How Much Do You Love Jesus? Show Him

A sermon based on John 21:1-19
by Will Humes

John, chapter twenty, which is right before our reading this morning, ends with verses 30 and 31,
which read:
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples,
which are not written in this book;
but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you may have life in his name.”

These verses provide a logical conclusion to John’s gospel.
Nothing more remains to be said, it would seem.
But then we have a whole other chapter tacked on after this.
Those who study the scripture tell us that chapter 21 is an addition to the gospel - an epilogue.
Now an epilogue is something added to the conclusion of a story,
the purpose of which is to complete some lines of thought or ideas or a narrative strand left unfinished.

And this got to to wondering what would have caused John to take up his pen and write another chapter to his book,
after he thought he had finished it.
What else needed to be said?
What story had he left out?
And the answer to that question for me has to do with Jesus and Peter and their conversation about love.

Of course, compared to the other gospel writers,
John has already written about love more than the rest combined.
His gospel is full of passages about love.
John 3:16 tells us about God’s love:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 5:20 tells us that God the Father loves his son, Jesus Christ.
John 11 tells us about Jesus great love for his friend Lazarus.
Upon seeing Jesus weep,
some of those gathered said to each other:
“See how much he loved Lazarus!”
And John 13: 34-35 recounts Jesus’ love for us, and his commandment to us, as his followers, to love one another:
“A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another; even as I have loved you.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.”

And, of course, Jesus death on the cross,
readily shows his great love for the world,
and not just for his followers and friends then,
but for all people of all times and places.
So, having told us already that God loves us, Jesus loves us, and that we should love one another.
We might be wondering by now what more John can possibly say about love.
What else is there for him to add?

The what else is this:
What about our love for God?
What about our love for the one sent by God, Jesus the Christ?
No gospel is complete,
no story is finished,
no talk about love can be concluded,
without speaking about our love for Christ, our love for God.
This is the unfinished part,
and this is what prompts John to take pen in hand and write his epilogue.
John remembered a conversation Jesus once had with Peter,
and he especially remembered the question Jesus asked;
the question - “Do you love me?”

Do you love me?
What a powerful question.
It’s a question that’s been the source of a multitude of stories,
books, plays and poems.
Thousands, perhaps millions of songs have been written and sung about this question and the answers it engenders.
Hearts have soared to new heights,
life has taken on new meaning,
and hope has blossomed and flourished when the answer to this question is yes, I love you.
Hearts have been broken, crushed,
lives have virtually ended,
and hopes have been shattered when the answer is no.

It is said that young Mozart was driven to ask everyone the same question of everyone he met.
The question: “Do you love me?”
And it is this question that Jesus asked Peter,
and it is asked of every person who claims to follow in Peter footsteps and be a disciple of Christ.

And I am sure that almost everyone here would answer this question in the affirmative.
Just as Peter did.
Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
But then there is a follow-up to our answer,
If you love me, Jesus says, then show me.
And that, my friends, is the tricky part.
It is easy to profess our love,
It is far more difficult to live out of love.

I remember a discussion in a class at Seminary once.
The professor was asking the class how you knew if another person loved you.
“How do you know that he or she loves you?” he asked.
They may say they love you,
they may shout it from the rooftop,
they may take an ad out in the paper,
but how can you really know?”

Getting no answers from this supposedly bright class,
the professor answered the question himself,
“You know that someone loves you, he said, “by what they do.”
And in the case of love,
actions really do speak louder than words.

This reminds me of the Broadway musical and later Hollywood film called My Fair Lady.
As the scenes unfold Eliza becomes more and more frustrated about a paramour, who though he speaks of love,
is reticent to show his affection.
The music wells up in the background,
and we know a song is on the way.
Eliza then exclaims:
Words! Words! Words! I’m so sick of words!
I get words all day through;
First from him, now from you!
Is that all you blighters can do?
Don’t talk of stars burning above;
If you’re in love, Show me!
Tell me no dreams filled with desire.
If you’re on fire, Show me!
Here we are together in the middle of the night!
Don’t talk of spring! Just hold me tight!
Anyone who’s ever been in love’ll tell you that
This is no time for a chat!

Haven’t your lips longed for my touch?
Don’t say how much, Show me! Show me!
Don’t talk of love lasting through time.
Make me no undying vow. Show me now!
Sing me no song! Read me no rhyme!
Don’t waste my time, Show me!
Don’t talk of June, Don’t talk of fall!
Don’t talk at all! Show me!

Never do I ever want to hear another word.
There isn’t one I haven’t heard.
Here we are together in what ought to be a dream;
Say one more word and I’ll scream!
Haven’t your arms hungered for mine?
Please don’t “expl’ine,” Show me! Show me!
Don’t wait until wrinkles and lines
Pop out all over my brow,
Show me now!

We only know that love is true and real if the one who claims to loves us, shows us his or her by what he or she does.

And that brings us back to Peter and Jesus.
Just imagine them there on the shore of Lake Galilee.
The disciples have finished eating the breakfast Jesus had fixed for them.
and Jesus and Peter decide to take a stroll by the lake.
As they are walking Jesus stops and turns to Peter and asks him,
using Peter’s real name:
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

Imagine what might thoughts might have went through Peter’s mind.
“Do I love you more than these?
What does he mean?
Is he asking me if I am prepared to give up my livelihood as a fisherman?
Is he asking me if I love him more than my friends love him?
Or is he asking if I love him more than I love my friends?
Why in God’s name is Jesus asking me this?
And why is he calling me Simon?
After all, he gave me the name Peter, the rock.
He called me the rock.
Now I know I was anything but a rock during his trial and crucifixion - so maybe he is chiding me for my failures.
I don’t know.
I just don’t know.
But I do know that I love him,
and in spite of all evidence to the contrary,
I love him more than anything or anyone else.”
And so Peter gave a simple answer,
“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

And Jesus replied, “Feed my lambs.”

And then Jesus asked Peter again,
“Simon, son of John, Do you love me?”
And again Peter replied,
perhaps with growing concern,
“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
And again Jesus replied,
“Tend my sheep.”

And then for a third time, Jesus asked,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter, by now distressed that Jesus had asked not once or twice, but three times, answered,
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
And again Jesus replied,
“Feed my sheep.”

Of course, we all know that it was three times Peter had denied knowing Jesus on that cold, dark night of betrayal a few weeks before..
And now three times Jesus has asked his question about love,
and in reply to Peter’s answer,
Jesus has also told him three times to take care of his sheep,
his lambs, his followers.

In other words, Jesus is telling Peter that if Peter really loves him, then he will show his love by what he does.
Peter will show his love by giving his life to tending the lambs and sheep of Jesus’ flock.
As William Barclay points out in his commentary on this passage:
“We can only prove that we love Jesus by loving others.”

And, of course, this is what Peter did with the rest of his life.
From that moment on the beach to his death,
Peter showed his love by doing all that Jesus had asked him.
And when he came to the end,
Peter, like Jesus whom he loved so much,
was able to give even his life as a sacrifice of his love.
Peter, through his life, showed to Jesus and to the world the truth behind his claim to love Jesus.
In fact, I would say that in his life,
Peter actually showed Jesus himself to those around him,

The truth behind what I am saying is simply this:
We become what we love.
If we look lovingly at anything for long enough,
we take on its characteristics.
It is said that our faces are maps of our living and loving.
And I think there is something in this.

It is often said, for instance,
that people seem to resemble their pets.
And, on a more serious note, a husband and wife who have loved each other for a long time begin to look like each other.
That’s why we must be careful who or what we love,
for we take on it’s appearance.

And so I ask you,
“Who or what do people see when they look at you?”
Do they see Jesus, or do they see someone else?
Do they see Christ’s love, or do they see something else?

And we have to be careful who or what we love,
because our loving determines our living.
And to truly love,
to love as Jesus loved,
to love as Jesus would have us love,
means to give one’s self away.
To give without counting the cost,
as God has given to us.
It is easy to sing the words, “Oh how I love Jesus.”
It is much, much harder to live out your love.

But that is where the power of the resurrection comes in.
Olive Burns, in her novel Cold Sassy Tree has one of the characters in her book ask his grandfather about Jesus rising from the dead.

“Gosh Grandpa, You mean you don’t Jesus rose from the dead?”

“I’m a sayin thet did he or didn’t he ain’t important son.
What’s important is thet when the spirit-a Jesus Christ come down on them disciples later,
they quit settin round a-moanin and a-tremblin,
and got to work,
They wairn’t scairt no more,
and the words they said and the things they did had fire in’m.
Compared to a miracle like thet,
Jesus rollin’ back a dang rock and flyin off to heaven ain’t nothin.

and thet same miracle is still a happenin right here in Cold Sassy, in July of nineteen aught-six.
A crippled person or a invalid, or the meanest thief of most despairin misfit,
why, if can ketch aholt of the spirit of Jesus Christ,
he can quit bein scairt and be like risin from the dead.
Once his soul gits cured,
no matter what his body’s like,
why he can start a new life.

Through Jesus Christ we already have new life,
and because of this when he asks us,
“Do you love me?”
We can answer,
“Yes, Lord, you know we love you.
You have given us all that have and made us who we are.
Our lives are yours. Of course we love you.”
And we can truthfully say this because we know that through Jesus Christ and his continuing presence with us,
we have the strength to live out our love,
no matter what it entails.

This morning, Jesus asks all of us a question,
a simple question: Do you love me?
If our answer is yes,
yes, Lord, we love you,
then we have no choice but to show him,
to show him our love through our words, yes,
but even more importantly, by what we do.

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