Do You Love Me?

“Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” John 21:15,16,17

Simon went fishing with the other disciples and they caught nothing all night. They returned at dawn only to find Jesus standing at the beach, but they couldn’t recognize Him. When Jesus told them to throw out the net on the right-hand side of the boat, and they followed, they could not draw in the net as it was too heavy with fish. 

When they recognized Jesus, the Risen Lord, Simon jumped into the water and swam to shore. After breakfast of newly caught fish and bread, Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, do you love Me?” Peter answered without hesitation, “Yes, Lord, You Know I love You.” Jesus then instructed him, “Then feed my lambs.” Jesus then repeated the same question two more times, giving Peter the chance to overcome his guilt of denying Jesus three times.  Guilt can be paralyzing, can make us feel unworthy before God, and perhaps this was the reason Peter abandoned the mission Jesus gave and went back to fishing. 

We all profess to love the Lord. Sometimes we fall short. Sometimes we deny Him, not only with our words but our actions. Like Peter, Jesus does not give up on us. He continues to woo us, to invite us to show that we love Him. How? We can show we love Jesus by caring for and feeding His lambs, His sheep, His beloved people. We can feed the poor, visit the imprisoned when it becomes possible, pray for the sick, support livelihood projects, fight for justice for those with no voice, etc. So many ways to show Jesus we love Him. This should be a very important mission for us. After all, at the end of our time here on earth, the Lord will separate those who helped the poor, the sick, the prisoners, from those who did not, to bring them into Paradise. 

“I assure you when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40)