One of the tricks to having a good date is setting the right mood. As a smart guy, you probably want to take your girl to a nice place, with perfect lighting and music, and a serene atmosphere. The food has to be nice, and the drinks as well. And the chemistry has to be amped to the max. You gaze into her eyes; she gazes into yours, and sparks fly - which reminds me, there has to be a fire alarm close by as well. Just kidding. Anyway, atmosphere is what I'm talking about. It has to be right. Because when you remember your date, you want your memory of its venue to please; you want to recall with pleasure the setting for when you first said to your woman: "I love you tons." Who was it that said: "Location, location, location"? Believe me, bro; location is everything. The room with its ambiance sets the mood for the lovemaking ritual.
Jesus knew all this. In John 21:4, we are told that "just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach." Just think of that. Jesus chose the beautiful mellow lighting of the morning; not sunny, not dark. He also chose the cool, breezy beach; not cold, not warm. The setting was just right. Birds in the air were probably chirping melodiously; the waves were slurping on the shore; the flora and fauna were swaying seductively. And then Jesus called to his buddies. He asked them if they had caught anything. They said no. They'd been out all night, but had caught nothing. Jesus proposed that they try something else. They did, and so caught an enormous amount of fish, so much that they could hardly haul the catch in. It was then that the disciple Jesus loved exclaimed: "It is the Lord!" (John 21:7). And when Simon heard this, he dressed hurriedly and swam to shore to meet his best friend, Jesus. The Lord.
Jesus knew all about creating the perfect setting. When Peter reached the shore, Jesus had started a charcoal fire. The flames enhanced the mellow lighting of the pervading morning; the crackle of burning wood complemented the chirping of the birds; the smell of smoke blended in with the scent of the flora about, and the warmth mixed neatly with the cool of the dawn. Jesus was indeed a hopeless romantic. He must have smiled at Peter when the brawny fisherman stepped ashore. Their eyes must have locked together. They must have tightly embraced, lingering to feel each other. Their hearts must have beat in unison, as Peter took it all in: his master; his lord; his handsome best friend. Jesus must have quickly remembered his manners and invited Peter to breakfast. He said, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught" (John 21:10). They then sat together, eating roasted fish and catching up on old times.
"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?" (John 21:15). Peter must have wondered why the question. But he took it in stride; took it like a man. He smiled wanly and replied, "Of course, buddy; you know I love you." Jesus was not satisfied. Something about Peter's offhand nature worried him; or perhaps it was the way he seemed oh so nervous. Nah. Jesus had to ask again: "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" (Ibid.v16). Peter must have shifted a bit where he sat; looked into his lord's eyes and said thickly, "Come on, man; you must know I love you, surely?" But Jesus wasn't done yet. Peter's eyes were moist, but did not quite betray the feeling in his gut. So Jesus asked a third time: "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" (Ibid.v17). Now Jesus struck a chord, and Peter became upset that his own best friend would ask him this a third time. And, exasperated and overwhelmed, Peter tearfully croaked, with all the feeling in his gut, "Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you" (Ibid.). And at last, with that heartfelt confession of love, Peter and Jesus were once more on the same page.
But why was it important that they be on the same page again? You see, sometime before all this, Peter had hurt Jesus badly. It was right after the time that his enemies had captured Jesus and taken him to be judged and hanged. Peter had followed his best friend right up to the High Priest's courtyard to see what was going to happen. Jesus had already revealed that Peter would deny him three times. But Peter had protested. He had beat his chest like an orangutan and declared: "I am ready to go to prison and even to die with you!" (Luke 22:33). He had even shown bravado by slashing off a man's ear when Jesus was being arrested (v50). But there in that courtyard, his spirit failed him. Peter was sitting with some people around a charcoal fire (Ibid.v55) warming himself. It was night, and the atmosphere was cool and dusky.
Suddenly, a maid recognized Peter by the light of the fire. "She looked intently at him and said, 'This man too was with Jesus'" (Luke 22:56). Peter must have stammered nervously, cast a furtive glance about and quipped, "No, I don't even know the man, I swear!" "A short while later someone else saw him and said, 'You too are one of Jesus' disciples'; but Peter replied, 'I am not'" (Ibid.v58). "About an hour later, still another insisted, 'Surely, this man too was with Jesus, for he also is a Galilean.' But Peter said, 'Listen fellow, I do not know what you are talking about.'" And just as Peter had finished denying Jesus, his lord and master, three times, Jesus turned around and looked at him, and Peter remembered how Jesus had told him that he would betray him three times (v61). Peter had wept very bitterly at the time. In fact, some people say that Peter wept so bitterly that his flowing tears formed ridges beneath his eyes. And neither he nor Jesus forgot the incident.
And so Jesus wanted to make things right with his friend. And as they sat across from each other having breakfast that morning, Jesus must have observed Peter and noticed that the guilt was still there in the poor man's heart. He knew that Peter was sorry for having betrayed him back then. Every once in a while, Peter would have reached to grab a bit of fish and his fingers would have brushed against Jesus' and they would have exchanged a brief, nervous glance, and Peter would have withdrawn his eyes from his master's, because of the elephant in the room, the guilt of the past weighing precariously on his conscience. They would have eaten in relatively nervous communion until at last, Jesus had to dispel the subtle dour; chase the elephant from the room. And so sighing, Jesus looked at Peter and asked: "Hey man, do you love me?" "What?" "Say you love me, Peter." "But what would that prove?" "I just want to hear you say it. Tell me how much you love me." "I love you. I love you. Jesus, I am completely drowned in my love for you."
Good. Three times Peter denied him, and three times he had professed his love for his lord. Jesus had exacted his sweet revenge. Who was it that said, "All is fair in love and war"? This was love; a consuming love. And Jesus had taken into account every detail. Jesus remembered that when Peter denied him three times there was a charcoal fire lit, and he had done the same. He, with Peter and the other disciples, was sitting at a charcoal fire, just like Peter was with those fellows in the High Priest's courtyard back then. And if Peter had denied him three times seated at a charcoal fire, how fitting it was to make Peter confess his love three times similarly seated at a charcoal fire. "All is well that ends well," it would then seem, were that all. But it wasn't all. Jesus' love for Peter was all-consuming. He would have all of Peter; every bit of the man, and so he told Peter how the once ordinary fisherman would ultimately pay the price of his own life for his love for Jesus. Having confessed his love for Jesus and helplessly surrendered his soul to his handsome best friend, Jesus was effectively telling Peter: You will have to die for me to prove your love. And Jesus painted this picture: Peter weak and helpless with love, having fallen at the feet of the master who has placed his feet, his stamp of ownership, of authority over Peter, is bound like a willing dog with a girding rope and led off to be hanged because of love (v18-19).
Peter's eyes must have misted. How could he not have guessed it. Somehow he had known at the corner of his mind that, when he left his wife and his business to follow this man, he would pay the ultimate price. This man would claim his soul, his mind and even waste his body in death by hanging. The tears misted his eyes even more, and he sniffed. And turning to John, the disciple Jesus loved, a disciple of whom he was jealous because it sometimes seemed Jesus loved him more, a disciple who lay on Jesus' chest at the last supper in that upper room, Peter asked: "And what about him?" (v21b). To which Jesus replied, "Don't worry about him. You, follow me." Peter sighed and muttered under his breath: "Even if I could, I would be powerless to resist following you." Jesus must then have eyed Peter carefully. Peter was his, in every way a man could be another's. And he had all of Peter. He completely owned the man.
Dude!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing.