Who did you sleep with? Do you love me?

       The English language is a peculiar thing, especially on this side of the pond.  I'd like to take the word sleep for example. If I said I slept well, it means a restful, full uninterrupted unawake period of, well - sleep. But if I say I slept with my brothers and sisters growing up, that means a whole different thing. That phrase was often supplemented with - in the same bed. It would mean you actually physically slept in the same bed. No hanky panky, just sleep and it probably was not that restful I'd imagine. If I said I slept with so and so, that carries a whole different meaning again. It is a euphemism for having had sex with someone. Totally different meaning, rarely involves a restful, unawake state. Like I say, a challenging language. But I suppose people on this side of the pond might feel a bit weird when asked in England if they 'want a knock up in the morning?' ( Do you want a wake up call? ). 'Knock up' it seems can also have different meanings. So it seems, and we should realize, that words, context, location, era and use can vary, making them rather difficult to catch a meaning without some direct or formal knowledge of that time, place, etc. 

        In today's passage Jesus asks Peter 3 times "Do you love me?" That seems so easy, it would tend to make me think Jesus was trying to supply some emphasis. But what we don't catch, precisely because of the translation, is that this passage used different words for love each time, each having a different and nuanced meaning. This is more than even simply emphasis. We don't catch that in English. How then do we catch the real intent?  Further, why does Jesus answer "Feed my lambs", then "Tend my sheep" and then "Feed my sheep" ?  This is another clue isn't it?  I am not a true Scripture scholar even if I have access to some good texts, training and the mighty Google, and I know that there are depths of meaning and even possibly some subversions of Scripture for want of some groups agenda.  Everything must be read with the lens of love.

         I might ask you how, do we ever know what the real meaning is of a passage if the documents we read are fraught with translational errors, agendas and the like? Some Bibles are closer to a full body of truth than others. Others simply catch a general intent without delving any further.  In addition, even with the best of knowledge and best translations on our part, we can read a text at 17 and catch one depth of meaning and read it again at 57 and see the same passage in a whole new light. It would seem the Spirit is vitally and forever alive in our lives and in Scripture.  Again we must return to that arbiter of all Scripture which is love. Also in the mix for sure are the actual details of Jesus' life and then too of course is the written word as witness to Jesus' life and actions. Love though, trumps it all.

            For good Scripture scholarship and the love most of all, we pray.

      

John 21:15-25

 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘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. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’

 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ So the rumour spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?’

 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.