Scripture Reflection, April 22: “Do you love me?”

Scripture Readings
Acts of the Apostles 5: 27-32, 40-41
Psalm 30
Revelation 5: 11-14
John 21: 1-19

I spent two years of college living in the Passionist student residence in Philadelphia, attending LaSalle University. As Passionist students, we were assigned to volunteer service in a variety of places. I volunteered for three years at a rehabilitation hospital not far from the residence. I was assigned to work on the floor dedicated to patients who had suffered strokes. These men and women were usually at the hospital for a period of weeks or even months, as they tried to recover from the often devastating effects of stroke. Because they were on the floor for so long, it was easy to get to know many of them very well.

That experience was a memorable and formative one for me in many ways. I learned a great deal from the dedicated staff there, as I watched them work with such patience and compassion with men and women who were often struggling not only physically, but emotionally as well. I observed patients as they underwent various methods of rehabilitation: physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc. Sometimes it was amazing to see how much progress they had made after just a few months. At other times, the progress was much slower than had been hoped. Rehabilitation is sometimes a difficult and frustrating process.

I thought about that college experience as I reflected on the Gospel for this Sunday. This famous scene from the Gospel of John commemorates Jesus’ appointment of Peter as leader and chief shepherd of the Christian community. For us Catholics, it brings to mind the ministry of leadership and unity that the pope, our chief shepherd, exercises in the Church today. There is something else going on in this scene as well. This interaction between Peter and the risen Christ calls to mind Peter’s roller coaster journey as an apostle. It reminds us of the checkered career of Peter’s discipleship. We are given insight into the weakness of Peter and his need to be empowered by the grace and forgiveness of Jesus.

In this Gospel encounter, Jesus rehabilitates Peter. Peter undergoes his own rehabilitation process in his meeting with the Lord and through this question-and-answer dialogue. As in other scenes in the Gospel, Peter is enthusiastic, even impetuous, as he tucks in his garment, jumps into the water and swims to the shore to greet the risen Lord. Peter always has to be the first to speak and to act! This scene recalls other moments of Peter’s enthusiasm, as when he said: “Lord, I will never deny you.” The charcoal fire on the shore recalls the charcoal fire near the place where Jesus was on trial, when Peter was warming himself and in the process denied that he was a follower of Jesus.

In this setting we listen to the riveting dialogue between Jesus and Peter. “Peter, do you love me more than these? Yes Lord, you know that I love you. Feed my sheep.” Three times. Jesus’ three questions to Peter evoke the memory of Peter’s three denials. But these questions are not barbed reminders. They are not Jesus’ way of rubbing in Peter’s failures – rubbing salt in the wound. Rather they are opportunities for Peter to express and confirm his love for the Lord. These are moments made possible by Christ’s faithful love for Peter, by his compassion for this weak apostle and his trust in him. They are his way of rehabilitating Peter. Despite Peter’s weakness and failures, Jesus affirms his trust in Peter and commissions him to serve as shepherd of the community. Peter will come to realize that it is only through the grace and presence of the risen Christ that he will be able to carry out this task.

This disciple, impetuous and weak under pressure, the one whom Jesus had to rehabilitate, became the “rock” on which the Lord built his Church. Peter is the one to whom you and I can turn in our own efforts to be faithful disciples of Jesus. The person and career of Peter remind us that Jesus continues to call and to work through failing and weak disciples like us. It is not because we are paragons of virtue that Jesus has called us to follow him and to tend his sheep. Peter reminds us that Jesus continues to turn to us with mercy and compassion. He continues to rehabilitate us when we struggle or fail. And the risen Christ places his trust in us. He trusts us enough to call us to be his disciples and to continue his work in the world.

You and I are called to listen to the risen Lord and to enter into this same dialogue. “Mary, John, Katie, Robin, do you love me? Do you really love me?” This is a question worthy of our reflection. The Gospel teaches us that our faith involves something much deeper than just keeping rules and carrying out religious duties. We certainly do need to strive to keep the commandments and to fulfill our duties as Catholics. But living as a Catholic Christian means entering into a loving relationship with Christ. It means being willing to take the risk of encountering Christ in our lives. We are called to throw our arms around him. And so he asks us, “Do you love me?”

When we respond, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you,” he says to us, too: “Then feed my lambs; tend my sheep.” The risen Christ works through the hands, the eyes, the touch of each one of us in order to care for his beloved people. You and I must be willing to think outside the box of our own self-interest so that Christ may extend his word and his touch to those he puts in our lives, especially the poor and the vulnerable. None of us is too ordinary, too weak or unworthy, to be exempt from this call to care for his people.

Throughout our lives, when we are weak or downtrodden, when we feel spiritually handicapped, the risen Christ comes to rehabilitate us. He does that through his faithful presence to us and by his enduring compassion for us. Because of that, weak and fallible as we are, each one of us can say, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you; I will do my best to tend your sheep.”

Robin Ryan, CP