Looking Ahead to April 19, 2026 -- Easter 3

 This week we continue through the appearance stories we find in John's Gospel, this time back in Galilee in John 21:15-24.

The Sermon title is Do You Love Me?

Early Thoughts:  Ok, first things first.  This is not going to be a meditation on the classic duet between Tevye and Golde in Fiddler On the Roof (as much as I love that musical and what that song says about love). Neither will it be about the old Contours hit about dancing (for one thing I am routinely told that I can NOT dance). I will admit that there is a possibility both songs were referred to while we were choosing hymns...

Source

Instead we are listening in on a chat between Peter and Jesus. In the earlier verses of John 21 we learn that the disciples have returned to Galilee, gone back to the familiar. Peter has gone all the way back to his roots as a fisherman. There is a miraculously large catch after a fruitless night's work and they recognize Jesus on the shore where they have a shore lunch (well, breakfast) with him.

After they eat Jesus and Peter are talking. And Jesus asks Peter three times "Do you love me". Some see the threefold question as a way of counter-acting Peter's threefold renunciation of Jesus before the crucifixion. Peter seems a little bit hurt and discombobulated by the repetition. Which makes sense--how many times do I have to answer the same question????

What I find striking is that in the process of the three questions Jesus gives the same commandment three times. Back in chapter 14, during the Farewell Discourse, Jesus said to the disciples "If you love me you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Here, as he asks Peter to affirm his love Jesus(the Good Shepherd, see John 10) tells him to take care of the flock. Words are not enough. Loving Jesus needs to result in action.

Loving Jesus also seems to require risk-taking. Peter, the story foretells, will find a time when he is bound and led where he does not choose to go. Loving Jesus means that you may lose control of your life. Loving Jesus means accepting that some will have a different path from yours.

Answering "you know I love you" is a far more complicated thing than it sounds.

I invite us to put ourselves in Peter's shoes as we read this story. How would we respond to that question? How many times might we need to be asked, along with the commandments about what loving Jesus means, before we fully realize what is being asked of us? 
--Gord