Father Thomas Welbers' Homily	Jump back to Homily Index
Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, June 29, 2003 Acts 12:1-11 2 Timothy 4:6-9, 17-19 John 21:15-19 (Vigil)	Listen to Audio

Three times Jesus asked Peter that question, “Do you love me?” Of course, the parallel is very obvious. Just a couple of days before, Peter had denied him three times. He had said vehemently, and even cursed and swore, “ I do not know him!” And Jesus was responding to that threefold denial by expecting of him a threefold affirmation of love.

Now, when Peter denied even knowing Jesus, did he do it because he hated Jesus? I don’t think so. In fact, I have often maintained that the opposite of love is not hatred – I think hatred is really, in some ways, a very disordered form of love, but I don’t think it’s the opposite of it. What is the opposite of love? I have sometimes said that it is indifference – not caring, pretending that the other person doesn’t even exist. And certainly, that’s what Peter did, when he denied Jesus. He pretended that he didn’t exist – for him, at that moment. Why did he do that? I think the answer to that question may be the real opposite of love – and the answer is obvious: fear.

In this connection, it’s important to note that one of the things that Jesus so very often tells his followers is, “Don’t be afraid. Do not fear.” The other thing he so often tells his followers is, “If you expect to be forgiven, forgive.” And of course the corollary to that is, “Love your enemies.” Don’t just love those it’s easy to love. Love those it’s hard to love – that is the proof of your love. And so, in this threefold question, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Jesus is responding to that fear that blocks out love.

Now, it becomes increasingly evident how God’s ways are certainly not our ways. Our ways are to divide the world into those that we love and those we don’t love – those we are afraid of, those that we think will harm us. And Jesus command of forgiveness and love challenges that division right to its very heart. And he tells us, if you are truly going to my followers, don’t follow the ways of the world. Forgive your enemies; love those who hate you.

Note how another aspect of God’s ways is played out in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Herod was seeking to please his political constituency, who were the powerful Jewish leaders with whom he had to stay on their good side. So that’s why he went after this new group who were followers of the crucified one. He arrests one of them, James, and has him put to death. He sees, aha! – this is making my supporters happy,. So he arrests Simon Peter, who was the head honcho of those Christians in Jerusalem.

But he arrests Peter on the day before Passover. But according to the Jewish law, nobody could be brought to trial or executed during the week of Passover. It was certainly obvious that Peter was destined for execution, just as James had been put to death, but he had to stay in jail for a week to await that fate. Notice what God does – he leaves Peter to sit in jail for that whole week, and rescues him only the night before he was to be brought to trial and probably executed. What did God expect of Peter and the early church during that time. Well, prayer – which they did – and patience. Let God’s time prevail, not “my time.” God’s time was different from what we would want. Do we want it our way, or do we allow God to have it his way?

God intervenes sometimes in unexpected, often unwelcome ways, and frequently puts the impossible before us to do – like the challenge to forgive those who have hurt us deeply. If we are really serious about following Christ in his mission, we often are called to step into what otherwise would seem completely impossible – like finding ways to love our enemies that we would never otherwise dream of. Why is that? I think the reason, if we think about, it is fairly obvious: God wants us to acknowledge that God is in charge, and our main mission is not to show how hard we are working for God, but to be a clear sign of God’s lordship. When we try to be in charge, we don’t make room for God.

We often see this only by hindsight – after we have already, as Paul says in the second reading, “run the race. Only when we let God lead us where we don’t want to go, can we clearly discern the hand of God, making possible what we thought impossible, being present even when we felt abandoned. Only when we submit to love, even when it hurts, can we really begin to imitate Jesus the Good Shepherd, to feed his lambs, to tend his sheep – to love one another as he has loved us.

© Thomas Welbers, 2003