THE 10-DAY HOLY SPIRIT CHALLENGE: Day 3 “Do you love me?”

 


Scripture text: St. John’s Gospel 21.1-19

     Yesterday’s passage and today’s frame Simon’s journey with Jesus like two bookends.  Today’s episode was one of the last times that Simon saw Jesus before Jesus’ ascension (cf. Ac. 1.1-11).  Of course, a lot happened between these two moments, and Simon would have liked to be able to forget several incidents.  Simon, you see, was a person who sincerely desired to do the right thing, but often failed miserably to do what he had intended to do.  Can you relate?  Often, we are full of good intentions, but we don’t follow through or worse, we end up betraying someone we care deeply about.  This is exactly what happened to Simon…

     During the Last Supper (the night before Jesus’ death), Simon had promised Jesus that no matter what happened, he would stay by his side, even if it cost him his life.  Before long, those words would come to haunt Simon.  A few hours later, Jesus was arrested and Simon followed, concealing himself in the shadows.  As Jesus was on trial, people started to recognize Simon as being a disciple of Jesus. Overcome with fear, Simon denied knowing Jesus – three times.  He who would die for his master and friend, in the end, couldn’t even admit to being his follower.  Jesus went to the cross, betrayed by one follower, disowned by another and abandoned by all.

     And so, in today’s story, the risen Jesus takes Simon aside.  We can only imagine what was going through Simon’s mind. But Jesus simply asks him a question – three times.  “Do you love me?”  Simon responds, “Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you.”  Jesus does know all things.  He had known precisely who Simon was the moment he called him away from his fishing boat.  Jesus knew the wounds that made Simon fold under pressure, but he also knew Simon’s desire to be brave and loyal.  That desire was enough; the Spirit would eventually fan that spark into a roaring blaze.  Simon-Peter would go on to lead the Jerusalem community of Jesus followers and later make his way to Rome where he would, yes, lose his life because of his loyalty to Jesus.  St. Peter’s basilica now stands above the site of his grave.  Nothing you can do can make Jesus love you any more or any less.  Jesus loves you unconditionally.  Let the Spirit communicate the love of Jesus to you.  May Jesus’ love set you free from all fear and shame.

The Thomas Merton prayer:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

“The Merton Prayer” from Thoughts in Solitude Copyright © 1956, 1958 by The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani. Used by permission of Farrar Straus Giroux.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (38) A Tale of Two Sisters

Image
“I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,     nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with whores,     and sacrifice with temple prostitutes; thus a people without understanding comes to ruin. Though you play the whore, O Israel,     do not let Judah become guilty.” (Hosea 4.14-15)   “The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and played the whore there? And I thought, “After she has done all this she will return to me”; but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. Because she took her whoredom so lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. Yet for all this he
Read more

A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (5)

Image
“A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean .”   Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean !” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean .   (Mk. 1.40-42)      Along with exorcisms, Jesus performs many healings of various physical ailments in the early chapters of Mark’s Gospel.   Jesus’ first healing is that of Simon’s mother-in-law (1.29-31).   With the restoration of the leper, we begin to understand the meaning of Jesus’ healings (and exorcisms).   The thrice-repeated word “clean” in the above passage reveals what is truly going on when the King restores the members of the people of God to wholeness.   Leprosy rendered its victim “unclean”, i.e., it proscribed that person from participation in the life of the community, of both civil society and the worship/liturgical life of the people (cf. Lev. 13).   In the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as
Read more

Mark's Gospel as sequel: Understanding the Backstory, part IV: David (2)

Image
       To fully understand Mark’s “sequel” to the Scriptures of Israel, we need to look at 7 previous “episodes”, 7 OT characters who shed light on what Mark is saying about John the Baptist and Jesus in chapter 1.   The third character from the “original story” is David .   In 2 Samuel 7.8-16, we have the story of the founding of the Davidic covenant – God’s promise that there would always be a descendant of David on the throne of Jerusalem, forever .   It repeats the key features of God’s covenant with Abraham, which “gave birth to” the people of God (cf. Gn. 12.1-3).   God promises David three things: a great name, that Israel will be “planted” securely (cf. Jer. 1.10) in the Promised Land, and an everlasting line of descendants upon his throne (2 Sam. 7.8-13).   The wider context – and play on words – is that David had recently expressed his desire to the prophet Nathan to construct a “house” (i.e., Temple) for Yahweh (2 Sm. 7.1-3).   God replies that, in fact, he will construct a
Read more