QJA: Love Me?

Well here we are , at the end of our series “The Questions Jesus Asked.” Tonight we will look a the answers Jesus gave. You should come for this discussion. 6pm.

What we have read today isn’t new. I preached on this 2 1/2 years ago. Today the Scripture is the same, the context has changed. I would like you to look at this passage first in the humorous.

Verses 1-5 end this way; “children have you any food?”

I’m back from the dead and I’m hungry.

Hey guys it’s me, I just conquered Hell and the Grave and I’m starved.

I haven’t eaten for three days.

How about Jesus opening with ‘(SHOUT) Its me, you’re not going to believe where I’ve been...”

It could be read “hey, I’m cooking here. Have you eaten?”

The text, when read closely, implies, Jesus is cooking.

Hey guys it’s me, I took on death, it really wasn’t any contest. Do you have any salt? Are you hungry?”

But truly, Jesus “sees.” The disciples have been out all night fishing. They returned to where they where when Jesus found them.

They have labored. They haven’t caught anything, they’re disappointed. Jesus calls to them, children, have you any food? It says, “I care.”

The point being, the same Jesus that asked questions prior to His death, is the same Jesus walking the shore and asking questions of His disciples.

What questions should Jesus ask? If you and I had been crucified, and came to our friends and family, we might have questions also.

Peter, what the heck?

Andrew, Thomas, where were you man, you left me hanging! (Careful here)

James, John, did you watch out for Mary?

But Jesus, post Crucifixion, walking the road toward Emmaus, asks questions. As a friend might ask if he comes late to the conversation, having run, breathless, “what are you talking about?”

It’s what Jesus does.

The disciples are fishing. I believe confused by the events of the last few days, so they return to what they know.

If you are a fisherperson, and you approach another fisherperson, you might ask, “any luck?” Yeah, what were you using for bait? How deep are the fish?

Mom would come upon her fisherman, having returned from a day at the lake and ask, have you anything to eat?

Not Jesus. Have you any food?

Have you had a hungry teenager in your house? They hit that place where growth is ruling and food is consumed at a high rate of speed. School lunch just didn’t fill them up and they hit the door after school with wide eyes and the refrigerator is about to become their new best friend.

I can hear him, “I’m starving, is there anything to eat?”

I can hear him, “I’m starving, is there anything to eat?”

The disciples and apparently Jesus eat breakfast once the fish they bring are cooked. By eating, Jesus is saying, I’m real, I’m alive, I’m not a ghost, or a figment of your imagination. I’m not a ...

The other element is Jesus reaffirming His humanity. I am God, I am not far from you. I am not a distant God. I am real. I’m as real as you are, although in a glorified state, I know hunger, as you know hunger. And I’m hungry.

Do you want to know what I’m hungry for?

Do you play that game in the car? What does everyone want to eat? Silence. So you make a suggestion and your hear, nah. Another suggestion and a nah. So you say what do you want. Silence.

I don’t care. I don’t know, whatever, but not that!

What is Jesus hungry for? The fellowship of His friends. It implies a vulnerability on Jesus part. Post resurrection, conquering death, Hell and the grave, having displayed faith in the Father perfectly and being resurrected, He is vulnerable to His disciples.

The men he called, fisherman He said he would make fisher of men, all sat on the bank and ate fish.

What is the comfort food at your house? It is mashed potatoes at our house. We eat mashed potatoes. Whipped with milk, butter, salt and pepper, smooth, no chunks, melted butter on top, steaming.

For Jesus is it broiled fish.

For Jesus is it broiled fish.

Maybe their minds go back to the week previous, Thursday, when they gathered at the table for the passover meal. All was good. Jesus was breaking bread, passing it out. He had some meaningful words. When they gathered around with food, it was like they were family.

This gathering wasn’t new. They gathered. They ate. They fed 5000, 4000, they gathered in the night and in the day.

Last Thursday, He used the words, “do this in remembrance of me.” Do what? Gather, break bread, remember. Have a common meal and know that I am with you. Every time you break bread, I’m with you.

Our work doesn’t all have to be spiritual to be with Jesus. He is interested in our whole lives, the lives we actually live. He did it on the road to Emmaus, and at the camp fire. He was with them, present, eating, hungry, vulnerable, open to their questions, fellowship, their laughter, their fears.

So they sit, and they eat, quietly. They know what happened. They weren’t there they were hiding, they are probably waiting for the hammer to drop. They were to be caught and tortured next. So they sit in silence. Ashamed.

And then, when He had finished breakfast, He does it. Simon Bar Jonah, Simon Son of John. (proper name) You know what follows is important when mom starts with your proper name.

Simon Bar Jonah, do you love me more than these? Vulnerable.

Do you have anything to eat? Physical vulnerability.

Do you love me? Emotional vulnerability. We all want to be loved, but isn’t Jesus supposed to love us? For God so loved the world...

Three times Jesus asks Peter this vulnerable question. Three times Peter has to answer.

Would not your feelings be hurt at this point, if the savior had to ask three times, do you love me?

Was it Peter’s devotion or lack there of that caused Christ to ask three times?

Was it because Peter denied Christ three times?

Was it a chance for Peter to say three times he loves the Lord and redeem the three denials?

How many times would we have to say I Love You Lord, to make up for our mistakes, denials, course words, in appropriate statements, unforgiveness, anger, malice, wrath, greed or jealousy?

There is another reading here that better explains the details of the words Jesus and Peter exchanged.

The word LOVE, has three sometimes four Greek words to describe love. Here Jesus uses two of them.

Agape, would be God love, unconditional love.

Phileo, is a brotherly, sisterly love as we love each other.

Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.

If we reread the passage, we should hear this:

Jesus: Simon Son of Jonah, do you agape me, unconditionally love me more than these?

Peter, yes Lord you know I phileo you, brother.

Jesus again: Simon son of Jonah, do you agape me?

Peter, Yes Lord you know I phileo you.

Jesus the third time: Simon Son of Jonah, do you phileo me?

First to times agape. Third time phileo.

Peter: Peter was grieved because He asked him a third time, and he answered, You know all things, you know I phileo you.

Peter, in the presence of the resurrected perfect Christ, was not able to respond to Jesus in those terms. He could not yet agape. He could not yet understand what it meant to give of himself fully. He was on a path to understanding. He was learning, but until the Holy Spirit came, and on that day of Pentecost and fully engaged Peter, did he know what it meant to agape.

Jesus, knowing all this, in the third question asks if Simon Son of Jonah, could at least phileo Him for now. Knowing one day not to long from now, He, Christ, would send a helper, and this helper would help him to understand all mysteries, and mature his character so he could agape, love Him and others unconditionally.

Jesus asks Peter to love Him (Jesus) in the way he is now capable.

Scott Harrison began Charity Water. If you remember his story he went form a good christian home to a NYC night club promoter, high, drunk, party all night. He was on a private island with friends, when he read a text from his dad. His dad never gave up on him, praying for him mailing him articles and reading material (agape love). Scott read the material and he asked himself this question: “what would my life be like if i was 180 degrees from what i am right now?”

He went back to NYC threw a big party, walked away from that scene, never to take another drink or smoke another cigarette, or do another drug. He applied for volunteer work and was turned down. Finally he was able to pay to be a volunteer and made his was to “Mercy Ship International” as a photographer. He documented surgeries and the lives of the people receiving them, their lives pre and post surgery.

He began to phileo people.

He became so enthralled in the process he followed the people on their journey to their villages. He stayed with them, and learned their story. He began to weep over their conditions. The water they drank was disgusting. Brown, filled with bacteria and small parasites, leaches and the such, but it was all they had. He reported on the long walks, the people entering the water only to be eaten by alligators, and the one girl who hung herself after walking to the water and home with the water only to drop it and spill the water.

He did somethign about it. He went home, wrote a mission statement and began to raise money and fund clean drinking water.

He was hurt over their condition, he knew he could make a difference and he agape the people to the point that he dedicated his life to them. 663 million people without clean water, He agape them.

It is clear, we begin our walk with a phileo love as Peter did. If we stay on course, we will walk to a place of agape love.

Peter was asked by Jesus to agape. Peter was honest in his response. Jesus where i am today, I phileo. But when the day of Pentecost came, Peter learned what it was to agape.

In the church of the Nazarene, we call that the sanctified life.

How about you? Can you love Jesus today? Can you admit that where you are, if not agape, could at least be phileo and you are willing to learn more?

If we recap the study, The Questions Jesus Asks, we find a couple very important questions Jesus asks each of us. The first question is:

What are you looking for?

The second:

What do you want me to do for you?

The third:

Do you love me?

What are you looking for is a question for those who yearn for God knows what, they try everything, and what they end up concluding is, they yearn for God.

What do you want me to do for you is a question asked by someone who is eager to act like a servant and tend to your needs. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. If you wish to be my disciple, you must learn to serve.

Do you love me is the question asked by someone who desperately wants to be in a relationship with you and is willing to become completely vulnerable in order to do so.

Repeat the questions:

What are you looking for?

What do you want me to do for you?

Do you love me?

Where are you today? Agape, phileo,? Know this: Jesus showed His agape unconditional love, when He laid down his life for you. He isn’t finished with you yet.

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