Life-spark: Jesus came to give us abundant aliveness in our relationship with God and with others. (John 21:15-19)
Jesus had a private matter to settle with Peter, and He settled in in a group. He came to the shores of the Sea of Galilee near where Peter and six other disciples were fishing. After they finished easting fish tacos, Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15, NIV) We don’t know for sure what Jesus pointed to when He said, “more than these.” Were ‘these’ the boats and nets? The fish? The other six disciples? My guess is ‘these’ were the other disciples.
Before Jesus was arrested and murdered, Peter had told Jesus: “Even if ‘these’ other disciples bale on you, I won’t.” Then Peter, under pressure, denied three times that he even knew Jesus. Here by the sea the Risen Christ publicly probed Peter three times with the question, “Do you love me?” Peter got the point, and it was a sharp one. (e.g. “Do you love me and do you love these others?”)
Perhaps Peter needed to re-enlist. Did he feel bad after failing the Lord? Was he returning to his former occupation? Did the other six disciples give their two week notice as well? If so, Jesus came to convince Peter (and the others?) that if we love God (“Do you love me?”), and then love others (“more than these?”), we can fail forward.
Love is both vertical and horizontal. The ten commandments are horizontal (loving God) and vertical (loving others) The Bible in a nutshell says “Love the Lord your God …” (vertical) and “love your neighbor as yourself.”(horizontal)
Like God’s love, God’s life has a horizontal and vertical dimension. At the beach, Jesus restored Peter’s vertical aliveness, his connection with God, and his horizontal aliveness, his connection with others. God’s life, offered to us in Christ, makes us more alive with God and with others. I love it.
The two key verses in this living gospel speak of God’s love (John 3:16) and God’s life. (John 10:10) Aren’t you glad that Jesus came to fill us with God’s multi-dimensional love and life? That’s the main message of the book of John.
Life question: If Jesus asked you today, “Do you love me more than these?” what might the ‘these’ be?