and questioning the apostle Peter; and he obliges him three times to confess his
SERMON 229N
PREACHED ON THE SATURDAY OF THE EASTER OCTAVE
Date: after 410
Christ's questions to Peter about whether he loved him are addressed to us as well
1. Here is the Lord, again appearing to the disciples after the resurrection, and questioning the apostle Peter; and he obliges him three times to confess his love, because three times he had denied him through fear. Christ rose again in the flesh, and Peter in the spirit; because when Christ died in his passion, Peter died by his denial. Christ the Lord was raised from the dead; out of his love he raised Peter. He questioned him about the love he was confessing,1 and entrusted him with his sheep. After all, what benefit could Peter confer on Christ, by the mere fact of his loving Christ? If Christ loves you, it's to your advantage, not Christ's; and if you love Christ, it's to your advantage, not Christ's. And yet Christ the Lord wanted to indicate in what way people ought to indicate that they love Christ, and he made it plain enough by entrusting him with his sheep. Do you love me? I do. Feed my sheep (Jn 21:15-17). All this once, all this a second time, all this a third time. Peter made no other reply than that he loved him, the Lord asked no other question but whether he loved him; when he answered, he did nothing else but entrust his sheep to him.
Let us love each other, and we love Christ. Christ, you see, while always God, was bom a man in time. As a human being bom of a human being, he appeared as a man to men; he performed many miracles, as God in man; he suffered many evils, as man from men; he rose again after death, as God in man. He conversed for forty days on earth as man with men; before their very eyes he ascended into heaven, as God in man, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. All this we believe, we can't see; and we are commanded to love Christ the Lord, whom we can't see; and we all shout and say, "I love Christ." If you do not love the brother whom you can see, how can you love the God whom you cannot see? (1 Jn 4:20). By loving the sheep, show the love you have for the shepherd; because the very sheep themselves are members of the shepherd. In order that the sheep might be his members, he was prepared to be a sheep; that the sheep might be his members, like a sheep he was led to the slaughter (Is