“Do you love me more than these others do?”

Lectio divina on John 21,15-19

“The Word of God is the first source of all Christian spirituality.

It gives rise to a personal relationship with the living God and with his saving and sanctifying will” (VC 94).

“An exceptionally good instrument for growth in listening to the Word is the lectio divina... Rightly does the GC25, in its first practical guideline about evangelical witness, exhort the salesian community “to place God as the unifying centre of its being and to develop the community dimension of the spiritual life by fostering the centrality of the word of God in personal and community life through the lectio divina” (CG25 31). I hope that none of you will think that this guideline of the GC25 has introduced an element extraneous to our spirituality”. “I can reveal to you that following the decision of the GC25, I feel personally obliged to “keep on reviving and expressing the primacy of God in the communities”, by fostering the centrality of God’s Word in personal and community life, first of all “through the lectio divina” (CG25 30.31). This is a matter of great importance to me” (Don Pascual Chávez).

¹⁵ When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter,

'Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?'

He answered,

'Yes, Lord, you know I love [like] you.'

Jesus said to him,

'Feed my lambs.'

¹⁶A second time he said to him,

'Simon son of John, do you love me?'

He replied,

'Yes, Lord, you know I love [like] you.'

Jesus said to him,

'Look after my sheep.'

¹⁷Then he said to him a third time,

'Simon son of John, do you love [like] me?'

Peter was hurt that he asked him a third time,'Do you love me?' and said,

'Lord, you know everything; you know I love [like] you.'

Jesus said to him,

'Feed my sheep.

¹⁸In all truth I tell you,

when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked;

but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.'

[¹⁹In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God.]

After this he said,

'Follow me.'

In the Gospel tradition, Jn 21 is an oddity; although the fourth Gospel clearly ends at Jn 20:30-31, someone, a redactor other than the evangelist, has added a chapter 21, in which he expresses an unusal interest in the life of the disciples in common and on the beginnings of their organising of themselves. The chapter offers two scenes (21, 1-14, 15-23) and an epilogue (21,24-25): the first (21, 1-14) narrates the third appearance of Jesus to seven of his disciples, in Galilee, after a miraculous catch of fish. The second scene is a dialogue between Jesus and Peter in the context of a common meal (21:15-23); Jesus speaks with Peter, in front of the community, once he has been recognised as the Risen one.

When the meal is over, the Risen One confers the leadership of the group on Peter; the other disciples, except for the one Beloved of Jesus, fade out of the story. The episode includes two events, the handing over of the pastoral ministry (21:15-17) and the prediction of the martyrdom yet to come (21:18-23). The words chosen, the giving of a mission conceived of as a pastoral mission, a mission which is properly that of Jesus himself (10:1-12) and the abundance of personal pronouns, give the dialogue a strongly affectionate feeling. Jesus opens with an examination of love and closes with the commissioning of the brethren. The love declared for Jesus is a prior condition for mission; the personal martyrdom is the culmination of the mission.

I.Reading the text:

what does it really mean?

Lectio divina begins with an attentive reading, or better a re-reading several times, of the text in which we want to hear what God is saying. The chosen text may be easy to understand or well known – that does not matter; it needs to be read over and over again until it becomes familiar, almost learned by heart, “emphasizing the main elements” (Card. Martini). One must not pass beyond this first stage without being able to reply to the question: what is the real meaning of this passage I have read?

The chosen text chronicles a dialogue between Jesus and Peter after the meal together: it is not a conversation aside, it takes place in front of the disciples who have been part of the miraculous draught of fish, and who have recognised him as the Risen one and have partaken of the common table.

The scene takes up part of the dialogue. And it is Jesus who opens and closes it, who always takes the initiative, is the main actor. Peter has only to react: he does not say what he wants to; he answers instead what is asked of him. Furthermore, he only speaks when he is asked to give an answer. He receives four such commands, without saying a word.

The conversation has two moments, clearly defined: a commentary by the narrator indicates clearly the division between them. The first, a series of questions, occupies the greater part of the scene, which presents itself as an enquiry. The second, which includes just one word from Jesus, is, in practice, the succinct statement of a vocation (cf. Mk 1:17; 2:14).

The questioning, a fast exchange reduced to its essentials, follows a fixed pattern: the same question repeated three times prompts the same answer and receives an identical commissioning. To Jesus' question (21:15: Do you love me more than these?; 21:16: do you love me?; 21:17: do you love [like] me?), we have Peter's answer in the affirmative (21:15: Yes, Lord, you know that I love [like] you; (21:16: Yes, Lord, you know that I love [like] you); 21:17: Lord, you know everything, you know that I love [like] you), which response prompts Jesus to commission him (21:15: feed my lambs; 21:16: look after my sheep; 21:17: feed my sheep). There is some variation in the words used: while the English does not distinguish the terms for love used here, the evangelist switches between a word which means 'love' (21:15,16) and 'like' (21:15,16,17), between 'feed', giving them something to eat (21:17) and 'look after', leading and protecting (21:16), combined with the switching of 'lambs' (21:15) for 'sheep' (21:16,17), There is no need to find a special meaning in each variation¹. The addition, in the first question, of a stronger love (21:15: more than these) is, certainly, meaningful: Jesus begins the dialogue by demanding a greater love; this is the departure point for his questioning.

The triple question from Jesus makes Peter so sad (21:17), that he felt obliged to remind Jesus that he knew everything, to convince him of his love for him. And precisely making something of this extraordinary knowledge, Jesus foretells a cruel end for Peter; his language is so obscure here that the narrator has to explain it to his readers: “Jesus was indicating the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God” (21,18).

Jesus concludes the exchange hastily, with a clear command: surprisingly the precise follow me (20:10) is in no sense prepared for by what has gone before, nor does it have an immediate sequence (cf. Mk 1:18.20; 2:14). However the inner sequence to the statement is meaningful: after the personal examination, restated, on greater love, there follows the veiled announcing of a violent death, ending with the personal request to follow. If a preferential love for Jesus precedes the task of leadership of the community, the announcing of an awful end precedes the command to follow: love for Christ is the prior condition to receive his community of disciples as a pastoral duty; following him is inevitably, for the one taking this path, something fully known to end in martyrdom.

II.Applying the text to one’s life:

what does it mean to me?

Once he has discovered the meaning of the biblical text, the attentive reader tries to become involved personally, by applying the meaning to his own life: what is this text saying to me? “To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them”.² The Word has been heard and calls for consent; it has not been accepted unless it reaches the heart and brings about conversion. Understanding the text leads to understanding oneself in its light; in this way the text that has been read and understood becomes a norm of life: what must I do to put it into practice, what must I do to give its meaning to my own life?

Peter meets Jesus again and takes up his pastoral mission, once the disciples have recovered their faith after their encounter with the Risen Lord: Jesus had to go to Galilee, where they had gone, and showed himself to them for the third time giving them something to eat, so they would recognise him. The exchange between the Risen Lord and Peter was after, and as a consequence of, the encounter between Jesus and the community of disciples and the meal in common.

It will be difficult for me to meet the living Christ, if I am not with my brothers, if I am far far away from the city where Jesus has been risen from the dead, even if I am already busy doing jobs I once left to follow Jesus. Do I encounter Jesus when he encounters my community? Do I live amongst my brothers, even if I am missing the Risen Lord? Is my life in common a meeting room for the encounter with the living Christ? Is our common faith and our common Eucharist the prior requisite for a dialogue with Jesus?

Jesus wins over Peter in his conversation with him. In the dialogue, Jesus takes the initiative, asks the questions and gives the commands. Peter reacts, responds or remains quiet. Jesus reclaims the disciple, in front of the community, because he is going to commission him to look after that community. Although the content of the conversation is intimate and only involves Jesus and Peter, the dialogue goes on in public; Jesus forces Peter to profess his love several times before trusting to him those whom he loves; Jesus entrusts his friends only to lovers. Peter publicly rehabilitates himself by publicly confessing his love for Jesus, even though the conversation is hurtful and he has had to repeat his love.

Jesus dialogues with whomever he wants to claim back, he dialogues with whoever wishes to be loved. Love, publicly professed, is a greater love than that is not expressed; but the public profession of a love that is kept inside can cause pain or shame. What is important is not to abandon this public dialogue, for fear of what the questions might be or the pain in giving a response.

Questioning Peter about his love, Jesus was not only proving the faithfulness of the only disciple who had denied him three times (18:15-28, 25-27), but he was restoring the relationship between him and Peter, in order to give Peter a mission: Peter did not return to the company of Jesus Risen, he was sent to his brothers (Lk 22:32). The scene, then, is not focussed on re-establishing Peter's personal fidelity, although it includes it; it is more the story of an investiture, of the granting of a pastoral ministry to the disciple who had betrayed him, and who has to take care of Jesus' flock (10:4,27), and after – and only after – having proclaimed his love and his dedication to the Lord.

Above all, the pastoral ministry is an exercise of love for Jesus; love for Christ implies being responsible for Christians. Jesus does not grant the pastoral guidance of his community when someone made many promises (13:13,36-37), neither does Jesus grant it to the one who was most loved and a better believer (21:7). The Lord entrusted it, and three times in a row, to Peter, not the most beloved disciple, but the disciple who promised to love Christ more than the others. The flock continues to be that of Jesus; it is Peter's job to guide it and look after it; the ownership does not change, but pastoral responsibility, delegated authority (Heb 20:28; 1 Pet 5:1-3), resides with the one who has loved more.

Where does the apostolic mission come from? Who has entrusted it to me? Do I live it out as an exercise of love for Christ, a greater love, a more demanding love? Does it cause me pain to profess my love for Christ in front of my brothers? Am I ready to proclaim that I love him more than others?

Peter's investiture as a pastor is linked to the prediction of his martyrdom. This is not an insignificant detail. Whoever shares the pastoral role with Jesus (10:11-18) will have to share his fate and destiny (15:13); only in this way will his commission be guaranteed as true. With a popular proverb (Ecles 11:7-12,8; Ps 37:25), which speaks of the loss of freedom as one gets older in life, Jesus announces in veiled form the end awaiting Peter. Christian readers, who know the circumstances of Peter's death (1 Clem 5:4), easily understand the meaning: Peter has completed his task and has been faithful to his promise, he has followed his Lord and given glory to God (21:19. 2 Pet 1:14): there is no love greater than that!

Am I so sure of my love for Christ that I can face up to a future of persecution and death? Do I accept that the exercise of pastoral care takes me where I do not want to go and in ways that I do not want? Those to whom I have been sen, do they sense that I live by giving my life for them?

This kind of following, impossible before Jesus' death (13,36) is now unavoidable: follow me!!. And it is an inevitable way, since now it can be followed, now that the Lord, dead and Risen, has followed it. Peter's lot of solidarity with Jesus, a solidarity culminating in the pastoral mission, does not include Peter giving his life for others (10:11;17-18), without also giving it for his Lord (13:37). Whoever promises to give his life will give it while he is living his life looking after those who belong to Jesus. .

Does it say anything to me that Jesus called Peter, after having heard the threefold expression of his love and after having predicted his martyrdom? Are greater love and giving one’s life for the one we love requirements for a happy following of the Lord? What am I ready to give up in order not to forgo following Jesus?

III.pray the text from your own life:

what do I have to say to God?

Prayer. To know, to guess, or even merely to imagine what God wants leads naturally to prayer; in this way a burning desire arises for what daily life should become. The one who prays does not ask so much for what he lacks but rather for what God has enabled him to see and understand. He begins to yearn for what God is asking of him; and in this way makes God’s will for him the object of his prayer.

I give thanks to Jesus who makes my faith possible, my personal faithfulness, and the mission, apostolic work, in community: it is there where Christ comes to meet me, sharing the bread and in spite of my evident failures, it is amongst brothers who ask me for the love that I have for him; it is before the community of brothers that he entrusts the ministry to me. I make my life in community, then, the object of my giving praise to God.

I give thanks to the Lord Jesus who is interested in the love I show, to whom it is important that I 'love him more than others', who finds this out through his repeated questioning, who is not convinced by my protests that I love him, who obliges me to remind him of it, that he knows everything, and also knows of my love for him.

I thank my beloved Lord who sends me to look after his own, in his name and for love of him, who has shown me that the way to love him is to be with him, look after my brothers, guide them and give them repose and something to eat, live with them and be responsible for them. I thank him for letting me know that I owe myself to those he sent me: I do owe him the mission, because I love him.

I thank my beloved Lord for having told me that he wants of me, as I advance in age and ministry, a more intense witness, a more sacrifical surrender, a leaving of my life in the hands of others.

I thank my believed, my trusted, Lord that, at the end, he asks me to follow him: I thank him for commanding me, that my freedom is handed over, that it is not left to my own desires, that it is not entrusted entirely to my own will.

IV.Contemplate God who contemplates you:

how to see myself, my word, with the God’s eyes

Contemplation. The desire to do God’s will leads gradually and unconsciously to adoration, silence, praise and to “the poor and humble surrender to the loving will of the Father in ever deeper union with his beloved Son.”³. From the contemplation of ourselves and our own world in the light of God we pass to the contemplation of ourselves as God sees us, to know that we are in the presence of him who is the object of our desire, the sole focus of our prayer. As distinct from the preceding stages, which are activities that require a force of will, “contemplative prayer is a gift, a grace,”⁴ neither normal nor in any way our due; we can long for it, ask for it, and welcome it if it comes, but it is never automatic.

I let myself be invaded by the peace that comes to one who adores God, by the silence of one who knows himself to be in God's presence, by the wonder of being in the presence of the love God has for me. And I want to share his understanding of me, my world, the world of my heart, the mission that I am carrying out: I ask him for what I most want - to see myself as He sees me, to cherish myself as HE cherishes me.

I contemplate community life as God sees it: as his gift, as the place of personal encounter with Christ, as the centre for re-encountering my brothers and the mission.

I regard my life of relationship with Christ as a relationship with the love with which he seeks me out, that he wants from me: a greater, more intense love. How do I imagine, practically speaking, this love would be, sought so insistently, for Christ? What could he be asking me when he asks me to love him more than ever before?

I contemplate with Christ my apostolic ministry as the result and proof of the love that I have: the form - and the place - for loving Christ is the attention and care I have for my brothers. For mi there can be no other reason, no other motive possible.

I contemplate Christ who continues to count on me, who calls me to follow him, who considers me amongst his most intimate of friends. And I give thanks and ask for humility. Without words, I let myself be looked upon, looked after and loved by my Lord.

Juan J. Bartolomé

Hua Hin, 11 March 2005