- 1st Reading – Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41
- 2nd Reading – Revelation 5:11-14
- Gospel – John 21:1-19
The late author and lay theologian, G K Chesterton once observed that when Jesus founded his church: “He chose for its cornerstone neither the brilliant Paul nor the mystic John, but rather a shuffler, a snob, a coward — in short, —just a man.” Chesterton continues, “All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men.” Chesterton concludes, “The historic Christian Church was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible. For no chain is stronger than its weakest link.” All through the Gospels, during Jesus’ public ministry, Peter was misunderstanding Jesus at crucial moments, always sticking his foot in his mouth. All the way up to the final betrayal, his denial of Jesus three times. But Peter would grow, and Jesus knew what was truly in Peter’s heart.
In today’s gospel we hear of Jesus’ third appearance to the disciples since his resurrection. And once again they do not at first recognize him. It was the Beloved Disciple, presumably John, who first recognized Jesus, saying. “It is the Lord.” As they gather around the fire for a meal, Jesus asks Peter for a profession of faith. It doesn’t take a biblical scholar to connect the dots and see the correlation and the significance of Jesus’ threefold question. “Do you love me?” in direct relation to Peter’s three-time denial of Christ during his Passion. Peter’s denials, even by swearing an oath, also taking place over a fire. When Peter had denied Jesus the third time and the cock crowed, Peter realized his failure and wept. But now Jesus was giving him a chance to redeem himself. Peter was in fact now in the middle of a job interview. You wouldn’t think that Jesus would even consider Peter for the position of looking after his flock. But Jesus could see into his heart and knew he was the man for the job. Peter grew through his mistakes, unlike Judas, who allowed his mistake to conquer him. Peter reformed himself after his mistake. He knew what it was to be human and moved on from his sinfulness. Three times Peter had denied Jesus by a charcoal fire; and now three times he professed his faith in Jesus by a different charcoal fire. Jesus forgave Peter and had the confidence in him to make him the shepherd of his flock.
Despite the mistakes that we have made and our sinfulness, Jesus forgives us and has confidence in us. Jesus does not lock us into the mistakes of our past or present. We too are given the room to outgrow our mistakes of the past. St. Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians, “for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here.” There are also some beautiful words in our Psalm today, Psalm 30, “I will praise you Lord for you have rescued me and not let my enemies rejoice over me. O Lord you have raised my soul form the dead, restored me to life from those who sink into the grave. The Lord listened and had pity. The Lord came to my help.”
What happened to Peter can happen to us also, if we have faith to accept God’s love and forgiveness. Jesus forgives us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and loves us, even after we have denied him, after we have disbelieved, after we have given up, after we have sinned. It takes an act of faith to believe in God and to believe that he forgives us and loves us even after we repent of our sins. Peter recovered his faith after his despair. He was able to say, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” We don’t want our past to overcome us like Judas. Peter should be our model for repentance and reforming ourselves and allowing the Lord to put us to work for him again.
I’d like to do a small exercise. Let’s imagine that Peter was just a stand-in for you and me in today’s Gospel. Because the question he asks Peter repeatedly is also directed to us as well. So, let’s take Peter out of the picture and place yourself there instead. Go ahead and close your eyes. —– Close your eyes and picture yourself by the charcoal fire along with Jesus and the other disciples. Listen to the question as he puts it to you. Jesus looks directly into your eyes and addresses you by name, “Do you love me more than these?” —- What will your answer be? Think about it and quietly give an answer to the Lord. Your answer may not be the same as Peter’s, but when you answer, listen to him say to you, “Feed my lambs.” Then he asks you still another time, —-again by name, “Do you love me?” Let his words echo inside you and think hard on your answer. —-And after your answer, Jesus replies, —-Tend to my sheep.” Then still a third time, Jesus looks you in the eyes and asks, “Do you love me?” ——–. How does that repeated question affect you? Peter almost came unglued emotionally and said loudly, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” And we’re being “asked the same question. So, what is your answer? ——
Go ahead and open your eyes. Does Jesus really think that we don’t love him? Let’s consider our own daily attitude toward him and towards God. Hopefully there are some people that answered like Peter, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” But if we’re truly honest with ourselves, there are probably a few who also answered, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I want to love you more than anything.” Jesus asked this question over and over again because real love for Jesus is what distinguishes a strong Christian from a lukewarm or even a false Christian. Some people put their love in their work or their families, which I must admit that even I struggle with. Some people put their love in their hobbies or their possessions and put Jesus on hold until Sunday. Maybe we’re confident in the creed that we profess our baptism, or just being members of the Catholic Church; but without true love for Christ, we’re just going through the motions. We need to pay attention to the fearful words of St. Paul in 1st Corinthians. “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.” Paul wants us too to be hardcore followers of Christ, not just occasional fans. Love for Jesus is central to the Christian life. It’s at the very heart of every faithful Christian. Without it, nothing else matters.
St. Paul also tells us, “All that remain are faith, hope, and love… and the greatest of these is love.” Our Catholic faith and the hope we have of eternal life flow from and are directly related to the love we have for Jesus. That’s why the words that Jesus asks us today through Peter are so important; and that’s why our response matters so much. And, of course, the consequences of our response of love of Christ is implicit in his charge to us to, “Tend my flock.” And “Feed my sheep.” He charges us to take his love for us— and our love for him —- to others.
If Jesus ranks first on our list of people or things that we love, how does that manifest itself in our lives? Do we take the love that is Jesus Christ out into the world, to the people we meet, taking seriously his charge to us, to “tend his flock” and “feed his sheep?” So central our lives as Christians is the importance of our love for Christ that Jesus asks three times, “Do you love me?” We need to give serious thought to our response. Are we true followers of Christ?
By our presence here today to listen to his word and receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, we are publicly showing our loyalty to Jesus. We are professing our faith in the divine presence of Jesus manifested in the living bread. We are saying, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” So, if we truly mean that, let’s continue to take that out into the world to all who we meet.