“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.”
John 21:17 (NAB)
This conversation took place after the resurrection when Jesus was making appearances to several people over forty days. He went to Peter, asking him three times in a row if he loved Him, and Peter told Jesus, “Lord, you already know.”
Jesus did already know, so why did He still ask him three times in a row? We don’t know for sure, but maybe Peter was still paralyzed by his shame of denying Jesus. Whatever unworthiness Peter felt over his past, Jesus wasn’t interested in the past, only whether he loved Him in that present moment.
Jesus never brought up Peter’s previous failures, because He moves among us in the present tense. We tend to obsess over our past more than God ever does. By asking Peter three times in a row, Jesus seemed to be saying,
“Forget the past, do you love me today? Then let’s move forward with the good plans I have for you.”
In another questioning moment, the disciples were telling Jesus what the crowd was saying about Him, and Jesus brought the question back to the disciples, asking,
“But who do you say that I am?”
He wasn’t interested in the whole crowd’s opinion, but wanted to know what was in their hearts. Jesus cares about each of our personal convictions of faith, because He desires a one on one relationship with each of us.
Next, Jesus encountered a paralyzed man at the healing pool of Bethesda, and asked another question in which the answer was obvious,
“Do you want to be healed ?” Instead of saying a direct and simple “yes, Lord”, the man proceeded to ramble on about the 38 years that no one helped him into the pool, and how others went in first, and why he was never healed. Jesus ignored his long story about his past and said,
“Pick up your mat and walk.”
God already knows our story, He knows all of our disappointments, failures and losses, but He calls us to the present moment, instead of dwelling on past hurts. When we live in the present, the Lord can move us forward to healing, salvation and new opportunities. That’s what it means to spiritually pick up our mat and start walking.
In reflecting on all three questions that Jesus asked in the stories above, the desired answer is:
“Yes Lord, I love you, I believe you are the Son of God, and I do want to be healed.” Those are essential answers to essential questions.
Jesus always leads us to forgive, to be forgiven, to receive inner healing, and to become His messenger of healing for others.
It begins by moving us from a stagnant place in the past to today’s opportunity to embrace our full potential.
God is writing a beautiful story, and we are all part of it. As we begin this period of Lent, now is the time to answer His questions, pick up our mat and walk in the Spirit by God’s grace.
Lord, help us to always remain in the present with you, that we may answer your questions, be healed and move forward, to be blessed and to bless others. Amen
