4th Saturday of Lent (March 21). Distractions

Prepare to Listen.  The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
 
Prayerfully Read John 13:36-38
36Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?”  Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”  37Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now?  I will lay down my life for you.”  38Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?  Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.”
 
Prayerfully Wonder
‘Love as I loved you,’ Jesus commanded.  Perhaps Peter found this a little too difficult.  Instead of asking Jesus to help him know how to practice this kind of demanding love, he sought a distraction.  He was stuck on what Jesus said immediately before his command: “Where I am going, you cannot come” (v. 33).  He was ready to go anywhere with Jesus.  ‘Why can’t I follow you?’ he wanted to know.  Peter was so confident of his devotion to Jesus he impulsively insisted, “I will lay down my life for you.”
 
Jesus didn’t rebuke Peter for his attempt to avoid thinking about his new commandment.  He did rebuke his impulsive claim to lay down his life for him.  Apparently Peter had forgotten that Jesus said the Good Shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep.  In essence, he said to Peter, “Is it really you that’s going to lay down your life for me?” [1]  Did Peter feel a little foolish?  Perhaps.  Especially after Jesus warned that, before the cock crows, dawn the next day, he would deny his Lord three times, cowardly disowning all knowledge of him.
 
I’ll confess that sometimes I’ve assumed I’d never behave like Peter, impulsively and foolishly.  But the truth is, I too have used distraction as a way to avoid commands I don’t like.  And I know I’m not alone.  I’ve argued with friends about whom Jesus wanted us to love.  Does love one another, as in John, mean only our own Christian community, or does it include our enemies, as in Luke 6:27?  We argue and debate, instead of discussing how to love as Jesus loved us.  We know how to distract ourselves.  We’re more like Peter than we want to think.
 
How about you?  When and how have you distracted yourself from Jesus’ demands you don’t like?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, forgive me when I find ways to distract myself to avoid or tone down your commands.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Give up distractions.
[1] Wright, N. T.  John for Everyone Part 2.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2023, p. 39.