"'I'm going out to fish,' Simon Peter told them, and they said, 'We'll go with you....But that night they caught nothing....Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me...?'" (John 21, NIV)
Two "words" to me today in John 21: 1. Where were the other 4? 2. The Biblical definition of love.
1. There was the Cross, the Death, and the Resurrection, but the eleven were having difficulty "processing" it. We read that 7 of the original 12 decided to go fishing. One had killed himself, and who knows where the other 4 were at this time. In some ways, it was a "sorry lot." This is a picture of confusion, perhaps bewilderment, a sort of, "What do we do now?" This can happen to us all at any time, and this is a reason we all need Pentecost.
2. After Jesus appeared to them by the sea, He then asked Peter 3 times, "Do you love Me?" Of course Peter's reply was in the affirmative, and, each time Peter said that he loved Jesus, our Lord said, in effect, "Then do something about it." Again, love is not a feeling; it is action.
How many people have said, "I love you," to others, then abandoned them, whether spouse, children, friends, etc.? The love of God is not, "....so loved..," but a, "loved...this way..," Love. There is no "so much" to God's love; it is Eternal Love, Everlasting Love, not "amount"-love. O, how I pray the Church especially gets this.
The Love of Jesus is demonstrated, not just spoken. I can say, "I love you," all day long, but if my words are not accompanied by, "God loved the world this way," then it is not love. Find another word for it. We love our families, our friends, fellow Followers of Jesus. What I am so impressed with today is that every time I say those "three little words" they should be accompanied by "three little actions."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray that I might demonstrate more than reiterate. Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
