Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than. within about 18 months. It s only perhaps when you go to the country where

Transcription

1 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. Shortly after I was ordained, I went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land three times within about 18 months. It s only perhaps when you go to the country where Jesus and his disciples lived that you fully understand one of its most important features, which is that it is incredibly dry. But, at the north end of Israel, fed by the river Jordan there is some water: the Sea of Galilee, which is also known as Lake Tiberias or Kinnoret (kinnoret is the Hebrew word for harp, and the lake is harp shaped). So the Sea of Galilee is literally a sort of oasis in a desert-like land. In ancient times, small towns and villages grew up around it, which are still there today and it was around these that Jesus and his disciples taught and travelled for most of his earthly ministry. Several of the disciples were, of course, fishermen and they had made their living by catching fish in the lake and selling them in the local area. In today s gospel reading for this third Sunday of Easter, the risen Lord comes to meet his friends by the Sea of Galilee. After Jesus had been crucified, they had returned there to their former occupation: they d gone back to being fishermen. And, on this day, they find that they have had an amazing haul of fish. Jesus sits down to have a meal with them as he had done on many 1

2 occasions in the past, and as he did at his Last Supper on the night before he died and, also after his resurrection, at the village of Emmaus. After this has meal, the risen Jesus asks Peter three times, using his old name, from before he became a disciple, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter affirms three times that yes he does love Jesus and, on each occasion, Jesus then responds: feed my sheep. It s interesting that Jesus asks Peter this question three times. This is because this story about the risen Jesus echoes an event that took place before Jesus was crucified. Before the crucifixion, Peter, sitting outside the high priest s courtyard is asked three times whether he knows Jesus, who is being tried. Frightened and confused, Peter denies three times that he knows Jesus. After he has done this, he is bitterly ashamed and weeps. So, when the risen Jesus asks Peter, again three times, to affirm that he loves him, it parallels those denials: just as Peter has denied Jesus three times, he now has to affirm his love for him three times. The way that Jesus asks him seems to take Peter back to something about which he was more ashamed than anything else he had ever done in his life. So, by this, Jesus seems to be saying: Peter, even in the action in your life that you regret the most, even in the biggest mess that you ve ever made, even in 2

3 the thing you re most sorry about: even here, you will see that I can come into and turn it around and raise you up again. And the good news this Easter is that as this is true for Peter, it is also true for us. We can perhaps think of things in our lives, that, like Peter s denials of Jesus, make us deeply ashamed; things that make us cringe with embarrassment; or shudder about the way that we failed but even in those places, or perhaps especially in those places, the risen Lord can come and gently open them up and turn us around. In the Easter gospels, we see a Lord who slowly but surely transforms his disciples memories of hurt and failure and embarrassment into sources of healing and renewal, like springs in the desert. The theme of love lies at the centre of Jesus s question to Peter, Simon, son of John, he keeps on asking, do you love me more than these? In place of Peter s three denials, Jesus wants to hear three times from his own lips that Peter loves him. What does that mean: to love Jesus? Love of course does take different forms, because love doesn t always mean the same thing. For example, the way that two young lovers love: passionate, engaged, caught up in one another, is very different from the way that a parent loves a child or two friends who ve known each other for many years love one another. But what is common to all the different types of love is the determination to put someone other than ourselves at the centre of our lives. For most of us, 3

4 this is extremely difficult, and it certainly was for Peter who, only a few days earlier, had been too frightened for his own safety to put Jesus at the centre of his life. But now Peter is able to affirm that yes he does love Jesus. Jesus is now at the centre and, for the rest of Peter s life, this is where Jesus would remain, even up to Peter s own martyrdom in Rome where he insisted on being crucified upside down because he was not worthy to have the same death as his lord. And finally, once Jesus has asked Peter do you love me? and has heard from Peter s own lips that indeed he does, then Jesus comes back, a further three times, with a final instruction, feed my sheep. It is not enough that Jesus simply should love Peter: he must do something about it; something to express it: Feed my sheep, he says to him three times. I remember this same gospel reading being read at the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome. Although in many ways the service was very elaborate, at the very centre of it was the pope s simple wooden coffin and sitting on top of it a book of the gospels, with its pages fluttering open in the wind. Pope John Paul had followed Jesus s command to feed my sheep in a particular way as a priest and as a bishop but there are all sorts of ways that all of us can follow that command, whoever and wherever we are. 4

5 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. 5