April 14: Do You Love Me?
♫ Music:
Day 52 - Friday, April 14
Title: DO YOU LOVE ME?
Scripture: John 21:15–23
When they had finished breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others?” “Yes, Lord,” he replied, “you know that I am your friend.”
“Then feed my lambs,” returned Jesus. Then he said for the second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” returned Peter. “You know that I am your friend.”
“Then care for my sheep,” replied Jesus. Then for the third time, Jesus spoke to him and said, “Simon, son of John, are you my friend?” Peter was deeply hurt because Jesus’ third question to him was “Are you my friend?”, and he said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I am your friend!”
“Then feed my sheep,” Jesus said to him. “I tell you truly, Peter, that when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you liked, but when you are an old man, you are going to stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and take you where you do not want to go.”
(He said this to show the kind of death—by crucifixion—by which Peter was going to honour God.) Then Jesus said to him, “You must follow me.”
Then Peter turned round and noticed the disciple whom Jesus loved following behind them. (He was the one who had his head on Jesus’ shoulder at supper and had asked, “Lord, who is the one who is going to betray you?”) So he said, “Yes, Lord, but what about him?”
“If it is my wish,” returned Jesus, “for him to stay until I come, is that your business, Peter? You must follow me.”
This gave rise to the saying among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet, of course, Jesus did not say, “He will not die,” but simply, “If it is my wish for him to stay until I come, is that your business?”
Poetry & Poet:
“The Real Work”
by Wendell Berry
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
DO YOU LOVE ME?
Simon Peter was a natural born leader—strong, determined, bold. Peter had good intentions as many of us do. Throughout Christ’s public ministry, he impulsively responded to the Lord, often not realizing fully what he was saying or doing until Christ’s clarifying admonitions corrected him. During the Gethsemane arrest and ensuing trials, Simon Peter’s denial of Christ shows us how galvanizing fear and human weakness can derail even the most determined faith. In this concluding narrative of John’s Gospel, Peter has an extraordinary encounter with the Lord of Glory, who transforms him from Simeon the Fisherman into Peter the Rock.
“Even though they all fall away, I will not,” Peter declared to Christ on the night the Savior was betrayed. Essentially, he was claiming to love Christ more than the other disciples. Now on a beautiful post-resurrection morning in front of these very same colleagues, Jesus has a critical conversation with Peter that resumes where the two left off on that fateful night in the upper room. Christ wastes no time in asking the most consequential question ever, “Do you really love me more than your fellow disciples love me?” How could Peter possibly know? Yet, more than rebuking Peter, Christ is appealing to his heart. Christ seems to be saying, “Stop comparing yourself to the others. Am I the recipient of your deepest affections?” John’s account implies that Christ is asking each of us that same question. Myriad things vie for our devotion in this earthly existence and Christ is probing, “Am I first in your life or am I somewhere down the list of the things that you cherish most?
Peter responds, “I love you with brotherly affection, you are my friend.” When Christ asks a second time, he replies, “Lord you know I’m fond of you.” It seems that Peter’s usual, machismo enthusiasm has suddenly been tempered by this interchange and replaced with a more sober, realistic acknowledgement of his failures and ensuing confusion––uncertainties Wendell Berry so beautifully lays out in today’s poem. A third and final time Christ asks, “Peter, are you my friend?” By this point Peter is feeling pretty beat up. It appears that the Great Physician is performing open heart surgery on him right there at the beach. Christ the Healer knows what he is doing. Scholars agree that the Lord’s intention in his three-fold questioning was to heal Peter’s threefold denial. In the end Peter acknowledges that Christ knows him much better than he knows himself. Dr. Steven Lawson says, “No matter how strong we think our love for Christ is, it’s usually weaker than we realize.”
Wendell Berry writes, “When we no longer know which way to go, we have come to our real journey.” Impatient Peter not knowing what else to do, talked his buddies into going fishing. Hours later he is embarking on the most unbelievable journey of his life as Christ’s emissary. The Lord commissions Peter with two commands: “feed my lambs––take care of my sheep––shepherd my flock” and “follow me.” The great Renaissance painter, Raphael captures the scene in his cartoon, Feed My Sheep (a painted sketch used as a guide for a tapestry designed for the Sistine Chapel). Peter kneels in humility before Christ, holding the “keys of the kingdom.” The other disciples seem to be questioning the Lord’s wisdom in singling Peter out. Raphael captures the rivalry of the moment as they rush to voice their concerns. Yet, we know that God always chooses the most unlikely places and people to accomplish his work. In the scene Raphael conflates Matthew 16 and John 21 to create an unforgettable visual experience.
Loving Christ is a prerequisite for following Christ. His great commandment, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” is the motivating force that empowers all discipleship. Isaac Watts’ great hymn echoes this injunction, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” “Follow me” is the Lord’s most repeated invitation, but it is a costly one. It costs everything to love and follow Christ. It means death to everything in this life we cling to and don’t want to let go of. To put the things of this world behind us, and the cross before us is impossible without our Savior’s moment by moment, divine intervention. “‘When you are an old man, you are going to stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and take you where you do not want to go’ (Christ said this to show the kind of death––by crucifixion––by which Peter was going to honor God.) Then Jesus said to him, ‘You must follow me.’” Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to die in the same manner Christ had died. With each ensuing year, Christian martyrdom is becoming more and more commonplace throughout our world. Is it possible that some of us will be called upon to join the ranks of those who have suffered and died for the sake of Christ? More love to Thee O Christ, more love to Thee!
Prayer
Lord,
May I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing You. For Your sake may I be willing to suffer the loss of all things, counting everything as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. I long to be found in You not having a righteousness of my own, but a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God. I want to really know You and the power of Your resurrection, that I might be willing to share in Your sufferings, and become like You in Your death, so that by any means possible I may gain the resurrection from the dead. Lord, I love You!
Amen.
–––Philippians 3: 8-11
Barry Krammes
Artist
Professor Emeritus, Art Department
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab
About the Translation of the Bible for the 2023 Lent Project:
J.B. Phillips New Testament Translation of the Bible
J.B. Phillips (1906-1982) was well-known within the Church of England for his commitment to making the message of truth relevant to today's world. Phillips' translation of the New Testament brings home the full force of the original message. The New Testament in Modern English was originally written for the benefit of Phillips' youth group; it was later published more widely in response to popular demand. The language is up-to-date and forceful, involving the reader in the dramatic events and powerful teaching of the New Testament. It brings home the message of Good News as it was first heard two thousand years ago.
https://www.biblegateway.com/
About the Artwork:
Christ's Charge to Peter (Feed My Sheep)
Raphael
1515
Oil on canvas
137 x 206 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum
London, England
This work by Renaissance artist Raphael is a preparatory cartoon for a tapestry design. The commission was a novel combination of painting by an Italian Renaissance master with craftsmanship from the leading center for weaving, Flanders in Northern Europe. The scene is set at the shore of the Sea of Galilee, with the excited disciples greeting the risen Jesus on the shore. Peter is kneeling before Jesus, who points to him with his left hand while also gesturing to the sheep grazing in the background with his right. It is here that Jesus commissions Peter to provide and tend to the spiritual oversight and care of God’s people.
https://seeinggodinart.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/feed-my-sheep/
About the Artist:
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (1483–1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the high Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of the human form. Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and, despite his early death at thirty-seven, leaving a large and impressive body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the largest body of work of his career. His best-known work is The School of Athens. After his early years in Rome, much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. After his death, the influence of his great rival Michelangelo was more widespread until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when Raphael's more serene and harmonious qualities were again highly regarded.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael
About the Music: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” from the album St. Olaf Choir, Great Hymns of Faith, Vol. 1
Lyrics:
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride
Where every realm of nature mine My gift was still be far too small Love so amazing, so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all
About the Composer:
English hymn writer Isaac Watts (1674–1748), known as “The Father of Hymns,” wrote over seven hundred and fifty hymns of praise to God during his life. Many of these still remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages.“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” was first published in 1707 by Watts. This classic hymn has often been called the greatest hymn in the English language. A contemporary of Watts said, “There may be a few others equally great, but there is none greater.” Watts based his hymn on Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/poets/isaac-watts.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts
About the Performers with Anton Armstrong conducting:
The St. Olaf Choir, with seventy-five mixed voices, is a premier a cappella choir in the United States. For over a century, the choir has set a standard of choral excellence and remained at the forefront of choral artistry. Conducted since 1990 by Anton Armstrong, the St. Olaf Choir has set a standard in the choral art, serving as a model for choirs of all levels. The ensemble’s annual tour brings its artistry and message to thousands of people across the nation and around the world. The St. Olaf Choir has undertaken international tours and performed for capacity audiences in the major concert halls of Norway, France, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and the Twin Cities.
https://wp.stolaf.edu/choir/
Anton Armstrong
The 2023 season is Anton Armstrong’s 33rd year conducting the St. Olaf Choir, marking him the longest tenured conductor in the ensemble’s storied history. Armstrong, who is the Tosdal Professor of Music and conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, has led the ensemble since 1990. Under his leadership and vision, the choir has remained a pacesetter in performing a varied program that remains committed to music of the sacred realm while welcoming new and multicultural perspectives from composers around the world. In addition Armstrong teaches conducting, choral pedagogy, and vocal performance courses. He is the artistic director of the St. Olaf Christmas Festival, an event featuring more than five hundred student musicians. A graduate of St. Olaf College and the American Boychoir School, he has earned advanced degrees at the University of Illinois (MM) and Michigan State University (DMA). His honors include the 2006 Robert Frost Cherry Award for Great Teaching from Baylor University and a Distinguished Alumni Award from Michigan State.
https://wp.stolaf.edu/choir/history/conductor/
About the Poetry and Poet:
Wendell Erdman Berry (b. 1934) is an American novelist, poet, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer who was educated at the University of Kentucky, where he became distinguished professor of English in 1971. The intensity of his writing’s involvement with the human and natural characters of his native locality has gained Berry recognition as one of the leading writers of the twentieth century. A prolific author, he has written many novels, short stories, poems, and essays. He is an advocate of Christian pacifism, as shown in his book Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Christ’s Teachings About Love, Compassion and Forgiveness. He states that the theme in his writing is “that all people in the society should be able to use the gifts that they have, their natural abilities, and they ought to use them responsibly for their benefit as individuals and as a community.” Berry was named the recipient of the 2013 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, an annual US literary award recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wendell-Berry
About Devotion Author:
Barry Krammes
Artist
Professor Emeritus, Art Department
Biola University
Artist and educator Barry Krammes (b. 1951) received his B.F.A. in printmaking and drawing from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and his M.F.A. in two-dimensional studies from University of Wisconsin, Madison. For thirty-five years, he was employed at Biola University in La Mirada, California, where he was the art chair for fifteen years. Krammes is an assemblage artist whose work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions, regionally and nationally. His work can be found in various private collections throughout the United States and Canada. He has taught assemblage seminars at Image Journal’s annual Glen Summer Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Krammes has served as the visual arts coordinator for the C. S. Lewis Summer Institute in Cambridge, England, and has been the program coordinator for both Biola University’s annual arts symposium and the Center for Christianity Culture and the Arts for several years. He has also been the editor of CIVA: Seen Journal for Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA), a national arts organization. For the last five years of his time at Biola, he was the planning coordinator for the CCCA. Krammes was the originator of the CCCA’s Advent and Lent Projects.