The Encounter on the Beach

The Encounter on the Beach
Easter 3; John 21:1-19
When they’d finished the meal,
Jesus asked Peter an awkward question.
“Simon son of John,” he said,
(as though naming Peter’s attempt
to revert to a pre-discipled state),
“Do you love me more than these?”
(Surely this was not a love competition
to choose the forerunner
of centuries of popes?)
Maybe what he meant was:
“Do you love me more than these 
creature comforts of your past life –
midnight fishing with mates,
filling a net with 153 fish,
swimming to shore in a dark sea,
eating barbecue on the beach?”

What if he asked us:
“Do you love me more than these
material comforts of modern life –
technological servant/masters
dispensing addictive distractions,
153 food delivery services
and a sea of alcoholic beverages,
supermarket aisles loudly intrusive
with sentimental or agonized
but largely banal 
songs about love?

Peter didn’t try to show
“more than” except by repeating:
“You know that I love you”,
and maybe that’s enough
as we face our escapism
and try to retract our denials.

Jesus told him to tend and feed
the lambs and sheep of the Christian flock.
We too are called to tend and feed
though at present lambs are few
and sheep growing old,
reluctant to venture
beyond safe stone walls.

Peter too would grow old,
and would be taken, bound,
where he did not wish to go,
yet we read that his death
would glorify God.

Did Peter atone for 3 denials
with 3 reaffirmations of love?
Jesus accepted him and said
to the man who had failed him:
“Follow me!” and we hear
that this time Peter followed
for the rest of his life,
not entirely blameless,
but facing fear and helplessness
and faithful unto death.
So may we, blundering disciples,
reaffirm our vows of love,
and renew the faith of following.
	Barbara Messner 30/04/2025