"Lovest Thou Me More Than These?"
John 21:15-22
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
My sister Drusilla may have had a frail and diseased body, but she had a strong faith. She lived only a short time, 8 years, but her young life had become a wonderful testimony to the Lord. Though I was too young to remember much about her, I will always hold dear her favorite song, "'Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus." And I also remember that after she died, my mother was leafing through Drusilla's little New Testament when she came across an underlined verse. It was a verse from the middle of the passage we just read. In the King James Version it read like this, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." Many years later we were going through my home town of Keene, New Hampshire. It was cold, and the snow nearly made it impossible for us to drive into the cemetery. But when we found it, we read the words again, sandblasted into the marble marker: "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." What a wonderful epitaph - I wonder if it would apply to our lives as well as to hers? According to John's accounting, it was after the third post-resurrection appearance to His disciples that Jesus put a series of penetrating questions to Peter. "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Three times he asks the question - three times Peter is required to provide an answer. It's as though Jesus is giving Peter an opportunity to wipe out the three denials he made before Jesus was crucified. What strikes us, is that twice in this text there are references to comparisons. Let's briefly look at the second one first, the comparison that Peter makes between him and John. I. Jesus has given Peter insight into the future, as to the nature of his own death. Peter quickly focuses on John, what about him? how is he going to die? Think about the three close disciples - James was the first to go, martyred by
Herod's executioner. Peter was jailed, then delivered to go on preaching for many
years. Though the Bible is silent about the circumstances of his death, except for
this passage in John, tradition tells us that Peter was crucified. However, not
feeling worthy to die like His Lord, he requested to be hung upside down. John
may well have died of old age on the Isle of Patmos where he penned the book we
now call Revelation. Each had their own way to travel, each was distinct, but none
were superior because of it.
Have you ever asked that same question? "Why me?" We see others who appear
to be happy - "Healthy, Wealthy and Wise". Then we look in the mirror to take
stock of our own lives - we see tragedy, suffering, loneliness, hard work with little
to show for it.
The Scripture makes it clear that it is not wise for us to compare ourselves with
others. Paul writes, "We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some
who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and
compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise." - II Corinthians 10:12
In spite of this, humanity is filled with examples of "copy-cat" activity. We call it
"Monkey see, monkey do."
One of the very few books which made it all the way from my own childhood to that of my children was a little book about a man who sold hats. He would walk into town with all of his hats, red, blue, yellow and green hats stacked on his head. Being weary, he sat down by the tree and fell asleep. While he slept, a tree full of monkeys descended and stole all of his colored hats, leaving only his own brown hat on his head. When he awoke, he looked all around, and finally saw them. The monkeys were back up in the tree, all with one of the hats. The hat salesman called for them to return the hats, they all called back to him. He waved his fist at them, they waved back. He stomped his foot, they stomped theirs. In desperation he tore off his one hat and threw it on the ground. To his surprise, all the monkeys in the tree took off their hats and also threw them onto the ground. The hat salesman picked them all up and marched into town to sell his hats. I wonder, are we like the monkeys?
It happens with clothing; in fact, the entire clothing industry seems to be built on the
premise that if a famous personality wears it, millions of people will want to wear it
too. It's obvious in the world of sports; "I wanna be like Mike" is the slogan. Don't
you remember the time when bald was not beautiful? And if only I could have
shoes like Mike, certainly I could fly like Mike.
Let's not forget the words of the old hymn, "Do not look at others with their lands
and gold . . . ."
A young person wants to go to the party. When his parents say "no", he tries to
argue by saying "All my friends are going." And we hear the parent reply, "If your
friends jump off the bridge will you want to do that too?"
Unfortunately, "copy-cat-ism" is also played out in tragic ways. Many crimes
committed are copies of crimes done by others. And many times when there is a
suicide, particularly among the youth, counselors are brought in to help other
students deal with it so they don't follow down the same path.
In the religious world we fall into the same childish ways. We want to go off to
some distant city, see what God is doing there and want to bring it back home. If
only we could have music like they have, or have preachers like they have, or have
our own Evangelist like they have, we could have God's blessing. Let's just
remember, God dealt differently with Peter James and John, and He'll deal
differently with you and me too.
In addressing this comparison that Peter tries to make between himself and John,
Jesus simply says, "you follow me".
John 6, after the feeding of the multitude, and the lesson Jesus gave about eating
and drinking the flesh and blood of Christ, many disciples left Jesus. So He turned
to the twelve and asked them, "Will you also leave?" Peter got it right that time,
"To whom else can we go, you have the words of eternal life." Peter was saying,
"I'm not going to copy their defection. I will remain true to my commitment to
follow Jesus." And let's never forget, while we have the potential to influence
others to fall away from the Lord, we can also influence them to follow Him too.
This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote, "Follow me as I follow Christ."
But I don't think Jesus intended these questions to be put only to Peter. After all,
Peter was the disciple's representative, the spokesman for the group. In
addressing Peter, Jesus addresses all of the disciples, including contemporary
ones.
For us the question probably won't be about loving Jesus or fish, although there
may be some today who love fishing more than they love Jesus. Of course, the
question might be put concerning our own vocations, do we love our work more
than we love Jesus?
For many though, the question more likely will have to do with the choice
between God or money. It's on our coins, "In God We Trust", but really, it's the
money we trust more. But Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters. Either he
will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." - Matthew 6:24
Two New Testament stories point this out, the "Rich Young Ruler" who went
away very sad, and Ananias and Sapphira, who went away very dead.
But even family members are compared when it comes to our affection toward
Jesus.
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and
children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my
disciple." (Luke 14:26)
Yes, this principle has been abused by self-centered and power hungry cult
leaders. But we still cannot avoid the question, "Do you love me more than
these?"
Earlier Jesus had said, "I will make you to become fishers of men." Now the symbolic occupation seems to be changing, as if He now says, "I will make you shepherds of men." Recently, our Evangelist made an interesting point when he noted that in the hospital, little space is given for birthing, but much space is provided for healing. Yes, new lambs need to be born, but in today's world, the crying need is for tender care and nourishment to be given to the lambs. We live in a day of easy mobility when there's much movement of Christians from one church to another. One of the most often reasons given for this is "I'm not getting fed there." Let me pose a question to the mothers who are here. How long did you feed your baby? How long before you began putting some pieces of soft crackers, small pieces of bread or "Cheerios" on their tray and expected them to begin picking up the food and putting it in their own mouths? A few months? And how long after that would it be when your child was able to handle a spoon, and get most of the food safely from bowl to mouth? How sad it is that in the Christian world we have multitudes who after decades are still doing little or nothing to feed themselves. But Jesus expects His disciples to go beyond that. He didn't say, "If you love me, feed yourself." He said, "Feed my lambs." Of course it only stands to reason that feeding oneself will precede feeding others. But it must not end there. The test of love for Jesus is passed when we engage in the care and feeding of His other sheep. How do we do this? By being willing to express empathy, to sit with people, take time to listen, provide an encouraging word and prayer. Or perhaps send a note, make a phone call, (if the Pastor doesn't call, no one does), go to someone's home or meet them after work. Begin a Bible Study or Prayer Group in your home and invite your neighbors in. Fervently pray, get on the Prayer Chain, take on a Prayer Partner. "Do you love me more than these? Feed my Sheep."
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