Sermon: Do You Love Me?

John 21:15-23 May 14, 2006

“Do You Love Me?”

^{JN 21:15} When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"

"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

^{JN 21:16} Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"

He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

^{JN 21:17} The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

¹⁸ I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

(To children – do you know the story, “Mama, Do You Love Me?”

I can remember when I was small, and I did something bad, I would wonder if my mother still loved me. She always did. Sometimes she told me, sometimes I asked her and she told me, and sometimes I just knew that, yes, she loved me.

Peter was a friend of Jesus. When Jesus was arrested, someone said to Peter, “You’re a friend of his, aren’t you?” Peter should have stood up for him, but he didn’t. He was scared. He denied knowing Jesus. He said, “No, I’m not his friend.” Three times he denied his friend, and Jesus knew that Peter did that. After Jesus died, Peter was sad, and went back to his fishing boat. He felt so bad about what he did that he cried. But Jesus was raised from the dead and went to find Peter. Listen in my sermon to find out what happened with Jesus and Peter.)

One of the first people to visit the Holy Land and write down the experience was a woman named Egeria. We don’t know much about her except that she traveled from somewhere around Portugal and spent three years in the Holy Land, AD 381-384. Travel at that time was very hard and dangerous, but she was courageous. She wanted to visit monasteries and holy sites, and she wanted to participate in the Christian ceremonies in Jerusalem from Lent until Easter. It is because of her that we have a record of the most ancient worship liturgies in Jerusalem.

On her visit to Galilee, she was taken to a small Byzantine church and was told that this is where Jesus offered the disciples bread and fish. She was moved by it because it commemorated the moment that transformed Peter’s life.

Now this site is taken care of by the Franciscans and has beautiful gardens. There is a statue which some say is the finest statue in Galilee, of a life-sized Peter, and Jesus renewing his love for Peter. People visit the site because something very important happened here.

Peter had made a terrible mistake. His triple denial of Jesus is one of the few stories that appears in all four gospels. It was such an important moment that none of the gospel writers left it out.

Peter had boasted that he would never forsake Jesus, even if all the other disciples did (Mt 26:33, Mk 14:29, John 13:37). This was the same as saying he loved Jesus more than the others did. But Peter did just the opposite of what he boasted; he denied Jesus three times. In Luke’s account, when the cock crowed, Jesus looked directly at Peter, and Peter went out and wept bitterly.

As far as we know, Peter never talked to Jesus again after denying him the morning of the crucifixion. I can only imagine the agony Peter felt after Jesus died. He didn’t get the chance to ask Jesus’ forgiveness. He had no way to show Jesus his love. He didn’t get another chance to stand up for him. After three years of following Jesus, making mistakes but still being faithful, he had ruined it all by the last words Jesus heard him say.

It’s one of the saddest things that Michael and I see as we offer pastoral care – the family where death comes suddenly, cutting off the opportunity for good-byes. You might have experienced it for yourself, but it’s a lot easier to watch on an episode of “E.R.” – where a patient has been in a terrible accident and is on life support, and a family member is in distress not just because her loved one is dying, but because the last thing she said to him was unkind, and she wants to undo it. We’ve seen situations where there is no hope for life, and it’s time for artificial life support to end, but the family member can’t let go because of his or her unresolved issue.

Think of your family members who are living. What was the last thing you said to them? What was the status of your relationship the last time you talked with them? Anything can happen at any time. The soldiers came in the night, they took Jesus, Peter was afraid, he denied knowing Jesus, then Jesus died. Peter could not make it right.

Consider what the rest of Peter’s life might have been like after that. Everything Peter would do in ministry would be making up for it. He could be energetic and preach the kingdom of God, but it would be like doing penance. “Because I failed God, because I failed myself, I have a lot to make up for.” This wouldn’t be a person with a joyful heart.

Or Peter could have been filled with despair. He might have become bitter and depressed, still trying to fulfill his mission, but destroying himself in the process.

When I used to read “The Runaway Bunny” to my children, the part I liked best was how the mother bunny always met the little bunny wherever the little bunny ran away to. The little bunny says “I will become a bird and fly away.” The mother says, “I will become the tree you land in.”

Peter had gone back to fishing… so Jesus met Peter on the beach.

If you are sensitive to the Spirit, you will notice this in your own life. Oftentimes, when you run away from God, God will meet you in the new place, far from where you last encountered God. You might have denied Christ, you might have turned your back on God, but God still loves you, and if you are paying attention, you might get another chance, like Peter did.

^{JN 21:15} When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"

"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

“Simon son of John” was the name Jesus had said when he first met this man who would become his disciple: You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas (which is translated Peter). But Peter had not yet proven himself to live up to the name, Peter, the rock.

^{JN 21:16} Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"

He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

^{JN 21:17} The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

This is an act of restoration. Just by having this conversation with Peter, Jesus showed Peter that he forgave him.

It is also an act of commissioning. It is one thing to say you love Jesus, but the real test requires actually doing it. Each time Peter reaffirmed his love, Jesus told him to take care of his sheep. He’s talking about his followers, the future Christians. “Lambs” and “sheep” were Jesus’ expressions of caring. Jesus asked Peter to show his love for Jesus by loving others.

The next time we see Peter, in the book of Acts, he is a changed person.

Sometimes our worst mistakes can change who we are… or perhaps it is the forgiveness we receive that changes us.

A minister told this story about himself, and a teacher of his (Ian Pitt Watson) told it to me: When he was a boy, he used to spend hours in the back yard practicing his golf swing. He wasn’t allowed to use a real golf ball because that could be very dangerous so near to the house and also could be expensive in lost balls. So he used a practice ball, the plastic kind with holes in it. You couldn’t hit it very far and it couldn’t do any damage.

One day when he was alone, he was thinking how nice it would be to feel a real golf ball on the head of the club. You know what happened – he sliced his stroke and the ball swung toward his parents’ bedroom window.

He said, “I heard the glass shatter and then I heard my mother scream. I ran into the house and up the stairs to her bedroom. She was standing there in front of the broken window and she was bleeding. I started to cry and I couldn’t stop, and all I could say was, “Mum, what have I done, I could have killed you.” I don’t know how often I said it. and she kept just hugging me and saying, “It’s all right, I’m all right, everything’s going to be all right.”

(Ian Pitt Watson, A Primer for Preachers)

Needless to say, that boy never took a real golf ball in the back yard again.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

When we denied that we knew him, God was planning to meet us later and give us another chance. When we were still hitting golf balls through the window, God forgave us. We could have killed him. Jesus died at the hands of people whom God loved and wanted to save. But now he lives, and he seeks us out, and asks us, “Do You Love Me?” And in that question, we know that we ourselves are loved.

Let us pray.

Forgiving God, we thank you for telling us about Peter, for teaching us about failure and forgiveness. Don’t let us get away from you, Lord. Meet us where we are. Show us your love. Give us an opportunity to make it right. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.