Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Almost like an annoying child or insecure lover we hear Jesus ask Peter repeatedly in today’s gospel reading (John 21:15-19), “Do you love me?”. Although Jesus isn’t an annoying child or an insecure lover, I wonder what Peter thought at the time. We read that after answering Jesus affirmatively the first two times, Peter was “distressed” when Jesus asked the question yet a third time. “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” And that’s it exactly.
Jesus does know, and is giving Peter the opportunity to profess his love of Him the same number of times that he denied even knowing Him. (Did Peter “get” it? I wonder when, if ever, it dawned on him.) And that’s not all. With that love, Jesus exhorts Peter to care for His flock: “Feed my lambs…Tend my sheep…Feed my sheep.” Jesus not only forgives Peter, but entrusts him with greater responsibility.
Then there’s the somewhat odd verses that follow, “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but 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.”
Scripture scholars tell us this unusual phrase was probably originally a proverb about old age, which in this context is being used as a “figurative reference” to Peter’s eventual crucifixion. And today’s passage ends with Jesus’ invitation, “Follow me.”
Peter is given a second chance, and he accepts it. It’s not an easy undertaking, yet an unspeakable privilege. And it causes me to wonder, when you and I are given a second (or third or fourth) chance, how do we respond? What does “Follow me” look like for each of us disciples today?
As we prepare to celebrate Pentecost, let us ask the Spirit to grant us the humility, strength, and faith of Peter to follow the Risen One who loves us and asks us to love in return.
—Eileen Miller