Déjà Vu All Over Again
Acts 5:27b-32; Revelation 5:11-14; John 2:1-19
After being frustrated by the rain delay that interrupted the Yankees game the other night, I decided that I’d pop into my DVD player the movie “61,” which is about the rivalry between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961 to break the single season homerun record. As I watched the movie, I was reminded of all of the great players over the years who have worn Yankee pinstripes, from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, to Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, all the way to Derek Jeter today. And when I first read today’s gospel earlier in the week to prepare my homily, believe it or not, another Yankee great came to mind: Yogi Berra. Yogi, I think, is probably the only player in the history of the game who will probably be remembered, not so much for what he did on the field, but for what he said off the field: those innocent little remarks that just don’t seem to come out right. “Yogi-isms they’re affectionately called.
For example, one day while Yogi was showering in his Montclair home, his son Larry called into him: “Hey Dad, the man is here for the Venetian blind.” Yogi, thinking that the “Venetian blind” was a charitable organization to help blind people in Venice, called back, “Well, go in my pocket and give him a couple bucks for a donation and get rid of him!” Another time, Mary Lindsay, the wife of then New York Mayor John Lindsay, commented to Yogi that he looked cool despite the heat, to which Yogi replied, “Thanks . . . You don’t look so hot either.” And one day while driving with Yogi, a concerned Phil Rizzuto commented, “Hey Yogi, I think we’re lost.” Yogi answered, “Yeah, but we’re making great time!”
But the Yogi-ism that came to mind as I first read today’s gospel was: “It’s déjà vu all over again” because what struck me about today’s gospel from John, which takes place after Jesus’ resurrection, is that it is so reminiscent of a passage from Luke’s Gospel that takes place at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. A very similar scenario to today’s gospel: Peter is fishing in the Sea of Tiberias with no success. Jesus tells him to lower his nets one more time, and it results in a catch so large that the nets are to the point of tearing. And both gospels end with Jesus’ call: “Come follow me.” Once I recognized the similarities in these two gospels I began to wonder: why did Jesus bring Peter back to the same place, to the same set of circumstances? Why did Jesus find it necessary to renew, at this time, the same invitation to “come follow” that he gave Peter three years earlier?
I think the answer to these questions might be connected in some way to the three times Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” Traditionally, it has been suggested, that these three questions are put to Peter because of the three times he denied Jesus. I don’t know if I’m really comfortable with this explanation because, it seems to me, that Peter’s denial of Jesus wasn't just limited to the three times he denied him after Jesus was arrested, but his denials are there, subtly and implicitly, throughout the gospels. And so, perhaps, Jesus requires a new commitment on the part of Peter because of all that has transpired over those three years since his first invitation to come follow him.
I’ve always found the repetition of the same question three times by Jesus baffling. But perhaps it’s not the same question at all. Maybe Jesus was asking Peter three altogether different questions. Luke's gospel provides us with what Jesus said, but it can’t address how he said it. So I wonder if the first time Jesus might have asked, “Peter, do YOU love me?” And the second time, “Peter, do you LOVE me?” And the third time, “Peter, do you love ME?”
When Jesus asks Peter, “Do YOU love me?” perhaps it’s meant to address Peter’s rejection of Jesus’ view of discipleship. So many times throughout his ministry, Jesus spelled out the conditions for discipleship: things like “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” “Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.” And at the Last Supper, Jesus gives a final and most vivid example of what discipleship is all about when he washes the feet of his disciples. But when he comes to Peter, Peter says, “Lord you will never wash my feet.” He says this I think because he realizes, even before Jesus explains what he has done, the implication of the act: that if Jesus, the Master and teacher serves, that necessitates that Peter do the same. “Peter, do YOU love me?” is a call to discipleship, which is always a personal and individual call that demands a personal and individual response. Peter’s answer, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you” is Peter’s ultimate personal acceptance of not only Jesus’ call, but also to all that discipleship demands: a total and complete life of service to others.
And then Jesus asks, “Do you LOVE me?” Jesus taught that no greater love is there than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. And at the Last Supper, Peter brags that that is precisely the type of love he has for Jesus. “Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you,” he proclaims. But we know that same night Peter denies having any intimacy with Jesus; he denies even knowing him. And so, perhaps Jesus’ second question, “Do you LOVE me?” comes in response to Peter’s rejection of the personal, intimate relationship of love that Jesus offers. That invitation is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind” . . . more than things . . . more than others . . . more than self. And so, Peter’s response, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you” is Peter’s admission that love is more than just words, and is the complete and unconditional gift of self to God.
And then finally Jesus asks, “Do you love ME?” Perhaps what prompts this third question is the time when Peter rejected Jesus’ view of his messiahship when he revealed that “the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed.” We are told that after Jesus said this, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, to which Jesus responded, “Get behind me Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” It is not that Peter doesn’t know who the messiah is (he proclaimed Jesus to be the messiah just a few moments before). It’s that Peter has a misconception of what it means to be messiah and cannot accept Jesus’ vision. And so, after his resurrection, when Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love ME?” Peter’s response, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you” is an affirmation that he is now willing to accept Jesus according to Jesus’ own terms; to accept him as he is, for whom he is, for what he came to be, the Suffering Servant.
And so, in today’s gospel, Jesus brings Peter to the same place, to the same set of circumstances, to the same call to “Come follow me” as he did three years before. With Jesus’ initial call, Peter didn’t know what he was in for. His response was a pure leap of faith into the unknown. But now, the cards are on the table. This time, Peter realizes all the implications. And so the renewed call to come follow is one that will involve more than just faith. It will demand Peter’s trust and his total love. This call by Jesus is more than just a call to discipleship, it’s a call to ministry. He doesn't just call him to be a “fisher of men,” as he did three years before, but to be a shepherd, a leader of his flock. Jesus instructs him, “Feed my sheep.”
The same three questions asked of Peter, Jesus poses to us today. Are we for Christ? Are we comfortable with our discipleship of service? Do we put him and his kingdom first? Do we love him more than anything else? Do we accept Jesus for who he is, or do we distort our image of Christ into what we want him to be? Jesus asks each of us, “Do you love me? Come follow me.” And so, today, like Peter, let us renew our commitment to discipleship. Like Peter, let us realize that discipleship is more than a call to someTHING; it is a call to someONE. And like Peter, let us realize that the call to discipleship is ongoing, that it is the invitation to hear Christ’s voice and discern his will each and every day of our lives.
Because, as Yogi would say, "It ain’t over till it’s over.”
