I always find
it both amazing and amusing how in the American presidential election
they will go through the history of each candidate with a fine-tooth
comb in the hope of finding some small thing to discredit him or
her. I simply mention the American one as it’s generally more publicised than most. It’s as if they are looking for the perfect person who
is not allowed to have any defects. If they do find anything in
their past such as smoking dope when they were a teenager, or
something similar, they present this as a reason for him or her to be
unsuitable for president now, as if you could find someone who didn’t
have defects. Modern day media tends to do the same, gloating
over the sins of an individual while showing absolutely no mercy
whatsoever to that person for the mistakes they have made.
In contrast
to that we have almost the opposite presented to us in today’s
Gospel. Peter is confronted by Jesus in a loving but painful
way, when Jesus asks him three times ‘Do you love me?’ Why
did Jesus do this since he knew well that Peter loved him?
Jesus was making Peter face his own weakness, the weakness that
caused him to publicly swear that he never knew Jesus. This
happened during Jesus’ trial when Peter tried to stay close to
Jesus, but he was overcome with fear when individuals realised he was
one of Jesus’ followers and then he denied ever knowing Jesus.
After this happened it says that Peter went outside and wept
bitterly, because of course he didn’t want to deny Jesus, but he was
overcome by fear.
In asking
Peter three times ‘Do you love me,’ Jesus was helping him to
heal, but also making him face his weakness. Jesus wasn’t
going to just pretend that this never happened, because if he did it
would have continued to haunt Peter for the rest of his life.
Instead, Jesus confronts Peter with it and makes him face it.
And then Jesus makes this same Peter the first pope. Jesus was
saying, ‘I know you let me down because of your own weakness/fear;
but that is not an obstacle for me. Now face it and then I can
really work through you.’ It is an extraordinary thought that
Jesus wasn’t afraid to make Peter the first pope even when he knew
that Peter had denied him. Our weakness is not an obstacle for
God.
It is because
the Lord loves us that he challenges us with our weaknesses. We
want to just gloss over them and pretend that mistakes never
happened, but that doesn’t really help us. If we are to heal
and grow then we must face up to our weakness, which is difficult and
painful but it’s also what helps us to grow.
In the 12
step program of Alcoholics Anonymous the first step to recovery is to
acknowledge your weakness and that you are powerless over it.
Only then can you begin to continue in the right direction.
This is also one of the reasons the Lord gives us the facility to
confess what we have done in total secrecy, so that we can heal.
The idea that all our sins are totally forgiven by God if we ask for
forgiveness is a hard thing to grasp, and many of us struggle to
believe that this could really be so. And yet that is what the
death of Jesus on the cross is all about: the forgiveness of sins.
That forgiveness has already been won for us; we just have to ask for
it.
There is a
lot more freedom in admitting that we are weak when we come before
God, than in trying to prove we are perfect. If we had to be
perfect it would put enormous pressure on us. Part of the
freedom that our faith gives us is to realise that it’s ok to be
weak, to have made mistakes. Ultimately we rely on the
power of God and not on ourselves and that certainly is a relief.
Can you
imagine if Jesus hadn’t challenged Peter in this way and then made
him the first leader anyway? Peter would have continued to live
in fear wondering whether his denials would come to light or not.
Instead Jesus brings everything out into the open and basically says,
‘I know what happened, but now you have repented, so don’t be
afraid anymore.’ This is why the Lord keeps inviting us to
come back to him, to confess what we have done wrong, so that we can
be free and so that we can live in peace. Everything God does
is to help us.
‘Peter do
you love me?’ ‘Lord you know everything, you know that I
love you.’
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