{"id":601,"date":"2013-03-07T20:14:54","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T20:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/?page_id=601"},"modified":"2013-03-07T20:14:54","modified_gmt":"2013-03-07T20:14:54","slug":"c-3rd-sunday-of-easter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/homilies\/cycle-c-2\/c-3rd-sunday-of-easter\/","title":{"rendered":"C: 3rd Sunday of Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Accepting Second Best<\/h1>\n

April 18, 2010<\/h5>\n

John 21: 1 – 19<\/span><\/h3>\n

There is a powerful lesson in today\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 But it is difficult to spot because of the English translation of the Greek text of the scriptures. In English we use one word, \u201clove,\u201d for a number of different circumstances.\u00a0 But in Greek there are different words for different kinds of love.\u00a0 The Greek word <\/span>agape<\/i> describes the highest kind of love, a self giving love, a creative love, a love that is similar to the love of God.\u00a0 But Greek has another word, <\/span>philia<\/i>, to describe ordinary human love, the kind of love that we give to one another.\u00a0 Now there is nothing wrong with <\/span>philia<\/i>. Human love is a good thing. But it does not compare to the exalted status of <\/span>agape<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Three times in today\u2019s Gospel Jesus asks Peter, \u201cDo you love me?\u201d\u00a0 And three times Peter responds, \u201cLord you know I love you.\u201d\u00a0 But what we cannot hear in our English translation is that two different words are being used here for love.\u00a0 Basically what Jesus is asking of Peter is the highest form of love, <\/span>agape<\/i>.\u00a0 But what Peter is offering in return is ordinary human love, <\/span>philia<\/i>.\u00a0 If I was going to push this translation to catch this nuance it would go something like this.\u00a0 Jesus asks, \u201cSimon son of John, do you love me with the highest form of love?\u201d\u00a0 And Peter responds, \u201cLord I love you with ordinary love.\u201d\u00a0 Disappointed Jesus tries a second time.\u00a0 \u201cSimon, son of John, do you love me with the highest form of love. Peter responds again, \u201cLord, I love you with ordinary love.\u201d\u00a0 By this time it has become clear to Jesus that although he is asking the highest form of love from Peter what Peter is offering in return is only ordinary love.\u00a0 This sets the context for the important lesson that is present in this Gospel.\u00a0 Jesus asks a third time, and this time he does not use the word agape.\u00a0 This time he uses Peter\u2019s word for love.\u00a0 A third time Jesus says, \u201cSimon, son of John, so you love me with ordinary love?\u201d And Peter says, \u201cLord you know all things, you know that\u2019s the way I love you.\u201d\u00a0 Then Jesus says, \u201cFeed my sheep.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now the lesson that emerges from this interplay of Greek vocabulary is that Peter falls short of Jesus\u2019 expectation. But Jesus accepts Peter anyway and makes him the shepherd of the sheep.\u00a0 Jesus wanted the highest form of love from Peter, but Peter could only offer a lesser kind of love.\u00a0 But Jesus settles for second best. He still commissions Peter to be the leader of the early church.\u00a0 Of course Jesus is showing us the way that God loves us.\u00a0 God always calls us to more, always calls us to a higher level. But when we fall short, when we cannot reach that highest level, God accepts us anyway. God still commissions us to be disciples.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a very comforting message to us as we look at our own inadequacies.\u00a0 But from another perspective it is a challenging message, because the greatest commandment of the fourth Gospel is that we are to love one another as Christ has loved us.\u00a0 And if Christ has loved us even when we don\u2019t rise to the highest level of his expectation, then Jesus is asking us to love one another in that same way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How much frustration do we have in our life because the people in our life are not the people we want them to be.\u00a0 We want our leaders in the church and in government to be wise and to anticipate problems and to solve them before those problems hurt us.\u00a0 But very frequently those leaders fall short. \u00a0They get behind the curve and they appear confused or inadequate.\u00a0 We want our spouse to be understanding and attentive. But many times we experience him or her as harsh or preoccupied.\u00a0 We want our boss to be creative and flexible. But many times all that is asked of us is attention to routine detail. If only our children would be more motivated; if only our parents could be less stubborn; if only our friends would be on time.\u00a0 In matters large and small the people in our life often fall short of who we want them to be.\u00a0 And the message that comes to us from Jesus\u2019 action with Peter is that we are still to accept them as the people that they are.\u00a0 We are to love them for the goodness that they offer us rather than criticize them for the goodness that they lack.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now this does not mean that Jesus asks us to put up with anything, or that we should not hold people accountable, or that we should not challenge people to grow.\u00a0 But it does tell us is that when people love us, there is wisdom in accepting that love even if it is second best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a line from an old film, <\/span>Sunday Bloody Sunday,<\/i> where one lover tells another: \u201cI know I\u2019m not giving you what you want, but I\u2019m giving you what I have.\u201d\u00a0 In a way, that is what Peter says to Jesus in today\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not giving you the love you want but I\u2019m giving you the love I have.\u201d Jesus accepts that love and commissions Peter to feed his sheep.\u00a0 Jesus does that because that is the way Jesus loves us. That also is the way he wants us to love one another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Accepting Second Best April 18, 2010 John 21: 1 – 19 There is a powerful lesson in today\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 But it is difficult to spot because of the English translation of the Greek text of the scriptures. In English we use one word, \u201clove,\u201d for a number of different circumstances.\u00a0 But in Greek there are … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5879,"featured_media":0,"parent":583,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/601\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}