Daily Devotion – May 2, 2020 – Pastor Brian Hansen
John 21:15-17
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
After Jesus’s resurrection we see him show up to the disciples in different places and in different ways. This resurrection appearance is the last one in the Gospel of St. John. In this final resurrection account, we see Jesus meeting PETER and some of the other disciples on the lakeshore. In this gospel account some time has passed, and Peter and some of the other disciples have left Jerusalem and returned to the lives they knew before: back to the nets, back to the safety of the boats and the life they lived before Jesus called them to come and follow so that they might learn to fish for people.
This final gospel encounter takes place on a beach, and Jesus asks the disciples to bring him some of the fish that they have just caught. Then when he’s fed them, he asks Peter three times if he loves him. Three times Peter replies back, “Lord you know that I love you.” After each reply Jesus calls Peter to then feed my sheep, tend to my LAMBS, and feed my sheep.
Just as the three times that Peter denied Jesus, three times Jesus invites PETER to live into the life that he was called to. I think Jesus understood the fear and regret, the uncertainty and worry that Peter and the others must have been experiencing. I think Jesus knew how that can drive us inward, how that can prevent us from living into the abundant life that God intends for us. Therefore, Jesus shows up when they aren’t expecting, and he invites them to live into the promise and the hope of tomorrow.
Jesus comes to Peter and the other disciples by the sea. Jesus and greets Mary and the women at the tomb. Jesus finds his way into the locked house and the closed door that Thomas and the other disciples have closed themselves into because of fear. And Jesus comes to you and me in in our uncertainties, and pain and sorrow and regrets.
Because God doesn’t want us to live our lives in fear and brokenness, but rather to live our lives out of the fullness of God’s claiming love for each and every one of us. We have a God who comes to us, a God who speaks our names, who feeds our hearts and souls, and who calls us to love others and the world that God so loved that God was willing to die for you and me and all of creation. Thanks be to God for freeing us to live not in fear but in hope.
Prayer: God who frees us, come to us in our brokenness and pain, and lead us into a life of abundant love. AMEN
