Wednesday, July 22, 1998
Wednesday, July 22, 1998
Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than
these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my
lambs." (John 21:15
NRSV)
A man went to see the doctor for his annual physical exam. When he came home later that
afternoon, his wife asked him, "What did the doctor say?" He answered in a gruff voice, "He told
me that if I want to stay healthy, I have to eat what I don't want, drink what I don't like, and do
what I'd rather not do!"
Jesus tried to get the disciples to do the same thing. The disciples are sitting around a charcoal fire
now. The disciples recognize their risen Lord, but still they are disconcerted by the recent chain of
events. While they are lost in their thoughts the resurrected Christ takes some bread and breaks it
and gives it to them. Then also the fish. Then he turns to Simon Peter and asks one of the most
famous questions in the Scripture, "Simon Peter, do you love me?" Three times Christ asks Simon
Peter this question--once for each time Peter denied him. "Lord, you know I love you," Peter
replies. And after each reply, Jesus instructs Simon Peter to feed his lambs and then his sheep.
This is Christ's way of focusing Simon Peter on his real mission in the world.
Go with me back to those earliest days when Jesus first recruited Andrew and Simon. He said he
would make them fishers of men. Now he is challenging them to continue that journey on which
they first embarked. Not that their prior lives as fishermen was unimportant, but from here on
they would have a different kind of calling. Christ was asking them to forget themselves and to
center their lives in ministry to others. That is a challenge that Jesus is still offering his disciples
today.
Prayer: Dear God, teach me to center my life on your ministry. Amen.
Ronald Newhouse, Texas, USA