I love you. I love you. I love you.
- Bailey
- Apr 4, 2015
- 4 min read
“…Peter said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.'” (Luke 22: 31-34)“‘Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, ‘This man also was with him.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘Woman, I do not know him.’ And a little later someone else saw him and said, ‘You also are one of them.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I am not.’ And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, ‘Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about.’ And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.” (Luke 22: 54-62)“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 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 grieved because he said to him the 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. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.’ (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, ‘Follow me.'”
Jesus, I love you. I love you. I love you.
I say these words, think them, pray them, I’ve even lived them, yet I still deny Him. More than three times in a row, too.
My flesh struggles with sin, and my soul laments it. Sinning is painful, and the struggle hurts more because there is no escape from it on earth, except within rejoicing in forgiveness.
Inky black splatters of sin splash across the window of my heart, but they can’t stain it because it’s been washed white and permanently pure. Hallelujah. This heart beats strong and sure, confident in the new blood that courses through white and hot with relentless grace.
Sin that I committed today and last week and next year was nailed through with His hands and feet two thousand years ago. It was finished then and forgotten about, but I will never forget. Failure constantly reminds me how much grace costs and Who paid for it.
Grace reminds me that even my sin itself is reason to worship Him all the more. Sin knocks my knees to the ground and grace raises my palms upwards–open and empty. Oh praise the one who paid my debt.
Like Peter, I love Jesus fiercely and loudly…most of the time. But what about in my heart? Through my actions? In my mind? I’m human, so I know how to put on a show. But Jesus has a front row seat to my heart. Do I love him fiercely and loudly there?
By His grace I have, but a lot less than what the Savior and Creator of my life deserves. He deserves audacious, genuine, expressive love. The kind of love that feeds and tends His sheep. The kind of love that shows up everywhere because it flows from the heart.
In this passage from John, Jesus did not reprimand Peter for denying him. He did not confront Peter in anger and condescension for Peter’s lying, his broken promise, his betrayal, his denying, his dishonoring, his unfaithfulness, his fear, his doubt, his sin. Jesus asked Peter what Peter already knew, “Do you love me?” Of course, Jesus.
When Peter denied Jesus for the third time and the rooster crowed, Jesus “turned and looked at Peter.” Oh what Peter must have felt to make eye contact in that moment. He knew without out a doubt he had messed up, that he had failed Jesus. Yet, Jesus did not say anything. Peter wept for what he had done. Yet, Jesus did not say anything.
Instead, Jesus carried that cross up that hill, let Peter’s and my sins nail him to it, and said, “It is finished.” He died, conquered death, rose again and asked Peter, me, “Do you love me?”
Yes, Lord, I love you. I love you. I love you.
“Do you love me more than anything?”
“Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
“Feed my lambs.“
“Do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
“Tend my sheep.“
“Do you love me?”
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
“Feed my sheep.“
