This is why, in our Gospel today, Jesus asks Simon Peter whether he loves him 3 times, giving him an opportunity to undo his rejection, giving him an opportunity to reverse his denial.
In fact, this is why Jesus doesn’t call him Peter, despite having already changed his name, instead, He calls him Simon-son-of-John, his full name before having become Peter. Jesus does this to give him another opportunity, to let him live the original mission for which Jesus called him, because that is what a name change means in the Bible, a call to a new mission, but, before doing so, Jesus needed to test him, He needed to see if Simon was worthy of the name Peter.
And while the question Jesus asks never changes, it seems as though each time He asks, He is asking for something more. As though each time He wants to underscore what He is saying, that what He is demanding of Simon Peter is not just an affirmation of his love, but something else as well.
That is why to truly understand what is happening here, we have to go to the Greek, the original language in which this Gospel was written. Because then we can understand the question better. Jesus asks: “Simon agapas me,” yet St. Peter’s response is philo se. In other words, St. Peter is saying, yes, I love you like a friend, philo se, but Jesus is asking for more, however, St. Peter is just not willing to give as completely as Jesus is asking.
Jesus has been asking him for a sacrificial love, agape, yet, St. Peter’s response has been with a love for a friend, but when Jesus comes down to his level, as it were, and asks him if he loves Him like a friend, philos se, it is then that St. Peter comes to realize the importance of the question, that Jesus is not asking him for just any love, He is asking him for the same love that He was willing to show to His disciples, a love that gives entirely of itself, a love that is, at heart, sacrificial.
And, history has shown that he has lived up to his new name, because not only did he preach a homily on Pentecost that converted 3,000, not only is he the first Pope, not only was he one of the 12 and the leader of the 12, when he was martyred, he requested to be crucified upside down, because he didn’t feel worthy to die in the same way as Christ. In fact, if you have noticed, our Paschal Candle is in honor of St. Peter, which is why there is an upside cross with keys overlaid on top.
So this fisherman, a Galilean, known to have a violent temper, gave his life for He who gave His life for him and is now just not known as the first Pope but also as a great saint of the Church.
And, while Jesus only needed to ask St. Peter this question three times, we might ask ourselves how often He asks it of us, and ask ourselves, too, how quickly we respond in the same way as St. Peter.
Because, like St. Peter it is not enough to say yes we love, it demands sacrifice, it demands that we show Him, like He did for us, the depths of that love for Him. So that when He poses that question in our own lives, as He often does, especially, in those challenges that come our way, we can’t just say: “Yes Lord, you know I love you.” We have to do what that demands, which might even be a greater challenge still, because we have to, as He also says: “Follow Him.”
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