The church in society
May 2011
‘Follow me’
By Vernon Broyles II
Loving Jesus means being willing to go wherever he leads.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” and Peter answered, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15–17)
After hurting Peter’s feelings with his redundant questioning, Jesus tells Peter that he will be taken against his will and will die for the glory of God. And then Jesus repeats to Peter, once again, those fateful words that drew Peter away from his fishing nets long before, “Follow me.”
We who have declared our faith in that same Lord must, in our own day, be prepared to hear that persistent, even hurtful, questioning of Jesus, “Do you love me more than these?” “Do you love me?” “Do you love me?” And we will surely reply, as did Peter, “Yes! Yes! Yes! Lord, you know that we love you!” But we had better be ready, then, when he says, “If you truly mean it, be prepared to die to your current life and follow me, wherever that may lead.”
In our Book of Order, the Directory for Worship reminds us that:
God sends the church in the power of the Holy Spirit to exercise compassion in the world,
feeding the hungry,
comforting the grieving,
caring for the sick,
visiting the prisoners,
freeing the captives,
sheltering the homeless,
befriending the lonely. . . .
Such acts of compassion, done corporately and individually, are the work of the church as the body of Christ. . . . The church is also called to engage those structures and systems which create or foster brokenness and distortion. Christians respond to these calls through acts of advocacy and compassion, through service in common ministries of the church, and through cooperation with agencies and organizations committed to these ends. (W-7.3001, 3003)
Do you love Jesus—really love him? Look inward and around. The world for which God sent his only son is in flames. Tribal hatreds beggar prospects for peace. Millions are displaced and living in poverty. Our own leaders collude to ensure that the wealthy remain so, even as the poor become more desperate.
When we met with the session to join the church, what were we doing? What did we sign up for? Jesus is still asking—and asking. And he still says, “Follow me.”
Vernon Broyles III is a volunteer for public witness in the PC(USA)’s Office of the General Assembly.