I
always find it both amazing and amusing how in the presidential election the opponents of each candidate will go through the history of each
person with a fine-tooth comb, in the hope of finding some small
thing to discredit him, or her. 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 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 do this, 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 weaknesses are 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 and 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 done to
help us.
‘Peter
do you love me?’ ‘Lord you know everything, you know that I
love you.’
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