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“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Early in our life as disciples many people probably have the experience of being moved to tell Jesus that we love him and that we desire friendship with him, even before we realize the cost of discipleship, and what the love must necessarily entail. This may come about when we are riding high on the initial fervor that results when Jesus enters our lives and begins to transform them. Such fervor inspires us to make resolutions about what we are willing to do for Jesus, just as Peter did.
Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away" (see Matthew 26:33).
In retrospect we hear what Peter said and think, 'Typical Peter', with all of the usual bluster and bravado we expect from him. And even while we think this about Peter, we typically assume that there is nothing that could happen to us that would make us fall away, or at least that it would have to be something altogether horrific and extraordinary. We don't typically expect that our normal Christian lives, our call to follow Jesus, to all appearances mundane and ordinary, provide amply examples of challenges that tempt us to do what Peter tried to do, and pretend to be ordinary bystanders and avoid detection as his disciples. Sometimes we choose to blend in with the world instead of doing what we know we are called to do as followers of Jesus. It could be anything from speaking up for his name to loving someone neglected by society. It might be too risky or just too inconvenient. But we often try to convince ourselves it isn't strictly necessary, that there must be someone else able and better equipped to do it. It seems that an important foundation for becoming a saint is simply not to self-select out.
He then said to Simon Peter a second time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Jesus continues to ask if we love him throughout our lives. When our initial love proves immature and naive he does not reject us. Even if we momentarily reject him he calls us back. We might think that after a rupture of relationship like that it would be us asking, 'Jesus, do you still love me?'. But we see instead it is rather Jesus who asks and hopes that we are willing to keep loving him. There was no break in his love for us. We always find him waiting and willing to accept our renewed love for him.
He said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time,
“Do you love me?” and he said to him,
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
The question of our love for Jesus is not one we can definitively answer during our mortal lives. It is one which he must continue to ask and one to which the quality of our answer must continue to mature and grow. We may hear the question in each new challenge on the path of discipleship and find that we need to grow in new and different ways in order to continue to respond. But we can take heart that Jesus never stops asking, because he wants us to grow, since what he desires from us is above all our love.
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
One thing we must learn and remember is that Jesus interprets our care for the lowest and the least as done for his sake. This means that those in positions of authority can show their love for Jesus by the way they show genuine care for those in their charge. It is easy to forget about the weak, those on the peripheries, and the outcasts. But Jesus is there waiting for our love. He will continue to ask if we love him so we can continue to discover all the places in the world where he waits to receive our love.
Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,
you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;
but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go.
When we are younger we tend to be the ones who decide how we will respond to Jesus, doing so first of all in ways that are easy and convenient. But as we grow in our ability to respond to him we become more able to let him set the terms of our relationship, no longer as constrained by our preferences, or as confined by our need for comfort. We may hope that we will not be forced to give our lives as Peter did. But we must all bear our crosses so as to glorify God. Fortunately Jesus doesn't expect everything all at once and immediately from new disciples. He keeps asking. He keeps expanding our hearts. He keeps removing barriers until there is no limit to our response when he says to us, as he said to Peter, "Follow me".
Carey Landry - Only A Shadow
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