How could he have failed so miserably? After he had pledged his life to his Lord, Jesus told him that he would deny him three times before morning. Of course, he was right. Three times, without blinking, he lied to save his own skin.
The voice between Peter’s ears told him it was over. He was done. He failed the test. So, without fanfare, he returned to his life before Jesus - fishing.
Then, a guy was there on the beach, cooking breakfast, and asking if they’d caught anything - a humbling question when you’ve fished all night with nothing to show for it. “Drop your nets on the right side of the boat,” was the all-to-familiar suggestion. It was Jesus.
True-to-form, Peter threw off his outer garment and leapt into the water to swim ashore. Yet, as they ate, surrounded by friends, and sitting before Jesus, Peter’s assertiveness was missing. He was quiet, staring at the tops of his sandals, as the others reveled in the presence of the Lord. Ashamed. Guilty. Unsure of what to expect.
As they finished breakfast, Jesus caught Peter’s hesitant glance, locked eyes with him, and asked him the only question that mattered: “Simon, do you love me?” Three times, Jesus asked the same question, not simply to match the number of denials, but to make sure Peter remembered what mattered most. In Matthew 22, an attorney had asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Without hesitation, Jesus replied, “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind.” Now, with this single question, Jesus was reminding Peter of what is most important - “Simon, do you love me?”
Each time Peter responded, Jesus answered with a variation of “feed my sheep.” Why? Jesus is giving Peter a way to refocus on what matters most. Each time a batter steps into the batter’s box, a basketball player approaches the foul line, or a sprinter crouches into the starting blocks, he goes through his own unique routine to focus his mind on what matters most. The athlete’s routine does not earn him points, but it refocuses him from what is behind him to what is before him. In the same way, Jesus is telling Peter, and Jesus is telling us, that the way to refocus on loving God is through loving & serving his people in the unique ways God has gifted each of us to serve. Jesus is connecting the first and second commandments from Matthew 22 for Peter.
Loving God focuses us on loving people and loving people refocuses us on loving God.
We don’t serve others to earn anything. Our service, in whatever form it takes, is motivated by gratitude; and that gratitude refocuses us on Jesus.
Peter was bound by his past, his failure. He could see no way forward, so he went back to what he knew. But in one simple question and one simple command, each repeated three times, Jesus reminded Peter, and reminds us that we have a clean slate.
We are not bound by the worst or the latest things we’ve done. Jesus’ love & grace, as expressed through the cross, broke the stranglehold of our own sin.
We are free. This 4th of July, we are not simply free from governmental tyranny or foreign oppression. We are not only free to worship without fear of persecution. Because of Jesus Christ, we can be free from the tyranny of our own shame, regret, and guilt. We can be free from the bondage of our mistakes and our outright rebellion, from the muck and the mire, and the unbearable weight of our own sin.
Yes, for the believer, our symbols of freedom are the crimson stained cross and the open tomb that long predate the red, white, & blue of 1776. No government, nor founding father, has any more hope of saving us from our sin than the armadillo in my backyard. For it is not a king on a foreign shore who threatens to enslave us, but the pride and fear of one awaiting us in the mirror who seeks to shackle us to our sin sunk deep beyond the reach of glory without the outreached arms of our savior.
So as we celebrate our young nation’s birthday, do so as an American who has been truly freed and given a clean slate by the love and grace of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.