The Cost of Discipleship

Where following Jesus will take us.

On two separate occasions Peter received the call, “Follow me.”
It was the first and last word Jesus spoke to his disciple.
A whole life lies between these two calls.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This is one of Jesus’ better-known conversations. It really is powerful in an intimate and understandable way. There are so many implications, meanings, and nuances that we could spend quite a number of days on it. For today, the call to discipleship is notable.

The excerpt above from The Cost of Discipleship sums it up simply: Peter’s call never changed from beginning to end. But how he understood the invitation to follow Jesus changed drastically.

In the beginning, his call on the beach was to become a “fisher of men.” Perhaps he heard it with ears of glory - This’ll be wonderful. I want to participate in something like that - a movement of notoriety, changing lives, being part of something noticeable.

And those things, in a way, indeed happened in his following Jesus. People did notice. It was a pretty cool spectacle. But here, at the end of John, a rooster’s crow still echoing, Peter is finding the fuller extent of following Jesus.

Peter’s restoration in this moment is not merely personal; it is vocational. Jesus isn’t just making him feel better about the denials—he’s calling him again, but this time, with eyes wide open. Follow me…all the way to the cross.

When Jesus says, Feed my sheep, he is not simply appointing Peter as a leader. He’s showing him what his life must now become: nourishment for others. This is not a glory-driven leadership. It is eucharistic. Peter, who once ran from the cross, is now being shaped into one who will offer his body and his life for the sake of Christ’s flock.

This is what discipleship truly looks like. Not just believing in Jesus, but becoming like him. Broken and given. Taken and blessed. Poured out for the world.

Jesus has already said, No one takes my life from me—I lay it down. Now he invites Peter into that same pattern.

And us, too.

John 21:15-19

When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” He asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was sad that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” He replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. I assure you that when you were younger you tied your own belt and walked around wherever you wanted. When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and another will tie your belt and lead you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to show the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. After saying this, Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me.”

Psalm 139:1-10

Lord, you have examined me. You know me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up. Even from far away, you comprehend my plans. You study my traveling and resting. You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways. There isn’t a word on my tongue, Lord, that you don’t already know completely. You surround me—front and back. You put your hand on me. That kind of knowledge is too much for me; it’s so high above me that I can’t reach it.

Where could I go to get away from your spirit? Where could I go to escape your presence? If I went up to heaven, you would be there. If I went down to the grave, you would be there too! If I could fly on the wings of dawn, stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—even there your hand would guide me; even there your strong hand would hold me tight!

Prayer

God,

The Church is in need of deeper discipleship, to realize and actualize its cost as deeply as Jesus did. Too many are still just wanting Jesus only for their own benefit. We are happy to let Jesus do the sacrificial-Lambing. Or even Peter. But me? Just give me some bread and wine.

Break us open, Lord.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.