Acts: 25: 13b-21 / Psalm 103 / John 21: 15-19
The two readings for mass today are direct opposites from each other. The first reading shows how the secular world treats people who have sinned against them. The Gospel today shows how Christ treats those who have sinned against him. As Catholics, we should always try to model our lives after Jesus Christ. There is no other role model, guide or teacher for our lives that can be counted on to be genuine, true and holy. In the Gospel today, Jesus told Peter “Follow Me” and we should take his words to heart as well.
But, in the first reading today, the chief priests and Jewish elders brought accusations against Paul in the same way they did Jesus, seeking his condemnation too. This seems like a vaguely familiar scene because Festus, like Caesar before him, was reluctant to condemn a man strictly over a religious dispute. No law had actually been broken. It seems like the same sequence of events that occurred with Jesus, was being set in motion again by the chief priests and elders. They put Jesus to death for breaking their law and Paul was headed down the same path that Jesus trod too, if the Jewish authorities had anything to say about it.
However, if you contrast how the chief priests and elders treated Paul, with how Jesus treated Peter in today’s Gospel, there is a striking difference.
Jesus knew full well the guilt that Peter carried inside of him, because he betrayed Jesus three times, when he denied knowing him the night that Jesus was arrested. Jesus did not want Peter to live with this the rest of his life though. This in itself directly contradicts how most of the secular world treats people who have mistreated or wronged them. Most of us at the very least demand an apology and whether we get one or not, we will often remember what they did to us for a long time afterward. It may never be forgotten, or at best it is forgotten after many months.
But Christ approaches this whole thing in a completely different manner. He wants to heal Saint Peter. He didn’t ask for an apology, or ask him why he denied him three times, it didn’t matter. Jesus understood his human weakness and did not hold it against him or cause the Lord to love Peter any less. However, the matter remained that this event lay between them unresolved.
So, Jesus addressed Peter three times asking him “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter of course answered “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” When Jesus addressed him after each question, the Lord said:
If you notice, Jesus didn’t just say “feed my lambs” three times. Each thing that Jesus told him to do was slightly different. The Lord gave Saint Peter a way to redeem himself or set things right again between them. For each time Peter denied him, Christ gave him what we can relate to as a penance. A good penance assigned by a priest in confession gives the penitent a way to heal the wounds of sin after they have been forgiven. What a shame that more priests do not understand the infinitely precious value of a good penance given for the atonement of a person’s sin.
In this case, Jesus not only gave Peter a way to atone for his sins by denying him three times, but Christ showed Peter that for each time that he denied him, the Lord trusted Peter to care for his people after he was gone. In modern times this might be similar to catching a family member stealing money from you and then later when you are sure they are sorry for what they did, to trust that person with your money again. Except in this case, Christ founded his entire church on Peter, a sinner, and there was a very good reason for this. For all time Christ’s people will know that his church was founded on the forgiveness of sin. He founded his church on a sinner, not the most religious or pious or perfect or holiest person in the world, but a sinner.
Jesus forgave Peter and redeemed Peter and founded his church on the forgiveness of sin, for all of us to truly understand that Christ came into the world to forgive our sins as well.
The Holy Catholic Church isn’t a shrine to saints. It is a hospital for sinners.
