Sermon 229P

Sermon 229/P

On the Love of Peter

The Church is built upon the confession of Peter.

These things are read according to the evangelist John, which took place after the resurrection of the Lord. Among them, this was read today: how the Lord asked the apostle Peter whether he loved Him more than the others. In this Peter, remember the rock. For he is the one who, when the Lord asked who the disciples thought He was, responded: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Upon hearing this, Jesus said to him: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I say to you - as if He said, "You have said to Me, I say to you." What? - You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. We see in Peter the commended rock. The Apostle Paul, however, says of the earlier people: They drank from the spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ. Therefore, this disciple from the rock is Peter, just as from Christ there is a Christian. Why did I want to preface these things? So that I may commend to you the Church to be recognized in Peter. For Christ did not build the Church upon a man, but upon Peter's confession. What is Peter’s confession? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Behold the rock, behold the foundation, behold where the Church is built, which the gates of hell do not overcome. What are the gates of hell if not the pride of heretics?

Peter is questioned by the Lord after the resurrection.

Therefore this Peter, bearing such a role as I have commended to you, is questioned by the Lord after the resurrection, as it is read, and it is said to him: Simon, son of John - for Simon was called by this name from his birth: he was the son of John - Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Who asks this? The one who knows all things. Like someone who doesn’t know? The one who bestowed knowledge. The Lord himself did not want to be instructed, but he wanted to make him confess. He asks once, and that man says to him: You know, Lord, that I love you. And he: Feed my lambs. And again he asks, as if once were not enough: Simon, son of John, do you love me? I love you, Lord, I love you, Lord: this again. And again he says: Feed my lambs. And for the third time - Who is not satisfied with once? The one who does not know is satisfied. How much more the one who knows beforehand! - he asks for the third time: Do you love me? Peter was grieved, as if he were being questioned continually because there was doubt about him, and he said: Lord, you know all things: you know that I love you. If anything were hidden from you, you would question me rightly. If you know all things, you know this which you question in all things. And he: Feed my sheep. Three times the love was confessed, which fear had denied three times. Therefore the Lord asked three times so that the threefold confession might erase the threefold denial.

By denying Christ, Peter manifested that he was sick.

This is that Peter, the denier and the lover; a denier by human weakness, a lover by divine grace. For when Peter denied, he was shown himself. For he had presumptuously and somewhat proudly displayed his strength when he said: "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death," presuming upon his own strength. And then indeed he heard who he was. For he was presuming out of his own sickness, and the doctor was touching the vein of his heart. In his innermost being, the doctor found him sick and, as a true and faithful doctor, foretold what would happen, as if saying: "Even though you see yourself as healthy, you do not know that you still have the fever, but now it is being revealed to you. You will be troubled when the attack comes." Therefore, when he was questioned by the maid and what the doctor predicted was fulfilled in him, not what the sick man had presumed, so that before the cock crowed, such a servant would deny the Lord three times, what is written in the Gospel after he denied three times? "The Lord turned and looked at him, and he wept bitterly." He would never have wept if the Lord had not looked at him. Finally, to understand how it is said: "The Lord turned and looked at him," observe the Gospel and see that the Lord was in that place when Peter denied, so that He did not look at him with physical eyes; for He Himself was being heard by the leaders of the Jews inside the house, but Peter denied in the courtyard. But where does He not look, who is everywhere?

Christ's sheep are entrusted to Peter.

For this reason he was asked about love, and the sheep of Christ were entrusted to him. It was said to him: Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. The lamb entrusted the lambs. He entrusted his lambs, who made himself a lamb. How did the lamb make lambs for himself? Behold the lamb of God. It was said about him: Behold the lamb of God. And how did he make lambs for himself? Behold him who takes away the sin of the world. So he also made these whom we now see dressed in white. May the wolves not devour them! You, Lord, protect them, who commended them to Peter. You protect them, who also protect Peter. He himself is also the sheep about which it is written: Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter. He is always a lamb because he is always without sin. And do not wonder he is without sin: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Where could there be sin in him? Look at his human birth. He wanted to be born without sin, whom a virgin conceived, whom no carnal desire sought. Conception of the son: faith of the mother. He was born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, not drawing original sin from Adam, not drawing, not adding. He was born innocent, lived innocent, died innocent. Behold the lamb of God; behold him who takes away the sin of the world. When he commended his sheep to Peter, he commended us. When he commended us to Peter, he commended his members to the Church. Therefore, commend, Lord, your Church to your Church, let your Church commend itself to you. For we say: Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. For who are we without you, except Peter when he denied you thrice? The Lord, to show Peter himself, that is, to show Peter to Peter, turned his face slightly away from him, and he denied. He turned to him when he looked at him, and he wept. He washed away the guilt with his tears, he shed water from his eyes and baptized his conscience. Let us consider him in a certain Psalm where it is written: I said in my prosperity: I shall never be moved. What if it is not Peter saying: I am with you until death, and if necessary, I shall die for you and not depart from you? He says in his prosperity. What does he say? I shall never be moved. But after he was questioned, he denied thrice, and wept, see what he adds - they are the words of him now repenting -: I said in my prosperity: I shall never be moved. Lord, by your will you have provided my beauty with strength. You turned your face away from me and I was troubled. You turned your face away and showed me my own face: I do not know what you are saying; I do not know the man. Behold, Peter himself in himself; behold what it is: You turned your face away and I was troubled. Therefore, the Lord restored his face by looking at him, and he was confirmed.