³⁷ Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”

Loyalty asserting, Peter asserts his fidelity. If anyone was devoted to Christ it was this man. Allegiance was his middle name. At least that is what he wants to convince Jesus of. He is the same one who, when seeing Jesus walking on the water in the midst of the storm, was willing to risk his life to be with his Master. “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (Mt 14:28). And leaving the other gunnel-hugging disciples, he dared to do what normally would be called foolish, he stepped out of the boat and walked on water at the Lord’s command.

Then there was the time when Jesus spoke of going to Jerusalem where He would suffer and be killed (and also be raised up again—but Peter missed that part), this disciple expressed his consternation at the thought: “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’” (Mt 16:22). Although Jesus sternly rebuked him (“Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me” Matt 16:23), you must admire this disciple’s devotion to his Master. Who can forget Peter’s impetuous initiative to provide housing for Christ on the Mt. of Transfiguration. Or his frequent speaking out before any of the others had a chance to say anything.

Yes, Peter, of all the disciples, was loyal to Christ. Not that the others weren’t, but he stood out among those who had left all to follow Jesus. So now as we might expect, at Jesus’ announcement that where He was going the disciples could not come, Peter speaks up. “If loyalty is the issue, Jesus, I’m Your man. How could You not possibly want to take me along?”

Peter misses a few things of significance as we often do as well. First, we sometimes have no idea what the Lord is doing. Peter saw only the physical suffering, for which he was ready to defend Jesus to the death. How often do we only see the surface of our situation, and not the bigger picture? The spiritual battle for the souls of men is at stake. Second, we often over-estimate our loyalty to Christ. Self-preservation, as Peter was about to learn, is an extremely strong instinct. Third, sometimes we cannot possibly understand what is coming, even if God were to explain it to us. Jesus had already told Peter of the resurrection (Matt 16:22 as noted above), but he couldn’t hear it.

Although Peter was sinking into a confusing panic, Jesus was not deterred in His training of the twelve. They must go through this perplexity.

Lord Jesus, when I am confused and perplexed, I want to see You and hold on to Your promises.