I actually feel sorry for Peter in this encore story in the Gospel of John. Peter was so excited, so full of life when he discovered that it was Jesus cooking breakfast on the shore. Imagine the feeling of having fished all night, empty nets, then to see Jesus and discover the net filled with every sort of fish imaginable. Then, after a full stomach, to get this sort of question from Jesus? Hmm. Talk about acid reflux.
No doubt we make love into a commodity. There is no other concept that is so often bankrupted in our daily culture. Jesus asks Peter first about agape love--self sacrificial love. Peter responds the first two times by saying, "yes, I love you" but he uses the verb phileo, or brotherly love in responding. It is only in the third asking that Jesus shifts from agape love to phileo love, as if to meet Peter where he is able, actually capable.
This encore in the Gospel of John follows Jesus' resurrection appearance to Thomas. He moves Thomas from doubt to faith and here it seems he moves Peter from faith to action. What would it mean for my life if Jesus told me to feed his sheep, tend his lambs? Could it mean that lip service is empty and that my faith must be present in everything I do? Who are God's lambs? My friends? A total stranger?
God loves us too much to leave us where we are. That is the essence of this Lenten journey of transformation. What action must I take today to move my faith from words to service? What action must I take to move my doubt to faith? Being with and among God's people serves a prime impetus for me along with finding God in creation, in grace, in freedom of being.
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