Sunday, III Easter
(John 21)
Peter is not the model disciple. That distinction belongs to the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” But Peter is the disciple with whom most of us identify. This is so for several reasons. The four gospels picture Peter in a variety of situations – from earning his livelihood to questioning the Lord about his teaching. Also, Peter presents himself as a frustratingly fallible person like most of us. He begins to doubt when walking on water and falls asleep when Jesus asks him and two others to pray. Perhaps the Gospel of John includes the positive encounter between Jesus and Peter as its last scene in order to shore us up in our struggle of faith.
Peter, of course, denied Jesus three times when he was in need of support. It was a dismal display of cowardice because Peter had bragged that he would lay down his life for Jesus. As a way for Peter to compensate for his failure, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. We should view each question as an opportunity to probe who Jesus is. We should also hear Jesus make a distinctive demand on us at each level of our understanding.
First, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him “more than these.” “These” may refer to the other disciples. Or Jesus’ question may ask whether Peter loves him more than he loves his fishing gear. Let’s assume this latter meaning and ask ourselves if we love Jesus more than the things that bring us satisfaction. Do we love him more than our jobs – selling real estate or providing physical therapy? Do we love him more than our pleasures – watching football or ballroom dancing? Do we love him more than our joys – coming home in the evening or sharing coffee with a trusted friend? Of course, we do, so Jesus tells us along with Peter to feed his lambs. We do so by always treating people as ends in themselves with their own needs and limitations. We should never look on another human being as a stepping stone to our own gratification.
Jesus’ second question is simpler but deeper. He asks, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He may want Peter to consider carefully the particular human being standing before him. Does he love Jesus, the man who taught the thousands, breaded the bread-less, and healed the helpless? As remote as the biblical times are, we still love Jesus for all his virtue. It may sound strange to have a love relationship with a person that walked the earth two thousand years ago. Yet many people have an affection for a spouse that outlives death. Some keep a similar devotion for a personality like Elvis or Marilyn. Why can we not harbor such unwavering affection for Jesus? We express our love for Jesus by imitating his goodness. Jesus wants us as well as Peter to tend his sheep. Like Jesus we are to enlighten and encourage those around us by always speaking the truth in love.
The third time Jesus questions Peter he fathoms the depth of his own identity. Does Peter love Jesus as God? This inquiry challenges us when we consider all the evil in the world that God seems to permit? The tragedy this past week at Virginia Tech has raised the question again in the hearts of many. If God exists, they ask, how could He allow such massive suffering? Maybe God exists, but He doesn’t care about the massacre of thirty-two innocent people and the self-slaughter of one pitiful maniac. Then is he worthy of our love? However, neither the option that God doesn’t exist nor that He doesn’t care is tenable for us. No, we believe in a gracious and all-powerful God and love Him with all our hearts even though we do not completely understand His ways. In fact, we believe in and love Him because He is a mystery beyond our understanding. If we could understand Him fully, then He would not really be worthy of our awe and worship. We only know that He has gifted us with life and shared our suffering on the cross! He wants us in turn to feed his sheep, i.e., to be a Samaritan to each person we meet out of our love for Him.
We look forward to a positive encounter between Jesus Christ and ourselves at death. We can imagine ourselves coming before the heavenly throne. There Christ asks us something like, “Do you love me?” We have a question for him as well. “Why,” we will ask, “is there such massive suffering in the world?” He will look on us with the joy of one coming home in the evening. Then he will answer us with the tenderness of a trusted friend over coffee. But we won’t understand Him anymore than before. In his divinity Christ will always remain a mystery worthy of our awe and worship. Christ always remains worthy of our awe and worship.
