“DO  YOU  LOVE  ME  MORE  THAN  THESE?”

By Dean Beaty   3/4/08

 

Peter had done an awful thing when he denied the Lord.

But he had sorrowed more than most, with bitter tears outpoured.

And now the question Jesus asked could make one’s heart beat freeze.

Here is the question Jesus asked, “Do you love me more than these?”

 

To what Christ pointed we don’t know.  It isn’t real plain.

It could have been the fish they caught or the profit they would gain.

Perhaps it was his friends nearby, comparing him to them.

What e’er the point of Christ’s intent, Peter was out on a limb.

 

He could not bluff his way through this.  The truth he must impart.

For Jesus knew him through and through, for Jesus knew his heart.

And even in his answer, he acknowledged this was true.

So he answered the best he could.  “You know that I love you.”

 

But Jesus wasn’t finished yet, twice more Christ asked anew.

Peter’s concern was growing fast, “You know that I love you.”

The soul of Peter had now been reached.  His heart had been stirred deep.

The Lord again commissioned him to “GO AND FEED MY SHEEP.”