John 13:31-35, from the Fifth Sunday after Easter

Whoever sold lace doilies in West Virginia during the ’70s must have made a fortune off of my grandmother.

Continue reading “Tough love” →

John 21:1-19, from the Third Sunday after Easter

I’ve always focused on the redemption aspect of this familiar story. The risen Jesus and Peter are walking by the Sea of Galilee, their first recorded contact since Peter denied Jesus three times during the run-up to Good Friday. Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Peter replies each time that he does, and Jesus responds with some version of, “OK, then feed my sheep.”

It is, of course, a beautiful scene of forgiveness and restoration, and my tendency to see it as exclusively about that stems, no doubt, from my personal tendency to screw up Peter-style. Jesus and I have had many such walks, and there surely will be many more before my life is done.

But in focusing on Peter’s restoration, I think I’ve overlooked something both important and obvious: The sheep are hungry. And doesn’t it seem odd, at least initially, that they would be, or that someone would have to look after them? It’s Easter! The tomb is empty! Sin and death have lost! What’s left to do except celebrate in the winner’s circle?

Continue reading “The sheep are hungry, Peter …” →