21:20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved
following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord,
who is the one who betrays You?” 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But
Lord, what about this man?”
22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is
that to you? You follow Me.”
23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple
would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I
will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?”
My dad says a person with a chip
on their shoulder is a sign of wood higher up. I must have a head full of wood
because I have a huge chip on my shoulder. Why? Because after nearly two
decades of pastoring and four decades of life I have seen over and over again
that too many of us get our best exercise from jumping to conclusions. John
reveals that this is not a new phenomenon.
I have to admit I am literally
amazed sometimes by how tiny a piece of information people need to come up with
the most detailed and elaborate stories. It started for me when I was in grade
six. On a Sunday afternoon my friend and I built a zip line from the roof of
his 2 storey garage down to the deck on the back of his house. We made several
exhilarating trips before disaster struck. I jumped off the roof ready to zip
down to the deck when the harness snapped and I went crashing to the ground
about 20 feet below. I can still see the cloudy sky above me as I lay on the
ground with the wind knocked out of me struggling to breathe.
My parents came and got me and
took me to the hospital. They kept me overnight for observation and released me
in the morning. Not a scratch to show for my adventure. When I got to school on
Monday afternoon the rumor was that I was in a full body cast.
Twelve years ago a tumor was
discovered in my bladder. Long story but God healed me in such a way that my
surgeon just shook his head and said it was clearly a miracle. Shortly after
the diagnosis I heard from a church member that they heard I had a brain tumor
and only months to live.
Those rumors were silly and
thankfully harmless but many are not. We hear a juicy piece of info or see two
people talking or whatever else might be the trigger and we create a scenario
and then share it as if it is truth. The next person refines or adds to the
story and before long a single piece of information taken out of context or
interpreted to be more than it was becomes a runaway snow ball.
The point Jesus was making to
Peter had nothing to do with how long John was going to live. The point was
that John's life had zero to do with Peter's task which was to follow Jesus.
Gossiping is not limited to a
certain class, age group, or gender either. You will note that only grown men
in leadership were privy to what Jesus said that day on the beach. The source
of the ridiculous rumour that John would never die was them.
The chip on my shoulder is this:
If you didn't see Johnny and Susie in the baby maker position why are you
telling Tim that they were? If you didn't hear Ben telling Joe that he killed
his wife and her body is buried under the barn floor why are you helping spread
the rumour? In fact even if you did see or hear anything of the sort why are
you telling people who can't do anything about it and never needed to know in
the first place? If a significant portion of your sentences begin with
"Did you hear...?" you need to get on your knees and pray for a new
vocabulary and some divine discernment. If you think you know about a crime
speak to law enforcement. If you heard a rumour about Susie and Johnny then
speak to them or speak to no one. Better yet tell the person who told you that
you don't want to hear things like that.
Say about others only what you
would want others to say about you...
1 Timothy 5
13 And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to
house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they
ought not.
Proverbs 16
28 A perverse man sows strife,
And a whisperer separates the best of friends.
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