Note: This blog post first appeared on the Central Baptist Church Blog. Check that out at:
This past Sunday Central Baptist had the honor of having Dr.
Clarence Bass preach as a fill in for our pastor. We can not be certain how
many sermons Dr. Bass has left, but it is quite obvious that he still has it
and can bring the word with the best of them.
For those that did not hear it, here is a link to the audio
on the website of the church.
The title of the sermon was “Do You Really Love Me?” and was
based on John 21:1-19. One unfortunate problem for those that will listen
online to the sermon is that audio issues caused the last couple of minutes of
the sermon to be cut off. That was especially problematic for this sermon
because the main point and primary takeaway came during that time, but I will
try to fill in the gaps with some
reflections.
John 21 is known mostly for Jesus restoring Peter following
the resurrection. What is often focused on is the fact that Jesus asks Peter
three times “Do you love me?” and this is supposed to mirror the three times
that Peter denied Christ.
The beauty of the sermon by Dr. Bass was that he took this
well known narrative and brought it a different direction than I had heard
before, resulting in a takeaway that I will not soon forget.
The first thing to consider is the word “love” used by Jesus
in his questions and Peter and his responses. As people may know, there are
multiple words in Greek that are translated into the English word “love”. There
is a subtlety in the exchange that is not easily captured in English
translated.
In each of the three exchanges, Jesus asks “Do you love me?”
with “love” being the Greek word agape.
Peter responds that “You know that I love you” with “love” here being the Greek
word philos. There is a significant
difference between agape and philos that must be understood to
understand the significance of this exchange.
Agape is the
highest form of love, an all-encompassing love in all things. Jesus is asking
Peter if Peter has all encompassing love for Jesus. “Do you agape me?”
Peter responds with philos,
which is perhaps the lowest ranking form of love, the type of love you
would have for a friend. Important love no doubt, but not at the level that
Jesus was asking him about or, perhaps more importantly, the type of love that
Jesus asks from us.
Why would Peter respond this way? Why would he respond to agape with philos? And what can we take away from that?
As Dr. Bass so eloquently put it, how could Peter not? He
had just denied Jesus three times. His actions had proven that he indeed did
not agape Jesus, he had just denied
him in order to save himself! And who knows how many unrecorded responses there
are of Peter’s responses to Jesus. How could Peter say that he had agape for Jesus when his own thoughts
and actions so betrayed such an emotion?
And how true is that for us? None of us are perfect in our
love for Jesus. We might be able to fake it on the surface but we know in our
hearts that we betray agape when it
comes to our love for Jesus. There are times that we do not agape Jesus and our thoughts and actions
betray us.
But there is good news (there always is). Jesus knows this
and he is filled for agape for us anyways.
Even if we cannot bring ourselves to fully acknowledge and live out the agape for Jesus ourselves, Jesus is
still with us and is still ready to have us as partners in the Kingdom.
Jesus responds to each of Peter’s philos with the command (depending on your translation) to “feed my
sheep.” Again, the Greek says something a little bit more subtle than our
English translation can pick up.
The first “feed my sheep” is better translated as “care for
my lambs.” We are to take care of those that are most vulnerable in a physical
sense.
The second “feed my sheep” is better translated as “care for
my sheep.” We are to care for those that need it, literally to put our arms
around them and guide them.
The third “feed my sheep” is better translated as “pasture
my sheep.” We are to provide continual nourishment for those that need it.
This was the call to Peter – to do all of these things for
those that need it. This is his call, despite the fact that Peter could only
bring himself to say that I philos
you (Jesus). Jesus knew Peter’s heart, knew what he had done, and still called
on him to be the one to take care of the sheep.
And so it is with us. Even though we cannot fully commit to
saying that we agape Jesus, we are
still to do His will for us, and fundamentally we are to care for those around
us.
Yes there was a restoration of Peter after his denial, but
more importantly, there was a charge from Jesus to Peter, that Peter was to do
what Jesus had laid out before him, no matter what Peter had done before and
what he will do in the future. We should also be inspired by this call – that no
matter what we have done, how apart we may have been from Jesus in the past, or
may be in the future, we can still serve Jesus and do His will.
As a people and a church, this is our calling.
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