Minister 's Letter - February 2009
Dear Friends,
I have been thinking about that moving conversation between Jesus and Peter that followed the disciple's denial, and the Messiah's crucifixion and resurrection in John 21:15-25.
If we look more closely, there is more going on than a question and answer session about the quality of love. It certainly begins that way, but then Jesus adds another element to this equation:
'If you do indeed love me, Peter, then this is what you must do: tend my sheep, feed my lambs'. To love me, Jesus says, is not to have a feeling of love, nor even to make a declaration of love. To love me is to do my work. And in this case Jesus the Good Shepherd is telling Peter that to love him is to do a shepherd's work, to tend all those whom Jesus loves. And even though many generations of Christians have interpreted 'Tend my sheep' to mean, 'Take care of my church', we remember that earlier in John's Gospel Jesus had made it very clear to his disciples that he had sheep who were 'not of this fold', and that the shepherd was ready to offer his life for them all. (John 10:13-16). And of course this is just what Peter did for the rest of his days.
But it wasn't only Peter who was transformed by this sense that love for Jesus had to be put to work. The story of the Christian church throughout the ages is the story of the ways in which love for Jesus moves out beyond itself to a world that cries out to be fed and tended. The story of the Christian church throughout the ages is the story of the ways in which love for Jesus offers its life for that world. And this is why for every disciple in every generation, the great and ancient Easter shout, at the heart of the Christian faith, 'Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed!' is not only an exclamation of joy, but a call to action as well.
In Christ,
Christopher White
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