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() <>< () Good Eats () ><> ()
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, 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 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!”
— John 21:15-19 —
The scene above is Jesus talking to Peter… after Peter’s denial, after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus asks Peter about love… Do you love me? Imagine one of your closest friends talking to you after he/she has betrayed you. The tension in the air, the mistrust, the guilt… Thick enough to cut with a knife… And Jesus, ever the strange one asks, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” What would you be thinking?
Peter answered truthfully (remember this is God, Peter is talking to… ) “Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus makes an important point here, remember the betrayal… Peter’s denial spoke volumes about what Peter believed. Peter wanted to do things his way, but Jesus commanded Peter: “Feed my lambs.”
(in other words, do it MY way… not YOUR way.) Affirm your words with action. Stop trying to do things your way and obey your Lord.
The betrayal in the courtyard (Matthew 26:69-75) affected Peter deeply. It showed Peter that Jesus knew the future and knew what was going to happen and to think that you can overcome just by your own will alone is stupidity. Peter learns what it means to be human and comes to acknowledge God.
But how should you acknowledge God? Jesus answers this neatly. He says you need to feed the flock, specifically, God’s flock from the smallest lamb to the big grown sheep. Jesus then proceeds to prophesy about how Peter would live the rest of his life. But about feeding sheep… are we talking about Mickey D’s? I think not… I think Jesus is talking about spiritual food. The stuff that really fills a person up…
“… I am the living bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
— John 6:48-51 —
You want to follow Jesus? Better learn how to feed people properly… and before you can feed people properly… gotta learn to feed yourself… So first, learn to discern between what is good (spiritual) food and what is bad for you (spiritually) from there, you can feed people properly… I’m still learning how to feed myself… too baka… keep spiritually starving myself.
Father, keep this stupid lamb from starving himself. Teach me to love properly, to feed lambs and sheep alike with the bread of life. Teach me to do things Your way, not my way… Give me the wisdom to discern what is healthy and what is junk. Give me the courage to show the way, even through my fears and my doubts… each day, one day at a time, my Lord. I ask all this in Jesus name, Amen.
P.S. Random easter thought…. I was thinking of the difference between good spiritual food… and all the other crap we fill ourselves with (romance, sex, power, money, fame…) and how it reminds me of those milk chocolate Easter bunnies… they look good, but when you bite into one… You find it’s hollow! (WHAT A TEASE! 
)… I’d want a chocolate caramel cadbury egg any day… gimme something real, with substance. ok, enough random thoughts for today… God bless!
WHOA. my bible study was about this very passage today!! after peter’s denial, this is Jesus’ way of restoring him and his reputation. it reminds me that Jesus has the love and mercy to restore us too, no matter how many times we deny him… =) gotta love that guy
How come Jesus way is only the right way? Why can’t there be other ways that is also correct? There isn’t a guide book to living life. So you believe that the bible is the guide to living life… Other religion has their own version of the bible too, now which one should we follow? I already know which one you are following. How can you be definitely sure that your guide to life is the correct one?
dang! the Sunday sermon was on this passage yesterday! ahhhh~ and God convicted me so many things through that. Weirrrrd. 🙂
God is putting a splinter in my heart… to search… to be tuned to His calling for me. That is what is heavy in my heart today & he’s speaking through so many things… ahhhh… But i know He’ll carry me on His wings… I have to wrestle with this. Hmmm….
Thanks for getting back to me. I’m not trying to annoy you are anything like that…
“The Problem: We are dead. We are enemies of God and sin against God; following the ways of Satan.” Yes, we are all sinner… Doing that, we break God’s law. I don’t think we purposely choose to be sinner against him, thus being Human. If we were to choose side, we wouldn’t sell our soul to Satan.
“The Solution: God loves us still even though we hate God.” Didn’t God teach us about forgiveness? If we hold God in our heart, shouldn’t he forgive us to try our best to follow his law? If God was all-forgiving and understand, he would do that.
“Brought us back to life with Jesus by His Son’s resurrection from death. God given the choice to dispense death or life, gave the gift of life and kindness. He gave Jesus over to die for our sins, so that we might live. God gives you faith in Jesus, gives you a believing heart, it is not by your own actions that you reach heaven.” From this state it seem as if Jesus is the “Son of God.” Who is Jesus really? I’m still not sure if he is the Son of God, or God himself (in Christianity)…
This is my only opinion here. One of the reasons I don’t like about Christianity is that people try to recruit other into the religion, making it more like a cult. “If you don’t follow Christianity, you will go to hell,” they said. All BS to me, using fear to convert others… If this was the case, Jesus would have banded them for the Christianity religion according to his belief. The purpose of God is to express love through out the universe not fear. Although many people from the Christian community do show good faith.
About the bible: As I said many times. It has been translate from one language to another throughout the ages and has lost it authenticity.
Another thing I don’t like about the Christianity and the Bible is that it doesn’t allow open-mindedness. It has to be done this way, and the only; the only way is through Jesus. Although, I enjoy reading about the faith and virtue he teach… I choose to keep my mind open to other ideas, instead of having to do it one way.
Some more thought… Just an opinion…
If the only way to heaven is through Jesus:
What about those people who have live innocently all their life and never heard about Jesus? What about Children whom died before they know of Jesus?
What about all those monks, whom I consider to be more virtuous than 90% of the people in the world? They practice not to imbalance the force of nature… They gave up their daily lifestyle to express only positive energy (virtue). They choose to live the humble life without sin… Compare to those monks, we are sinful with our need for money, fashion, luxury, treatment of other, etc…
How can this be justified? I personally don’t think that God discriminate others because of religion. This god is supposed to be forgiving and understanding, because he/she teaches it. If so, he is no god, but a higher human being who dictates one path to the gate of heaven; and if so, he/she is a hypocrite. I believe that to enter the gate of Heaven, our soul is measured by our virtue and the “goodness” in us.
Yes, there are many books written about Christianity, because in America a majority of us are Christian. Yes, I know that the majority of the world are Christian too… and Yes, there is nothing wrong with following in the footstep of Christianity.
Christianity is another way to tell you to be a “good” person, through stories and God’s ideas.