28/6/26 St. Peter
The deal of a lifetime.
The usual path for the preacher on St. Peter’s Day is to point out that Peter wasn’t quite the steadfast and reliable rock that we would expect in a gold-class apostle. The apostle. The rock on which the Church is built. Sometimes St. Peter wasn’t rock-like at all. He was a bit rubbishy, a bit rubbly, a bit flaky. We think of his threefold denial on the night before Jesus died, his unthinking ear surgery on Malchus, the Roman guard in the operating suite of the garden of Gethsemane. And just where the heck was he at the crucifixion? It’s left to a handful of women, Mother Mary, a couple of vagabond crims and St. John to be at the cross when things are at their grimmest.
Then the preacher would go on to point out that this dubious humble fisherman became the rock of the Church, and if there is hope for St. Peter … then hip, hip hooray, there is hope for Fr. David, there is hope for all those who are gathered here today, and there is hope for those who are not with us. And all this is 'right, proper and true'. God seems to enjoy calling the dodgy, the questionable, the unreliable, the shady, the shaky and the shonky.
But today’s gospel has none of those things. Today we have a personal and poignant encounter with the Master and St. Peter. It’s just the two of them. In the conversation, there’s a bit of a Q&A, except there’s only one question and one answer repeated three times. Once would have been enough … wouldn’t it?
The question Our Lord asks St. Peter is
‘Do you love me?
Peter’s response is ‘Yes, you know that I love you’. Jesus says, ‘Feed my sheep’
Again
‘Do you love me?’
‘Yes, ’ says St. Peter, ‘You know that I love you’
Jesus says, ‘Feed my sheep’
Again!
‘Do you love me?’
‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’
Jesus says ‘Feed my sheep’
So what is going on?
Here are a few guesses. To my mind, it’s almost as if the Master is asking … Are you really sure about this, Peter? Really,… Really sure. And sometimes when we are a bit undependable, then perhaps we might need to be asked, or maybe we should frequently ask ourselves… Do I love him?
And having secured the positive response. Then… very well, Peter, this is what it will involve. If you love Him, then that love for Him must find outward expression in your care and love for other people. You can’t say ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you’ and then ignore the needs of those around you. The master's lambs and sheep. The lost, the stray, the wounded and the weak. Show me you love me by tending and feeding those who are hungry and in the muck of life. Put on your gumboots, walk into the dirty, watery dam of humanity, and extract the grimy, filthy. Hug the muddy wet ones, put them on your shoulder, take them home, feed them and rejoice with them, for they, like you, were lost and now are found, and there is the party of heaven to enjoy.
This is what I think Our Lord was alluding to in the second part of the job interview with St. Peter.
“When you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go,” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
Because of your love for me, Peter, you must relinquish the leadership of yourself. You will be dressed in new clothing and led in ways that you did not expect, and that will be uncomfortable for you. You are no longer your own boss. I write up your diary, set your timetable, govern your activities and tell you what you should be doing, where, when and how. It won’t always be easy, pretty and pleasant, and it will cost you… Well, it will cost you everything.
This is the deal. The deal of a lifetime and it is offered to us not because of our flakiness and shoddiness and our past, but because the Master sees our potential and our future.
And there are times when we feel inadequate, that it’s not working and that only if I were smarter, quicker, more loving, more ‘rock-like’ then the church of God could be sorted out in no time. But it is in those honest moments of self-reflection when we see our inadequacies that we become fully reliant on Him who offers us the deal of our lifetime. The one who turns, looks us in the eye and simply says ‘Follow me’. Do we dare?