[wbarmy]

I guess you would have to read them in context, realizing that Peter had just been rebuked by Jesus, and in answer to the rebuke, points at John and asks “Lord, what about him”?

And Jesus then tells Peter, “What is that to thee”?

Really, a good contextual reading shows Peter was lashing out at John. Maybe not in a “mean’spirited’ way, but in an evil world, anything is mean-spirited when examined with Christ as our measuring stick. We all fsll short.

[Mrs. Don-o]

In context, I don't read it as lashing out at all. At this point Peter knew he was forgiven, knew he loved and was loved, even placed in the position of "confirming the brethren" --- as shepherd of shepherds.

John was much younger than Peter. I read it that Peter may have been concerned in a brotherly (or even fatherly) way about whether John was going to be killed on the mission.