John 13:36

The disciples had not yet been clothed with the power from on high, neither had they received the strength that was to invigorate them and impart courage to their character—I mean the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus, they were not able to wrestle with death and engage in a conflict with terrors so hard to face.

(Hom. lxxiii. 3) Great is love, and stronger than fire; nothing can stop its course. Peter the most ardent of all, as soon as he hears our Lord say, Whither I go ye cannot follow Me now, asks, Lord, whither goest Thou?

A great thing is love, and stronger than fire itself, and it goeth up to the very heaven; there is no hindrance which can restrain its tearing force. And so the most fervent Peter, when he hears, "Whither I go ye cannot come," what saith he? "Lord, whither goest thou?" and this he said, not so much from wish to learn, as from desire to follow. To say openly, "I go," he dared not yet, but, "Whither goest thou?" Christ answered, not to his words, but to his thoughts. For that this was his wish, is clear from what Christ said, "Whither I go thou canst not follow Me now." Seest thou that he longed for the following Him, and therefore asked the question? And when he heard, "thou shalt follow Me afterwards" not even so did he restrain his longing, and, though he had gained good hopes, he is so eager as to say, "Why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thee."

Peter, having become bold from great fervor, when he heard the Lord say "where I am going, you cannot come," asks: "Where are You going?" He speaks to Christ as if to say: "What kind of path is this that I cannot travel?" He asks …

Simon Peter saith unto him. Here the fourth point is touched upon, namely the repression of Peter's presumption, by which he was offering himself to imitate the Lord. Therefore Peter asks him, so as to offer himself: Lord, whither goest thou? And because he wished …

Above, John mentioned the defection of one of the disciples, Judas the traitor; here he tells of the failure of another, Peter, who denied Christ. First we see the occasion of Christ's prediction; secondly, the prediction of Peter's denial. He does two things about the …

Peter saith, Lord, whither goest thou? - St. Peter seems to have thought, that Christ, being rejected by the Jews, would go to some other part of the earth to erect his throne, where he might reign without disturbance, according to the gross notions he had of Christ's kingdom.

Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

Simon Peter said unto him,....

Peter said--seeing plainly in these directions how to behave themselves, that He was indeed going from them. Lord, whither goest thou?--having hardly a glimmer of the real truth. Jesus answered, . . . thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards--How different from what He said to the Jews: "Whither I go ye cannot come" (Joh 8:21).

Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, and just as I said to the Jewish authorities, ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ now I tell you the same. "I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?"

Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, and just as I said to the Jewish authorities, ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ now I tell you the same. "I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later." Peter said to him, "Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!" Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? I tell you the solemn truth, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times! In this passage we find the Lord Jesus at last alone with His eleven faithful disciples. The traitor, Judas Iscariot, had left the room, and gone out to do his wicked deed of darkness. Freed from his painful company, our Lord opens His heart to His little flock more fully than He had ever done before. Speaking to them for the last time before His passion, He begins a discourse which for touching interest surpasses any portion of Scripture. These verses show us what glory the crucifixion brought both to God the Father and to God the Son. It seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that this was what our Lord had in His mind when He said, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him." It is as though He said, "The time of my crucifixion is at hand. My work on earth is finished. An event is about to take place tomorrow, which, however painful to you who love Me, is in reality most glorifying both to Me and My Father." This was a dark and mysterious saying, and we may well believe that the eleven did not understand it. And no wonder!