Happenings 18 June 2020

Early one morning, a man stood on a beach looking out on the lake at a fishing vessel returning to shore after what had been an unsuccessful nocturnal fishing expedition. The man was waiting to see the fishermen because they had been friends. In particular, he wanted to see one of them, whose name was Peter. Peter was one of those ‘act-first-think-later’ people, and when he saw the solitary figure on the beach and realized it was Jesus, he jumped into the icy water and swam to shore. The boat was simply too slow for him! All signs of a healthy relationship there, right? And yet …
Jesus had a plan in the meeting. Some time earlier, on a dark and savage night, Peter had been surrounded by pointing fingers and skeptical eyes, and beset by fear, had denied having any connection with Jesus. “He’s no friend of mine.” “Nothing to see here.” “Don’t even know the man.” All ties of relationship he had verbally snipped with sharp words in three different soundbites.
And so here on this beach … with divine symmetry, Jesus asks him three (yes, three!) times, “Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” There is so much going on in this conversation that cannot be unpacked here, but at its heart, Jesus was taking Peter back to basics. “For every time you chose against relationship with me, will you now choose for it?” “Do you love me?” He will later call Peter to service, but first he calls Peter to love. Love must come before service because service must flow from love. Yes, service can exist without love, but when it comes to serving Jesus, it simply mustn’t! Love can leak. Love can be covered over by service, but it is only in loving well that we serve well. Do you hear Jesus asking these words of you? “Do you love me? Do you truly love me? Do you still love me?”

In Him,
Murray