Confronted by Love

Gospel: John 21: 15-19

Let us imagine ourselves in Peter's stead here for a moment.  You witnessed your Lord and friend arrested and executed in the most horrible manner.  You denied that you knew him and abandoned him to this cruel fate.  On the night of your denials you weep bitterly.  You are conscious of your sins and failures, your weaknesses and fears.  You fear an encounter with the Lord, and yet you want to do something to make things right.  We have all had this experience and these failings.

So the day comes and the Lord encounters you.  Your fear is that you will be condemned and castigated for your many failures - how often does religion present this image of God! And yet what do you encounter?  The Lord merely repeats a question over and over to us - do you love me?  You continually answer in the affirmative, and the Lord repeats the question again and again along with the charge of feeding his lambs.  You finally get it.

We can't do anything about the sins of the past except to love the Lord, and we love the Lord by caring for others.  We make up for the sins of the past by getting up and caring for other people as Jesus did.  We pick ourselves up and respond with love to the needs of others.  If we are conscious of sin today, then let our encounter with the Lord be that of Peter's - to hear the question, to answer it, and to go and care for others.