Do You Love Me?
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
John 21:15
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.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a 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. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Grace Prayed For
Lord, meet us in the places where we have denied you, and give us the courage to say ‘yes’ again — however humbly, however incompletely.
Reflection
Three denials. Three questions. The symmetry is not accidental.
John’s Gospel has a poet’s precision. When Jesus asks Peter three times ‘Do you love me?’ beside a charcoal fire — the same Greek word, anthrakia, used at the fire in the high priest’s courtyard where Peter warmed himself while denying Christ — we are meant to feel the echo. Peter feels it. The third time, the text says, Peter was distressed. Something in him remembered.
But notice what Jesus is doing. He is not conducting an inquisition. He is not replaying the failures scene by scene, demanding an account. He is creating, with each question and each answer, a new memory in the same register. Where there were three denials, there are now three declarations of love. Where there was a charcoal fire of failure, there is now a charcoal fire of restoration.
This is what the Risen Christ does with our worst moments. He does not erase them — Peter’s denials remain part of his story. But Jesus returns to exactly those places and offers us the chance to be different there. Not in ideal circumstances. Not after we’ve gotten our act together. Right there, in the smell of charcoal smoke, with the memory still stinging.
For small groups, this passage opens one of the most tender and necessary conversations of the Christian life: Where do I sense that God is inviting me back, asking me again to declare my love and take up a commission I have failed before?
Notice that each declaration of love in this passage is followed by a call to action: Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. This is the shape of restored love — it always turns outward. Peter is not healed into comfortable retirement. He is healed into mission.
Do you love me? Three times. Three chances. The question is still being asked.
When Time Allows Reflect on the Posts in Library and Musings
Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post