J. Thomas Pohto, O.S.A.
Church of Our Mother of Good Counsel
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Readings
Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41
Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13
Rv 5:11-14
Jn 21:1-19
In the early days of the Church, the Acts of the Apostles (our first reading today) tells us of an encounter of Peter and the apostles before the Sanhedrin (the supreme council of the Jews at the time). The High Priest reminded Peter and the Apostles that they had been warned to stop teaching in the name of Jesus and that they are still filling Jerusalem with the teaching of Jesus. Peter and the apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men.”
We remember that a while before this scene, hours before the crucifixion, Peter had denied Jesus three times. Something has changed! Things are different now after the resurrection of Jesus.
The Gospel story tells us of Jesus giving Peter three chances to profess his love for Jesus three times as opposed to Peter’s denying Jesus three times. Jesus begins by asking Peter a question which is really impossible to answer: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” It is impossible for Peter to know if the other disciples love Jesus more than or less than Peter does. So, Peter answers the unanswerable question: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” But Peter doesn’t compare himself to the other disciples, and he uses a different word used for “love,” at least in the Greek language version of the gospel story. In the Greek version, Jesus asks Peter if Peter loves him with a self-sacrificing love (agape). Peter seems to answer that he loves Jesus with affectionate or filial love (philia). The Greek version then indicates that Jesus changes his word for love in the other questions to Peter to the same word Peter uses: “Simon, son of John, do you love me with affection and filial love?” That is a question that Peter can answer and can answer honestly: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
There is something going on here which is much more than forgiveness of Peter’s three-fold denial of Jesus. Jesus goes on to tell Peter: “…when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.” Jesus is telling Peter that he, Peter, will eventually love Jesus with a self-sacrificing love. But right now Peter is reluctant to admit to such an overwhelming love. However, grace will win out in the end.
Think back for a moment to the creation story in the Book of Genesis at the beginning of the Bible. “Then God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’” We note that when God speaks, God’s words not only impart information. They also cause action: “and there was light.” Something happens! In the gospel story, Jesus is not only forgiving Peter. He is also empowering Peter to love with a self-sacrificing love. To love God above all things and to love his neighbor as himself. Jesus, Word of God, makes things come to be by his words!
To you and me who are Christians the same question applies. “Do you love me?” Jesus asks. It is the question the two great commandments ask of us every day in many different ways. And we recall what Peter and the apostles told the Sanhedrin: “We must obey God rather than men.” We, like Peter, are to move from affectionate and filial love to self-sacrificing love, loving God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves. How is this possible? Through the words of Jesus. “Feed my lambs.” “Feed my sheep.” “Follow me.”
Lord Jesus, I pray: make your words happen to me in my life.
