The ultimate raw deal

"Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me" (John 21:21-22).

After Jesus revealed to Peter how he would in the future glorify God through martyrdom, Peter responded, "and what shall this man do?" He was referring to John "the beloved" who was next to Jesus. Did Peter think he was getting a raw deal? In his heart was he saying, And what about John, is he going to suffer the same fate as me? Peter had his eyes on the wrong person. The crucified risen savior, who he had days before betrayed, was standing right in front of him without holding anything against him, but Peter was focused on whether or not John was going to have it easier than him in life. Jesus responded, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." Peter eventually got his eyes back on Jesus and started thinking right. He did continue to follow the Lord and his whole attitude would change. After the ascension of Jesus, Peter and the other Apostle set out to fulfill the Lord's commission to make disciple of all nations. Peter boldly preached the gospel in the power of the Spirit even in the face of intense persecution. After Peter and some other Apostles were beaten by religious leaders for preaching the gospel, Luke wrote in the book of Acts, "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:40-42). Tradition says that when Peter was being crucified for his faith, he asked to be placed on the cross upside down because he felt unworthy to die like Jesus did. Have you ever felt like life is unfair and that others always seem to have it better than you do? In times like these we need to get our eyes off ourselves and others and look unto Jesus. He didn't have it easy when he went to the cross to die for our sin so that we can have a relationship with God in this life and for all eternity. The author of Hebrews wrote, "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Hebrews 12:3). When you think that others got it better than you do, remember that Jesus got the ultimate raw deal to save your soul from hell.