22 May 2026 - do you love me more than these?

Today's Readings
(Audio)

"Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"
Simon Peter answered him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

Peter was always one to insist that he had love greater than any of the others. He had said, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away" (see Matthew 26:33). And yet he had betrayed him before a charcoal fire, just like the one he was at now. At the time he must have rationalized it, telling himself that they were just words, that there was no need to bring down any additional scrutiny on himself. But eventually he came to realize that he had fulfilled the Jesus's prediction of his betrayal. He may have thought that words didn't matter. But they represented choices that ultimately did amount to abandoning his Lord in his hour of need. Here after the resurrection Jesus asked about his love in such a way that it almost seemed like he was saying 'I told you so', in that he had always been correct about his perception of the weakness within Peter. Even referring to him as Simon seemed to put whether or not he was deserving of the title of 'rock' in question. In response, Peter tried to muster the old bravado, but to us he did not seem convinced. It seemed rather that he was going through motions ingrained by habit than that he was truly boasting about his indefectible spirit. 

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."

Peter may have thought that Jesus continued to ask because Jesus was not convinced. But when he repeated the question three times it became more evident that it was because he knew that Peter was no longer convinced, no longer fully able to believe in himself. Jesus knew that Peter would need to again have certainty about his place in the mission. It would be a more realistic certainty, now with a built-in awareness of his fallibility. But it would in fact be a stronger certainty, because it was based now on the unwavering love of Jesus for him first, and his own response second. Even when his own response wavered and failed Jesus allowed him to fully repent. The threefold denial was erased by the threefold affirmation. And thus there was nothing, not even Peter himself, that could destroy the love of Jesus for him or prevent his plans for him from being fulfilled.

Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

The words of Peter affirming his love for Jesus were more than just words, they were firm resolutions to begin again after his former failures. In the same way that his words of betrayal determined his actions opposing Jesus so too did these words determine his future of loving and serving him. The words themselves could not provide the comfort of knowing he was fully restored and rehabilitated. In order to know that for sure he actually had to live it out. His act of betrayal had to be erased with his love for the sheep. But the words were firm enough to ground him in the certainty afforded to him by the strength of Jesus, allowing him to believe that is was possible. 

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.

Peter would indeed do what he had naively promised before he understood his own weakness and die for Jesus. But he would not do it through his own strength. Rather it was through grace that he would persevere, without running from his destiny. It did not ultimately depend on him, and would not be ruined by him any more than he had been able to ruin his role as rock or shepherd. All he had to do was to never give up on Jesus since Jesus, for his part, would never give up on him. Nor will he give up on any of us. So let us join Peter in showing him our own response of love by doing what we can in our own lives to feed his sheep.

 

Songs In His Presence - Song of Peter (Lord, You Know)