Do You Love Me?

We visited a church during our travels recently. They spoke about Peter and his denial of Christ at the cross. It was a powerful reminder of Christ’s love for each of us. You remember the story in Luke 22:54-62:

Then they seized Him and led Him away, bringing Him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with Him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Later, after His resurrection, Jesus met Peter on the beach. Even though Peter had denied knowing Him three times, Jesus didn’t :

Confront him and make him feel small;

hold a grudge for years,

ask him to grovel and plead on the sand,

order him to work hard for his forgiveness.

When Peter met Jesus on that beach, after he had denied knowing Him three times, Jesus asked Peter three times: ‘Do you love me?’

And then He gave him a new start, a fresh beginning. ‘Come be my disciple, He said, “Follow me.”

But we may say… that was Peter, a beloved disciple of Jesus. What happens with us?

The truth is, when we meet Jesus each morning, after another day of ups and downs, Jesus doesn’t:

Confront us and make us feel small;