Daily Reflections ...

Peter was distressed that Jesus continued to press him on this point. It wasn’t once or twice, but three times that Jesus asked Peter the ultimate question, ‘do you love me?’ -the same number of times that Peter denied Jesus. The question has lingered in the air for over 2000 years and gently comes to rest in each of our hearts as we reflect on this last chapter of John’s Gospel.

The words of Jesus are both a question and an answer. ‘Do you love me?’ is inseparable from Jesus’ follow up request, ‘feed my sheep.’ His question and his request, together, are the answer to the question ‘what is love?’ Love is a proclamation of fidelity as well as a desire to take action in ways that correspond with that fidelity. Love is both saying ‘I love you’ and doing ‘I love you.’ In marriage, family, friendship and life in general we find this to be true. Externalising our love in word and deed is essential for any functional relationship, especially when someone gets hurt and forgiveness is needed; which is certainly the case in our relationship with God. We are all in need of forgiveness.

‘Love covers a multitude of sins,’ St Peter says later on in the New Testament (1 Pt. 4:8), and certainly we know the power of proclaiming our love through words and actions so as to repair the damage that has been done in relationships, especially our relationship with God.

May today be a day in which we can say in word and deed, ‘Lord, you know that I love you.”

by David Kruse