September 25, 2023

John 21: 15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” . . . “Feed my lambs.” (NIV)

Jesus did not ask Peter if he loved His sheep, but if he loved Him. Affection for God’s people in itself will not sustain us. His sheep can be unresponsive, unappreciative, and harshly critical of our efforts to love and to serve them. In the end, we will find ourselves defeated and discouraged.*

From this passage, we might assume that it is not necessary, really, to love those unlovable sheep as long as we love the Lord. And we would be wrong. We can’t know all about Jesus based on one episode found in the gospels. But even in this single passage, Jesus recaps one of his most important lessons as taught at another time in another place. Matthew chapter 26, verses 34 through 40, records the incident in which the Pharisees thought to trick Jesus by asking, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Love me more than these.) And, to which Jesus added that the second greatest commandment is, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Feed my lambs.)

One commandment may be greater than the other but they are both commandments. Obedience to the one you love most requires that you love others – and increases your capacity to love them more deeply.

When will we live as if we know our ministries profit us nothing without love? When will we love as if it is the greatest commandment?*