In the Footsteps of Jesus

Written By : Rev. Steven Ware

Several years ago my wife and I were in Rome, where I was researching some sites with respect to the publication of a book the following year.  An unexpected surprise awaited us when we stepped inside a small church just outside the South gate of the ancient walls of the city.  Although it is not in Scripture, early Christian writers tell us that this is the location along the Via Appia where Jesus appeared to his disciple Peter sometime in AD 64-65.

Peter had been following the advice of other Christians in Rome to flee the persecution that had been initiated by Emperor Nero.  But as Peter was exiting the city he had a vision of Jesus walking toward the city.  Peter asked Jesus, “Domine, quo vadis?” (Latin for “Lord, where are you going?”—the modern name for the church at the site.)  Jesus replied, “I am going to Rome to suffer with my people.”  The early Christian writers tell us that Peter followed Jesus back into the city, where he was soon arrested and then executed as a Christian leader.  Jesus’ footprints apparently made permanent indentations into the stone, which was later excavated and preserved inside the church building.

Jesus had already forecast Peter’s end when he told him, “You will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18).  Then in the next verse John added his own editorial comment, “This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.”

Fortunately, for most of us, when Jesus calls us to follow it does not include a martyr’s death as in the case of Peter.  But he does call us to follow without knowing all the details of what the path of discipleship will include for us.  In fact, he warns us that it may include rejection and hatred from others (John 15:18-20), even by members of one’s own family (Matthew 10:35-36).  But he also promises that we will have everything that we truly need (Matthew 6:25ff; Philippians 4:19), and that he is with us through every experience of life as we follow him (Matthew 28:20).

I don’t know if these are the actual footprints of Jesus, and of course it has been widely debated.  (If so, Jesus wore my same shoe size!)  Regardless, the testimony of Scripture and millions of Christians in the centuries since tells us that following Jesus is very much worth the commitment we make.