Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord . . . you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

— John 21:17

Recently I recalled the day my husband asked me to marry him. We were both students and had come from different backgrounds. We talked about questions like “What is love?” and “How do we know if we’re in love?” and “What would it look like if we decided to make this relationship permanent?” For me, coming from a long background of faith and solid examples of strong marriage made it easy for me to say that I loved him. For him, coming from a few years of faith and not so solid relationships made it harder to trust a longtime commitment. But we knew we had faith and a choice to try. And for over 44 years we have offered each other the best of ourselves.

Jesus’ question to Peter was about deep commitment. And Peter was probably feeling a mix of emotions as he stood on the beach facing Jesus that day. Peter had denied Jesus three times (John 18:17, 25-27), and yet there in front of him was the one who had defeated death. And now Jesus was asking the hard question: “Do you love me?” Of course Peter loved him, but Jesus wasn’t asking for a simple relationship. He was asking Peter if he was ready, no matter what the cost, to bring the good news about him to people who hadn’t heard it.

What is your answer to Jesus’ question?

Lord, thank you for loving us. Help us today to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to share the good news about you everywhere. Amen.