‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’
My Dear Friends,
Pentecost is almost upon us, and now is a great time to put things in our hearts right with God and one another so that we are in a good place emotionally to receive the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
This Virus that has affected so many has brought the best out in lots of people, and we have seen remarkable stories of love, care, concern and self sacrifice. And Praise the Lord for that!
But it has also taken it’s toll on many people emotionally and concerning their mental health. Some people have struggled more than others, some have got very anxious or depressed, and some have become very negative. All of this is really sad, however understandable it is.
I myself have felt the pressure of trying to stay positive really hard sometimes, and that is not like me at all. So apologies if you have been on the receiving end of that.
But as always our scriptures, and the Gospel in particular come to our help.
You know the story so well. As Jesus was arrested Peter fearfully denied him 3 times, and he broke down in tears once he realised what he had done.
But before we get to the end of John’s Gospel, we have the gracious Restoration of Peter, when Jesus asks him three times if he loves him.
The first time, Jesus says, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’
It is not completely clear what Jesus means.
Does he mean –
Do you love Me more than your fishing nets, boats etc? Do you love Me more than your former way of life? After all at the first sign of trouble Peter went fishing.
Or -Do you love me more than you love these other disciples?
Or-Do you love Me more than these other disciples love Me?
It may well be the last one, but Jesus always chooses his words carefully, so it is right that we contemplate all three.
As we are going through our own joys and struggles, where does Jesus fit in.
Has he gone down a peg, because we have worries of our own. Are we finding that we are missing other things more than we are missing church? Do we want to fall into a trap of comparing our love of Jesus with what we think other people’s Spirituality is like?
I believe we need not worry about these things.
In the Gospel, Jesus asks Peter three time. Yes, because Peter had denied him three times, but more significantly, because Jesus want to offer Peter every chance to think about what his love for Jesus means. Jesus’ questions give peter the opportunity to say
‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’
How great is that. To be reminded that Jesus knows everything. He knows the secrets of our hearts, and he knows what is making us Joyful or crabby.
For me, this story helps put everything in to perspective. As always Jesus takes the initiative, and through his grace he gives us the opportunity to discover what he means to us, and as he knows the secrets of our hearts, he can discern our love for him, even when we bury it behind our troublesome ego.
It is not so much about how we are feeling right now, it is more about knowing deep down that ‘Yes, we love Jesus more than these.’
It is with that love of the Lord in our hearts that we deal with our struggles, and it is through his grace that we can be inspired to be graceful to others.
But it doesn’t quite end there. Jesus give Peter some responsibilities-
To ‘Feed my lambs.’ ‘Tend my sheep.’ ‘Feed my sheep.’
I shall leave you to ponder what Jesus is saying to You through these words.
Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.
I pray that we all open our Hearts, Minds and Souls to the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
As ever,
Fr. Marcus