Only One?

Gospel: John 13: 21-38

It is an ironic statement: one of you will betray me.  All of us have betrayed the Lord, and those who boast that they have not or will not find themselves like Peter who denies the Lord, or like the rest of the disciples who run and hide during the arrest, trial, and death of Jesus.  It is only a precious few - and all women! - who are at the cross with the Lord at the end, only a few who realize that to be a disciple is to take the way of the Cross like the Lord.

We deny and betray Jesus in countless ways each day: in our disdain for others; in denying dignity and worth to others; in neglecting the basic needs of the poor; in our preference for the wants of the rich over the needs of the underprivileged; in our endless pursuit of self-interest instead of the common good.  So many people are warehoused in prisons, hospitals, and assisted living facilities - people who are alone and abandoned.  We know they are there.  We know so many in need are there.  They are there because we have betrayed them. They will remain there because we deny they even exist.  

It is easy to scapegoat Judas and Peter, easy to think that only they have betrayed and denied.  That is much easier than to accept the fact that we ourselves have done so as well.  But the Lord will come to us by the seashore, like he did with Peter, and he will ask us - do you love me. Then he will ask us to feed his sheep.  That is our path to redemption - to say yes, and to feed the needs of others in our world.