Then
Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ breast at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray You?” Peter seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” This saying therefore went out among the brothers, that this disciple wouldn’t die. Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, but, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you?”
John 21:20-23
John 21 [13.] Then Jesus came and took the bread, gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was revealed to his disciples, after he had risen from the dead. So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.”
He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.”
He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?”
Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. [18.] Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself, and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you, and carry you where you don’t want to go.”
Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
John 21 [20.] Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ breast at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray You?” Peter seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”
John 21 [22.] Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” This saying therefore went out among the brothers, that this disciple wouldn’t die. Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, but, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true. There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.
Meaning:
Jesus had just restored Peter, asking him three times, “Do you have affection for me?” and giving him the task of feeding his sheep (John 21:15-17). He had also told Peter what kind of death he would die and had said to him, “Follow me” (John 21:18-19). In these verses Peter looks round, sees the beloved disciple and asks what will happen to him. Jesus turns Peter back to his own calling, and John corrects a rumour.
- “Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following”
The disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. John identifies him by recalling the last supper, when he “was at the table, leaning against Jesus’ breast” and asked, “Lord, who is it?” (John 13:25). He had a close relationship with Jesus, had stood at the cross, and had been entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother (John 19:26-27).
- “Lord, what about this man?”
Peter had just heard that he would one day “stretch out your hands, and another will dress you, and carry you where you don’t want to go” (John 21:18). Naturally he wondered about his friend. Was the beloved disciple to suffer the same way? The question may have come from concern, from curiosity, or from the very human habit of comparing our lot with that of others.
- “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.”
Jesus answers firmly but kindly. The future of the other disciple is in Jesus’ hands and is not Peter’s concern. Peter’s task is to follow. The same call that once brought Peter from his nets (Mark 1:17) is renewed after his failure.
Each disciple has a different path. Peter would glorify God by a martyr’s death; Peter himself later wrote, “knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me” (2 Peter 1:14). The beloved disciple, according to early church tradition, lived to an old age and died in Ephesus. Both paths were chosen by the Lord. Paul writes, “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired” (1 Corinthians 12:18).
- “This saying therefore went out among the brothers, that this disciple wouldn’t die”
Some believers took Jesus’ words to mean that the beloved disciple would live until the Lord’s return. Jesus had promised to come again, and the angels at the ascension said that he “will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky” (Acts 1:11).
John carefully corrects the rumour: Jesus did not say that the disciple would not die. He only said, “If I desire …” The point was the Lord’s sovereign freedom, not a prediction. The correction may have been especially important if the beloved disciple was very old, or had already died, when the Gospel was completed.
The Significance of John 21:20-23
- Don’t compare your calling with others
It is easy to look at others and ask what will happen to them. Jesus’ answer is still the same: “What is that to you? You follow me.” Paul wrote, “let each man test his own work” (Galatians 6:4). Each believer is called to be faithful in his or her own path.
- Following Jesus personally
Discipleship is a personal response to Jesus’ call. Others may have easier or harder roads, but our task is to keep “looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
Cross-References:
John 21:19: "Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God." Peter’s path of martyrdom.
2 Peter 1:14: "knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me." Peter remembers Jesus’ words.
Acts 1:11: "This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky." The promise of his coming.
Galatians 6:4: "But let each man test his own work," Attending to one’s own calling.
Conclusion: When Peter asked what would happen to the beloved disciple, Jesus told him that this was in his hands and called Peter again to follow him. John then corrected the rumour that this disciple would not die, noting exactly what Jesus had said. The passage teaches every believer to follow Jesus faithfully in his or her own calling without comparing it with the paths of others.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible