Do You Love Me?

John 21:15-19 NRSV

“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?”  “Do you love me more than these?” How could Peter answer so quickly about what he did not know. We don’t know where others are in their relationship with God. Then Jesus asks again,  called his name - now it’s just the two of them, “Do you love me?” Can you imagine how Peter felt? After all, he was the one who failed many times. Why would Jesus ask him that? Then he asks a third time. It was not a place of confrontation, but of reconciliation. He loves us that much. He loves us enough to wait on us to get it. Each time Jesus asked, he gave Peter a mission.

Listen, A deacon at my home church in Detroit used to ask me, “Rev, is Jesus in your heart?”

The first time he asked, I answered rather flippantly, “Well yes.” He shook his head and walked off. The next Sunday when he saw me, he asked me that same question again. I wasn’t so flippant that time.

I couldn’t understand why he was asking me. (Oh, I see you Peter).

He was a very nice deacon but what was he doing?

And again, he shook his head, but said, “Don’t tell me, show me.” And again, he walked off. I begin to wonder what was wrong. Why would he ask me that? Why couldn’t he see it? After all, I was a preacher. 

And why was he singling me out? 

I had to think. I had to get still. I had to hear from God. Then I got it.The next time he asked, and the times after that, “Is Jesus in your heart?” I just smiled, and he nodded and smiled back. He taught me a lot with that simple question. 

It wasn’t about what I said or did, but what he saw from within. When you have Jesus, there is something that causes you to smile from within. You don’t have to say a word, you don’t have to prove anything.

It comes from within.

How do we respond? How many times does he have to ask us? Jesus wants the sincerity of our heart, after all, we have a mission. He knows, but we must know. Our response is into follow him. Following him is not easy, still we follow. In this Lenten season, let us examine what we do, and why.  more later.