"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? 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. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."
The content of today's quote can be confusing if it is not carefully parsed. After charging Peter to teach the mystery of Christianity, Jesus said; "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God."
This meant that Peter and the others were no longer free to do as they pleased, but rather, they were charged to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ abandoning all other aspects of life.
Jesus also predicted that Peter would be put to death because of his devotion to Christianity.
In the last part of the quote there is an interesting exchange between Peter and Jesus concerning John, the brother of Jesus, and his having followed Jesus and Peter as they left.
This text does not relate where they were going nor why. Neither does it explain why Peter got upset that John was tagging along.
There were some who interpreted the discussion to mean that John would never face a natural death. I cannot make any connection to that contention from what Jesus said, and apparently, neither could John.
Speaking of himself, John said, "This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true."
I'm confident that through prayerful study the true intent of that conversation between Jesus and Peter will become much clearer.~
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