Sunday 18 April 2010

Background

This passage is from the last chapter of John's Gospel. Afterhis death and resurrection Jesus appeared a number of times to hisdisciples, and this is the story of one of those appearances. Thedisciples had gone fishing on the Sea of Tiberias (another name forthe Sea of Galilee), doing what they had done before meetingJesus.

After they had finished fishing, and had shared in a meal whereJesus had made himself known, Simon Peter (who became the leader ofthe early Church) was taken to one side by Jesus and challenged. Hewas asked three times if he loved Jesus. This has echoes from thedeath and crucifixion of Jesus where Simon Peter denied knowingJesus three times (John 18:15-27).

The Bible was originally written in Greek and has been translatedinto a number of languages, English being one of them. The Greek ofthe New Testament has a number of words which, in English, all gettranslated as 'love'. Jesus asks Simon Peter three times if heloves Jesus. Peter replied that he does, with a sense of hurt thethird time. The first two times of asking Jesus uses a differentword for 'love' than the one used by Peter. The third time he usesthe same word. Is this significant? Some argue that Peter wasunable to reach the standards Jesus wished for him and became upsetat his own shortcomings and the way in which Jesus was pushing him,reminding him of personal failure. Others say that it is a questionof style, John not wanting to be too repetitive - going on to arguethat as Peter became the leader of the early Churchhe must have met the standards Jesusset.

John's Gospel is full of symbolic and subtle meanings; we have toguard against making things too simple or overly complex.

To Ponder

The first disciples left behind what they weredoing to follow Jesus. Being a Christian is often described asbeing 'born again'. What do Christians have to do differently toshow that they are followers of Jesus?

The word 'love' has become both trivialised andsexualised. What other words can be used to describe the intensity,commitment and passion of the Christian life?

What are the different or higher standards weexpect from those who lead and who hold public office?