“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He then said to Simon Peter a second time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
Jesus said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a 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.”
Having heard this so many times, if I didn’t know this passage almost by heart, I’d say the conversation between Jesus and Peter sounds like a married couple renewing their vows after many years together. To read this is to eavesdrop on an intimate conversation, leaving me feeling a little uncomfortable, both because of the intimacy and because of the repeated question—three times—and with each time a different charge.
God, help me understand that what you ask Peter to do, you also ask of us: we are our brothers’ keepers. Thank you for calling me to intimacy with you in a way that sometimes challenges me and even makes me uncomfortable. You call me to a higher standard—the care of others close to me—whether they behave more like lambs or sheep.
At the end of the Gospel, Jesus simply says, “Follow me.” Easier to say than agree to than to actually do. However, whatever my relationship to others, if I accompany them without first following Christ, where will the relationship tend? I am a sheep among sheep unless I hear his voice and take to heart that penetrating question, “Do you love me more than these?”
Today I want to recognize you throughout the day as the risen Christ. Your disciples had trouble recognizing you even after you had appeared to them several times. I ask you, God, make clear to me when you approach so that I understand fully what it means to be at peace, to be able to say, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”