Short Stories

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feed my lambs, feed my sheep, Gospel, Jesus, John, legacy, life, love one another, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

One of the phrases I remember hearing rather often from my father when one or another family member would be explaining something in a long or roundabout way is “Short stories” (Which sounded like “Shot stories” in his Boston accent). It was a familiar way to tell us to get to the point and was generally rather effective.

One would wish the opposite of that directive after reading the conclusion of today’s gospel. It says: “There are also many things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think that the whole world would contain the book that would be written.” (JN 21:25) How I wish that the gospel writers had given us more of Jesus! I say that and then think of how much more I could do with what is written in those very pages. And I could, if I wished, fill a whole building with the commentaries that have been written over the centuries.

What really is the point? My short answer today is my desire to understand more deeply what Jesus was talking about and witnessing to his legacy to us. Next I think that in trying so hard to “get to the bottom” of his meanings I could easily be buried in the mountains of commentary that exists. Then I realize that I could spend a lifetime ruminating on a very few sentences. Take these for example:

1. Love one another as I have loved you.
2. Feed my lambs; feed my sheep.
3. I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.

Short stories, indeed…

Fidelity to the Call

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challenge, discipleship, feed my sheep, Jesus, John, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I’ve often said that chapter 21 of John’s gospel contains one of my favorite stories. People have heard me enthuse over “breakfast on the beach” more than once each year – the latest, just 9 days ago in fact! It has so many elements to recommend it: Peter’s impetuosity (jumping out of the boat to get to Jesus sooner), the miraculous catch, the image of Jesus as cook and servant to others and the love that was so palpable among the men gathered on the beach.

I don’t often spoil the mood created by all those elements by talking about the second part of the text which is really the heart of the message. It’s too hard to leave the serene message of love at the beginning in order to hear the words of Jesus about the last test that Peter will endure for the sake of Christ at the end of his life. Jesus would not be around much longer in his physical body so Peter would have to remember the entire conversation on the beach if he was to take love all the way to the end.

A question, three times asked, a response and then a command the full impact of which Peter could not have foreseen at that moment comprise perhaps the mission of a lifetime for this greatest, most human apostle.

Do you love me? Yes, Lord. Feed my sheep.

Why repeat the question two more times? (Peter wondered that too, sounding more frustrated each time Jesus posed it.) It’s doubtful that he didn’t believe Peter’s answer. After all, Peter did jump out of the boat and swim to him rather than waiting the few minutes it took to row to shore. Some would say it was a way for Jesus to bring to Peter’s mind the time that he betrayed Jesus, disavowing any knowledge of him – to blame him of his failure to love. I doubt that. It doesn’t seem like a tactic Jesus would use and Jesus certainly knew Peter’s heart.

Most likely Jesus was trying to fortify Peter for the cost of discipleship. Feeding the lambs and sheep of the Christian flock in the face of the persecution leveled against the them was not going to be easy. Remembering the words of Jesus and coming to understand the significance of the charge would need to grow within Peter, deepening the love that would be the anchor of the rest of his life and the courage to endure his painful death.

I sit this morning not knowing what the future will bring to my life. I would do well to open my hands and heart to the question of Jesus and hear his challenge. May we all answer as Peter did the third time the question was put to him: Yes, Lord. You know all things. You know that I love you. And may it be the answer on our lips until our last breath.

The Rest of the Story

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aging, destiny, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, future, Jesus, John, love, Peter, tender, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

On Friday I had a conversation with a friend about aging and the unexpected shifts in relationships that are occasioned by the fact that people are living longer now. It was one of those times when we could have said, “If I knew then what I know now…” as we mused on the choices that life had presented us. As it was not a deeply serious exchange, however, we were rather commenting on the idiosyncrasies that we notice both in ourselves and in our loved ones that didn’t appear (or weren’t there!) earlier in our lives. Our conclusion was that love covers a multitude and we’re both lucky to have people who love us!

Today’s gospel offers two choices for reflection on the same text that I mentioned yesterday – the one I like to call “breakfast on the beach.” Presiders may take chapter 21 of John to verse 19 or, if this seems too long a story for the faithful, may stop at verse 14 when breakfast is served. I find it unfortunate for that to happen if the only hearing of this tract is in church this morning because verses 15 to 19 tell of Jesus asking Peter three times if Peter loves him. I can imagine myself as Peter in that situation wondering first why Jesus was asking at all but then remembering the horrific story of my denial on the evening of his arrest. By the time he got to the third repetition, however, I would probably be frustrated and wondering why he was humiliating me that way since it was not at all like him!

What point was Jesus trying to make in that moment? Precisely, I think, that we do not know what is to come later in life and occasionally we do need to assess what has been happening and recommit to whatever the future may bring to us. I feel Jesus as very tender in that moment, loving Peter more than he could ask or imagine and wanting Peter to know how special he was. The charge he gives him (“Feed my lambs; feed my sheep”) is not an easy destiny. Peter, the impulsive one who loved so much, would need to remember this moment in the most dangerous and difficult situations in the future. And he would prove himself equal to the task.

Perhaps today is a day to hear that question of Jesus: “Lois, do you love me?” (not just once but three times for emphasis). Looking back and looking forward, may we all echo Peter who said with total certainty, “Yes, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you.” And in that answer, may we again walk confidently into life.