The Greatest Distance

Perhaps the greatest distance any of us has to travel is that long trek betwen the head and the heart (Katherine Marshall, The Helper)

Knowing of the love of God from teaching or from Scripture is head knowledge.  Yet, before it warms our hearts and touches our emotions, something else has to happen.  The love of God given to us in Jesus Christ is something that we have to experience--and only the Holy Spirit can give us that experience.

A few days after the Resurrection, Jesus sought out Peter, James, and John as they were fishing at the seashore.  He prepared a meal for them, as they had been fishing all night.  And when they had finished eating, Jesus said to Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"  "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you," replied Peter.  Three times, Jesus asked, each time saying, "Feed my sheep."

After his Thursday night denial of Jesus before the crucifixion, Peter's feelings must have been those of guilt and inner turmoil----how could he ever again say that he loved Jesus, after what he had done?

But Jesus forced the words out of him, saying "feed my sheep" in response.  I think what Jesus was doing was replacing the negative emotions carved so deeply into Peter's heart with another, even deeper experience.  It has been said that we do not always say what we believe, but we always believe what we say.  If we say it, from that time on, we tend to believe and to defend what we have said.  Peter had said, in effect, that he did not love the Lord---but now he is saying that he does.

And Jesus give him a way to demonstrate his love from that moment forward---feed my sheep.  "As I have fed you, you feed them," if I can paraphrase.  It is easy to say that we love God; it is much harder to demonstrate it.  But Jesus identified himself with the sheep; if we feed them, we feed Him; if we love them, we love Him.

This is something we don't have to over-think, rationalize, theorize about.  The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  If we love our neighbor, we love God.  If we don't love our neighbor, we don't love God.  End of story.    So we don't really need to examine our philosophy too much if we continue to examine our hearts and our actions toward those around us.

Kindle in us the fire of your love, O Lord!