Do You Love Him Enough To Follow Him?
Jesus said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a 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.
Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,
you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;
but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go.”
He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.
And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” (Jn 21:17-19)
God is such a loving, merciful God.
Even in our weakness, He loves us incredibly.
Even when we turn away from Him, He draws us back.
Many scholars say that this post-resurrection exchange between Jesus and Peter took place so that Peter could repent for the three times that he denied the Lord on the night of Jesus’ arrest: “I tell you, I do not know the man!”
Three times, Peter denied Jesus.
After the resurrection, at this exchange, Peter had the opportunity to tell Jesus not once, but three times, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
We love our God. Yet we, too, often do things that strain that relationship.
We sin.
The good news — no, the great news — is that God is always there, waiting to forgiving, constantly loving us.
The question is, do we love Him?
FAITH ACTION: Reflect upon God’s great love for you and then, reverently, pray the Act of Love:
O my God, I love You above all things with my whole heart and soul because You are all good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of You. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.