Five Minute Friday: Follow

Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and free write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes. Today's word is "follow."

But Peter followed Him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. And he went in and sat down with the guards to see the outcome-Matthew 26:58 (BSB)

Sat down with the guards? What?


I have read this story multiple times. But today, when I looked up some Scriptures for the word follow, this came up, and I noticed something new! Don’t you love when that happens?


I have always thought Peter was afraid from the get-go. He boasted after the Passover meal that he would follow the Lord to death. Remember?


Well, apparently he wasn’t lying. Or at least he didn’t think he was…and he wasn’t, at least not until the very last minute.


If you remember, the guards come to arrest Jesus. Peter apparently had a sword, and cut off the high priest servant's ear whose name was Malchus. So far, Peter is holding to his promise to Jesus.


And then they take Jesus. Peter follows, from a distance the Bible says. But then look at what happens next.

“But Peter followed Him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. And he went in and sat down with the guards to see the outcome”-Matthew 26:58 (BSB)

The Berean Study Bible says he sits down with the guards. Many translations use the word “guards". Others use the word officers, and some use the word servants. I looked the word up in Greek and it means “an underling, servant.” It is often used in many other places in the Gospels and it is translated as officers, attendants, ministers, servants, and helpers.


I have often thought of Peter as losing his courage in the garden, but it doesn’t seem so. He follows Jesus, even after he cuts off Malchus’ ear. He follows Him all the way to the high priest’s courtyard. That would be inside the home’s area.


If you read further on in the story, chapter 26 moves into the religious leaders questioning Jesus. They eventually decide that He is “deserving of death.”(Matthew 26:66) Right after they decide this is when the high priest’s servant girl approaches Peter, and this is when the denial starts.


Peter had been full of courage, but the longer he sat there, it drained. Maybe he heard what was happening inside, and realized they were really going to put Jesus to death. Maybe it hadn’t been real to him. Remember at one point he had corrected Jesus and told him that He would never die. See Matthew 16:21-23. Jesus rebuked him at that moment.


Maybe Peter did not believe Jesus was really going to die, until it began to dawn on him, after his adrenaline had gone down, while sitting, waiting in the courtyard.


Why bring this up? Sometimes I think we think we know everything in Scripture, because we have heard the stories many times, especially if we have been Believers for a while. But it is always worth another look. We will learn something new about God, and something new about ourselves.


Peter followed Jesus, up to almost the very end. I love this story because it teaches us about mistakes. Even if we are moving along, doing what we are supposed to be doing, and then trip and make a mistake, the Lord knew about it before it happened. And He is not holding it against us. He still has a job for us to do. To learn more about it, read John 21 and the story of Jesus and Peter by the sea of Galilee, where they first met.


Don’t you just love this about Jesus? Keep following Him. He still has stuff for you to do.

*Have you ever had an experience like this with the Lord? I'd love to hear about it. 

Many blessings,

Beth 🌴

Loving the Real Jesus

I never get tired of hearing about Jesus, about the true Jesus.

I know why people sat there and just listened to Him until they were hungry. I know why women followed Him around and gave Him their money and supported His ministry. I know why the woman with the alabaster jar of ointment poured it out on His feet. I know why people got healed so easily and frequently in His presence.

Because He was just oozing love for them. His presence was one of perfect love and perfect peace.

One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible is after He was raised from death. The disciples had gone back to Galilee, and were fishing. They hadn't caught anything. Jesus is standing on the shore and He yells at them, "Children, do you have any food?" There is something in that one sentence that blesses me so much. It is so endearing that He called them children.

They were in some in-between moments where they didn't really know what was going on, so they went back to that life before Jesus. And Jesus appears and meets them where they are at. They are just fishing. And then Jesus directs them, and they catch a lot of fish, 153 to be exact. It is reminiscent at the beginning of His ministry, how when Jesus used Peter's boat, and He filled the boat up with fish afterward.

And then Peter jumps out of the boat to swim to Jesus. What kind of love would evoke a grown man to jump into the water and swim to Jesus?

He is still the same Jesus. He is still lovingly calling to us. He is still caring for our emotions. He is still caring for our physical needs. And I believe that if we hear enough about and get to know the real Jesus, we would all be just like Peter, willing to cast it all aside and just run into His arms.

My prayer is that we would all grow to know His love to this measure. Blessings to you on your journey,

~Beth

MYOB-Mind Your Own Business

Jesus replied, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me."-John 21:22 (NLT)

MYOB. This is a 21st century anacronym for Mind Your Own Business. In today's society, with the advent of Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and other forms of social media, it is very easy to NOT mind your own business. I like facebook. I use it frequently, but I have to be careful or I could just sit around all day not putting first things first. Facebook, along with other media, makes it possible to know the latest info on MANY people all in an instant. However, it can also create some stress from knowing too much at once. A librarian friend of mine referred to it as "information overload."

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 Paul tells the church in Thessalonica to, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you. Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others."(NLT) He says that if we do these things, it will draw respect from people who are not Christians and you as a Christian will not need to depend on other people. God desires every person to come to know Jesus. Everybody. One way they will come to know him is through observation of Christians. Can they see Jesus in you from the way you live your daily life?

MYOB. Why else should you mind your own business? Jesus tells us to. In John chapter 21, Jesus is having a conversation with Peter. Jesus has just told him how he will be martyred. It doesn't even appear that Peter is paying attention to what Jesus just said. He starts asking him about John! Jesus says, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow ME." John 21:22(NIV) Jesus basically told Peter to MYOB. He was to be responsible for Peter and for Peter following Jesus.

I do want to clarify that I am not saying to never do anything for anybody else. There are numerous scriptures on helping people. It is the nature of Jesus to give. As a follower of Christ, you should be giving regularly through your time, finances, goods, and most importantly the love you demonstrate to your family and those who are close to you both in proximity and emotionally. But, it is important to not be so consumed with other's lives, that we lose our focus on what we are to be doing at the moment.

If the body of Christ started to mind their own business, what could we accomplish? Would it affect our health? Would our stress levels decrease? Would we be more productive? Would it affect the outcome of other people's lives, if we minded our own business and only followed Jesus? How will minding your own business help you today?