be fruitless and unwarranted guessing here. One dare not lay down the amount of light needed to make them Christians, and one cannot decide what light they possess. "What is that," says the Saviour, "unto thee? You who have attained to a clearer perception, are you acting up to it? You who have listened to a richer gospel, are you communicating and adorning it?" Pray for those of whose destiny you are doubtful; enlighten them as God gives you opportunity; above all, make it plain that the more tenacious your hold is on doctrine, the richer is your outcome in practice. III. SELFISH DISCONTENT. Your own post in life seems a hard one; and, as you brood on its burdens, you compare yourselves with others with whom God has dealt otherwise. "Lord," is the question, "what shall this man do? Is he always to succeed while I must fail? If so, 'verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency, for how cloth God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?'" The only answer is, "If I will that it be so, what is that unto thee? Trust the God of the earth to do right. Follow thou Me!" IV. INTENDED CONFORMITY. What many are keenest to settle is the mode of their neighbour's service, the extent of his sacrifices, not the question, "What do my own opportunities make possible, my own indebtedness impose, my Master require?" But if the question, "What shall this man do?" is to intrude on the sphere of our Christian principles, then farewell to the spirit of true consecration. For He who presides in the Church, by whose will your responsibilities are imposed, at whose bar your account must be rendered, is saying, "What is that unto thee?" and what really is it? Art thou scanning thy neighbour's conduct, waiting thy neighbour's lead? Nay, judge apart m these matters, as apart thou shalt yet be judged. Be true to the light of thine individual conscience and thine individual commands. Follow thou Christ. Conclusion: 1. In matters of religious life — all the duties that pertain to discipleship — one's own things come first. And to give them anything else than the first place is to become practical idolaters by the preference of a neighbour's claim to God's. 2. This order is the best one for the interests of your neighbour himself. It is just this care for your personal salvation and duty that will further his prosperity, affording him the stimulus and allowing him the freedom he may happen to require. For the building of the city of God is like the building of Jerusalem in Nehemiah's time. They who wrought wrought each at the portion of the wall that was opposite himself, and the issue was the steady growth of the whole. And had any slackened his efforts to ask what his neighbour was doing, he might have been answered in the spirit of the text: "What is that unto thee? See that thine own task is done!" Or the Church is like a battalion of soldiers, as they swarm a height, while the voice of their captain is calling them and his figure is leading the way. One may ascend by one path, another may ascend by another. Only let all hear the same ringing summons, and push steadily toward the same goal. And as all do the best for themselves, they will do the best for the troop, the success of its enterprise, the glory of its leader. Say not, therefore, "Lord, what shall this man do?" From the far heights above floats the answer of our Forerunner and King, "What is that unto thee? Follow thou Me." (W. A. Gray.) Parallel Verses KJV: Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? WEB: Peter seeing him, said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?"