Still flesh and blood!

John 21:15-21

When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” He asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was sad that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” He replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. I assure you that when you were younger you tied your own belt and walked around wherever you wanted. When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and another will tie your belt and lead you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to show the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. After saying this, Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me.”

Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. This was the one who had leaned against Jesus at the meal and asked him, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” When Peter saw this disciple, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

Food for thought!

As far as the language goes, the question of Jesus, «Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me more than these?» can mean two things equally well.

(a) It may be that Jesus swept his hand round the boat and its nets and equipment and the catch of fishes, and said to Peter: «Simon, do you love me more than you love these things? Are you prepared to give them all up, to abandon all hope of a successful career, to give up a steady job and a reasonable comfort, in order to give yourself for ever to my people and to my work? Are you ready to change career?» This may have been a challenge to Peter to take the final decision to give all his life to what Jesus was asking him to do. Yes, sometimes Jesus demands a lot from us; he sometimes pulls us out of our comfort zones.

(b) It may be that Jesus looked at the rest of the little group of the disciples, and said to Peter: «Simon, do you love me more than your fellow-disciples do?» It may be that Jesus was looking back to a night when Peter said: «Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away» (Matt.26:33). It may be that he was gently reminding Peter how once he had thought that he alone could be true and how his courage had failed. It is more likely that the second meaning is right, because in his answer Peter does not make comparisons any more; he is content simply to say: «You know that I love you.» Sometimes, we take ourselves to be different from all humanity, to be strong, to be special, until facts prove us otherwise, that we are not different from the rest of humanity, that we too are flesh and blood.

This is the lesson Peter learnt. That fateful night he had pledged to Jesus: «I will never fall away.» That same night, Peter fell away, not once, but three times. He fell away just like anybody else; he was as weak as anybody else. Over confidence is dangerous.

Did you ever notice this? In his first letter, Peter began his letter thus, «I, Peter, I am writing this letter.» (1Pt 1:1). In his second letter the same Peter begins, «I, Simon Peter, am writing this letter.» (2Pt 1:1). Why this change in names? Why in the first letter just Peter and in the second letter Simon Peter? Well, in the first letter, Peter wrote full of energy. In the second letter, which he wrote years after, Peter acknowledged that he was still Simon; he acknowledged that in him there was still a Simon. The name «Simon» represented Peter the man, the natural man, Son of Jona, whereas the name «Peter» represented Peter the apostle, the supernatural man; Peter is the vocation, Simon is the man in flesh and blood. So, in the first letter, he wrote as Peter. After many years, he still recognized that still his humanity had not left him; that he was still human, still weak, still struggling, still normal, still Simon. We do well to remember this: that the struggle, the temptations, the flesh and blood do not die away with time; our «Simon nature» will accompany us until the end, until we die; until death does part us from them, we will continue to feel the urges of flesh and blood.

Thankfully, we have Jesus, who knows that we are both Simon and Peter, both natural and supernatural, both human and Christian. That is why whenever our Simon over runs our Peter he gives us chance to reaffirm ourselves, as he did with Peter. He asked him three times if Peter loved him. Why? It was three times that Peter denied his Lord, and it was three times that his Lord gave him the chance to affirm his love. Jesus, in his gracious forgiveness, gave Peter the chance to wipe out the memory of the threefold denial by a threefold declaration of love. After our fall, Jesus will always give us another chance. For Jesus there is always a second cup. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins always; where sin increased, God's grace increased even more. (Rom 5:20)