Facing The Future: The Basic Question

Dr. James Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

May 14, 2006

Text: John 21:15-18

How are we to face the future? There are some clues in the conversation between Peter and the risen Christ that we read earlier.

This conversation took place by the Sea of Galilee a few days after the resurrection. The risen Christ had just had breakfast with the disciples. In my imagination, I see Jesus and Peter walking along the shore. Jesus began the conversation: “Peter, do you love me?”

The Greek word for love the writer used was “agape,” the word used in John 3:16 declaring God loved the world so much he sent his only son, and also the word for love used throughout the New Testament to describe how we are to relate to God and to one another. “Agape” kind of love has more to do with behavior than with feelings. It has to do with the commitment to give of ourselves for the good of the other whether we feel like it or not.

Peter had a record of having his feelings shape what he said and did -- both for good and for ill. He had been the first to recognize Jesus was the Christ and he had also been the first to argue with Jesus about what that meant. When Jesus had told the disciples he would be betrayed by one of them and abandoned by all of them, Peter swore he would never desert or deny Jesus -- not even if it cost him his life. And yet as we all know, before that night was over, Peter had denied knowing Jesus 3 times..

So, Jesus was asking this man known for his impulsive passion: “Do you love me with the kind of love that goes beyond the emotions of the moment? “Do you love me with a love that has staying power. Are you more committed to me than you are to these?”

The passage is not clear about which set of “these” Jesus was talking about. Was he talking about “these other disciples?” Maybe. Was he talking about the material things of life, such as the boats and fishing gear? After all Peter was a fisherman. What did writer of John have in mind when he quoted Jesus as saying: “Do you love me more than these?”

My guess is the writer left the statement somewhat vague so that it could speak directly to the reader. What is the “these” that is tempting us away from commitment to Christ? The question Christ was asking Peter and us is: “Are you more committed to me than you are to your agendas and desires? Do you love me more than these?” Peter's response was a typical reflection of his passionate nature. He did not simply say “yes;” When Peter declared his love for Christ, he did not use the word “agape.” Peter used another word for love: “philios.” What he was saying was: “I love you like a brother, my dearest friend.”

“Feed my lambs.” Jesus told him There is such hunger in the world -- hunger for food, hunger for justice, hunger for meaning and purpose, hunger for healing and hope. “If you truly love me, feed my lambs,” Jesus said.

I imagine them walking farther along the shore. Perhaps Jesus was thinking about both Peter's potential and his tendency to be impulsive when he asked a second time: “Peter, do you love me with the kind of love that has staying power, the kind of love that is rooted in basic commitment rather than in the passion of the moment? Do you love me with “agape” kind of love?”

Peter's response again was an expression of passion. “You know I love you like a brother, like my dearest friend.” Undoubtedly Peter was haunted by his guilt of having denied Jesus 3 times. In passionate repentance and commitment, Peter declared: “Lord, you know I love you like a brother, like my dearest friend.”

“Tend my sheep,” Jesus said. “Take care of the flock.” Perhaps Jesus had the 23 rd Psalm in mind, and was telling Peter to be a leader like the shepherd described in that poem -- one who is concerned about the needs of the people, their need for nourishment their need for rest, their need for support when life takes them through the darkest shadows. Perhaps Jesus was telling Peter to be a leader like the shepherd using his rod to defend the sheep from predators and using his staff to push them on when they want to quit, or pulling them through tight places when they get stuck. “Tend my sheep,” Jesus told him.

There is more to commitment to Christ than warm feelings and mountain top religious experiences that bring tears to our eyes. Commitment has to do with the hard work of dealing with the needs of people, the children of God. “Tend my sheep,” Jesus told Peter. “Don't think faithfulness is merely a matter of having had a powerful religious experience. Don't think you have arrived when you have passionately professed what you believe. Tend my sheep.”

I imagine Peter and Jesus walking on in silence and then for the third time Jesus asked him: “Do you love me?” But this time, Jesus used the same word for love Peter had been using. Jesus was saying: “Peter, do you really love me like your brother, like your dearest friend?”

The writer tells us Peter's feelings were hurt because Jesus asked him 3 times about his love. “Are you sure,” Jesus was asking. “Are you sure you love me like a brother, like your dearest friend? Do you realize what you are saying? Do you really mean it this time?” “Lord,” Peter pleaded, “you know I do; you know, I really do.”

“Feed my sheep,” Jesus said. “There is such hunger in the world -- hunger for food, hunger for justice, hunger for meaning, hunger for purpose, hunger for healing of old wounds, hunger for hope, hunger for love that has staying power. Feed my sheep.”

“This will not be easy,” Jesus told him. “When you were young, you did as you pleased and went where you wanted to go. But as you mature in life, as you mature in faith, as you mature in your commitment as you live the life of loving me as you say you do, as you go about the business of feeding my sheep and tending my sheep, you will be taken where, on your own, you would not have chosen to go.”

The writer of the Gospel of John puts in parenthesis that this is exactly what happened to Peter. He was put to death in Rome because of what the love of Christ and tending the sheep led him to do.

Being faithful to Christ sometimes takes us where we would not have gone. Being faithful to Christ is not always a glorious, emotionally moving mountain top experience. Sometimes being faithful, and committed to the love we see in Jesus Christ leads us to some sort of Golgotha we really had not bargained for. “Follow me,” Jesus said. Sooner or later this involves picking up the cross that is ours to bear.

How shall we face the future? How are we going to face life from now on? This is the issue at stake in the questions Jesus asked Peter: “Do you love me? Do you really love me? Are you sure you love me?”

This question regarding our love for Christ is the basic question, and it is the basic question because we cannot avoid it. Aware of it or not, believe it or not, each of us is confronted by this question daily, and the way we respond in our living is either a yes or a no.

God, help us face the future truly committed to the love of Christ and to Christ-like love. Amen.

ministry celebration: Mid-Week Adult Classes Pastoral prayer; God, on this special day our nation has set aside to honor mothers, we give you thanks for those who have given us life, and for all those who with motherly love have nourished and nurtured us trying to bring out the best in us. For all the good and positive gifts we have received from all those who have mothered us, we give you thanks. We thank you for your love, which in so many ways is like the love of an ideal mother. Enable us to live as your faithful children. Help us discern what you want us to do and give us the desire and the will to do it. Make us aware of the ways we can love our neighbors as ourselves, the ways we can love others as you in Christ have loved us. Show us how to live the life Jesus was teaching us to live when he taught us to pray: "Our Father ...."