Third Sunday of Easter Year C 1st May 2022
Lectionary Readings: Acts 9 v1-6 (7-20); Psalm 30; Revelation 5 v11-14; John 21 v1-19.
Jesus asks, “Do you love me?”
The chosen passage from John’s gospel tells of the encounter between Jesus and Simon Peter on the shore of Lake Tiberias.
When Jesus and his disciples had finished eating, he asked, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than the others do?” Simon Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I do!” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus said.
Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you!” Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus told him.
Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus had asked him three times if he loved him. So he told Jesus, “Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.” Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21 v15-17).
John tells us that ‘this was the third time that Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from death’. (John 21 v14). The initial shock of meeting the risen Jesus has now given way to an ‘Okay, we accept that we will encounter you when you consider us ready to listen properly’ type of expectation.
What sort of love are we reading about here? Is it a love that recognises a bond between the two that is far more than affection for a close friend? Is it not the sort of love that can cope with pain and disappointment? Is Jesus wanting us to recognise that no matter how many times we may let him down, his love for us is constant? That if we turn to him in penitent prayer, he will forgive us?
The ‘feed my sheep’ request from Jesus may seem odd to our ears, but not to Simon Peter. Simon and the other disciples would have been familiar with Psalm 100, one of the songs used by pilgrims on the way to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. “You know the Lord is God! He created us and we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” (Psalm 100 v3).
John has already told us a story about sheep in chapter 10; which contains the famous words of Jesus saying, “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and they know me. Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father and I give up my life for my sheep.” (John 10 v14,15).
And later Jesus says, “My sheep know my voice and I know them, They follow me and I will give them eternal life, so that they will never be lost.” (John 10 v27, 28a).
Jesus was asking Peter to care for his followers, to support and encourage them in their discipleship and to lead them to the ‘gate’. Simon Peter had heard Jesus say, “I tell you for certain that I am the gate for the sheep.” (John 10 v7).
Part of ‘Our Calling’ as Methodists, is to respond to God’s love, by supporting and encouraging other followers of Jesus in their discipleship, so that God’s love may be known by all.
Then, as Jesus said, “there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd”. (John 10 v16c).
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Version.