In this week’s gospel reading from John 21, we have a conversation between Jesus and Peter. It goes like this:
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”
As you can see, the last words spoken are from Jesus. “Follow me.” He says. Two simple words to sum up entire gospel . . . maybe an entire life. But what do they mean. If we look at the conversation, three simple tasks stand out to me for anyone who would seek to follow Jesus:
- Love Jesus – and this means not only professing to love him, but showing your love by
- Feed/tend the sheep/lambs – get off any high horse you may be on and care for those around you, especially those you may not like.
- Give up control – or maybe I should say, “Give up the illusion that you are in control.” None of us control our destinies. We aren’t even guaranteed to wake up in the morning. The best that we can do is to turn over control of our lives to One who created us and has loved us with an undying love.
So . . . there you have it: a simple three point sermon outline for those of you who like such things. As for me, I will try to weave these ideas together with some reference to the story of Saul’s conversion as well (Acts 9). I have some thoughts on how I will do this, but if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.
