The Most Piercing Question Of Jesus, "Do You Love Me?"
“If you love me; keep my commandments and I will…” Jesus had just told the apostles, “don’t let your heart be troubled”; then comes these words. Words which reach out and penetrate deep into my heart as it must have Peter’s only 24 hours later when he denied Christ. What kind of love is this, Lord that I have for you? The kind of love that could not stay awake and pray while you agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane. My love, the kind that denied you before the crowd!! I fear, these words cut deep into my own heart. It burns like a light reaching deep into the recesses of heart—like the questions Jesus later ask of Peter. “Peter, do you love me?” Is that not the same question that I too must face at the end of a long day in which I have allowed some desire—some selfish thought to fill my heart and mind so that I come to God with sorrow instead of rejoicing in His Love? Or when I have become angered with someone or been unforgiving—those words of Jesus echo loudly in my heart, “Do you love me?” Or when, Satan comes to torture my mind with all my failures, those moments when I longed for things I could not have. Those moments when I cried because I could not see that “Jesus was all I needed for Joy, Love, and Hope.” When I let the worries or the desires of this world beat deep within my chest; then, I become broken hearted by the question of Jesus, “Do you love me?”
So, right after Jesus has told Peter, “You will deny me before morning break, 3 times”; His next words were: “Let not your heart be troubled; trust God and trust me.” Then comes these words, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” What commandments, Lord? I so want to!! I long to pour out my love toward you!! I want to love you better!! What commandments, Lord? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).
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