The Heart of Heaven

“Do you love me?”
It is the question from a child to a parent…
“Am I worth it? Would you give all you have for me, because without me you know you would have nothing?”
…from a lover to the beloved…
“Would you walk away from it all for the chance to walk with me?”
…from a Savior to a sinner…
It is the question Jesus gives to Peter on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius. I can envision Peter trying not to look into the eyes that are so intently upon him, anything but the eyes. He had looked into those eyes before…just as the cock started to crow…
“Peter…”
Oh, please. Don’t ask it again…
“…do you love me?” How can a question so gently asked increase the already unbearable weight of guilt?
I wonder how Peter’s voice sounded as he responded to Jesus. Did it carry an air of confidence? Did he muster up just enough courage to try to fool Jesus? Was his tone similar to the tone used as he denied Him?
“’Yes, Lord; You know that I love you.’”(1)
In order to understand the drama of this scene we must understand the use of the word “love.” The word “love” in the English language carries a very broad scope. We use it in regards to possessions (“I love that blouse!”), people (“I love my wife.”) and even the food we eat. We use it with no sense of degrees. Simply saying the word “love” cannot convey the level of feelings we have toward something or someone.
Not so with the biblical languages. Both use different words to describe different levels of love. Essentially, Greek and Hebrew words for love denote three main expressions of this emotion: friendship, romantic and unconditional.
Jesus’ question towards Peter uses the Greek word agapao, which conveys an unconditional expression of love. “Do you love me with all that you have?” However, Peter answers with the word phileo, the expression of friendship. “Yes Lord, I like you.”
This is a strange response for Peter. It seems out of character with the man we see throughout the Gospels. This is the same man who proclaimed that he would be the only one who would stand by Jesus(2). This is the one who cut off the ear of a Temple servant in order to defend Jesus(3). Peter is the first to go into the empty tomb(4). He is consistently the first to speak up, to act. We see him as an all-in kind of guy. So to use the word phileo seems surprisingly restrained, non-committal…safe.
Such is the power of guilt. Peter has spent the past three years or so of his life showing “agapao” love towards Jesus, now he cannot bring himself to even utter the word. For all his claims, his boastings, when the chips were down…he failed. When Jesus needed someone to stand behind Him more than ever, Peter denied Him; not once, but three times(5), and apparently the third (and most forceful one) happened in front of Jesus(6). So how can Peter now say he loves Jesus with an “agapao” love?
But Jesus will not drop it. Twice He asks Peter if he loves (agapao) Him. After two replies of, “I love (phileo) you,” Jesus rephrases His question: “Simon, son of John, do you love (phileo) me?”(7) With this, John tells us that Peter falls apart(8). The guilt is too much. He cries out, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love you”(9), as if saying, “Why are you doing this to me? Why do you keep asking me this when you already know the answer?”
Then Jesus does a curious thing. He encourages Peter to live the type of life he had earlier boasted of living:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”(10)

He called Peter to follow Him, no matter the cost; to love Him with an agapao love. The curious part is not found in the fact that Jesus seems to forgive him, but in the fervency behind His encouragement to Peter. It seems by Jesus’ tone that everything depends on how Peter loves.
“Do you love me?”
This message was not born on that shore line. Jesus had taught this very concept during His ministry. In Matthew 22 Jesus is asked by a lawyer to pick one law out of the 613 that governed Israel and proclaim it to be the greatest. Without hesitation, Jesus tells His audience:

“You shall love (agapao) the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love (agapao) your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”(11)

Of all the laws, the commandments, handed down by both God and man, one thing matters more than the rest, love. Jesus is not saying anything revolutionary here. He is actually quoting Deuteronomy 6, a passage that came to be known as the Shema. The Shema (translated from the Hebrew as “hear”) is the basic confession of faith for the Jewish faith. For all the emphasis the Pharisees had placed on salvation by works and the law, Jesus brings them back to one tenant- agapao love.
First and foremost He tells them to love God. Isn’t it interesting that He does not say to fear God, or serve God, or worship God, but love God. In fact, loving God with an agapao love includes fear, service and worship. Each of these in their truest forms find their foundations in love; loving God with all of our heart, all our of soul and all of our mind.
After all, what is serving God without loving Him? God becomes nothing more than a form of deistic employer or task master. Service without love renders even our greatest accomplishments null and void. The phrase Paul uses is “a clanging cymbal”(12). Consider the actions the Bible lists when referring to serving God without love: speaking in tongues of men and of angels, having prophetic powers, understanding all mysteries and all knowledge, having the faith to remove mountains, giving away all possessions, martyrdom(13), casting out demons and doing many mighty works(14). Many of us would look at that list and long to have just a fraction of those accomplishments. However, Paul refers to these works as nothing when done without love and God refers to those who do these as “workers of lawlessness”(15). Why? God tells them, “I never knew you”(16).
The Greek word for “knew” in this passage is ginosko, meaning, “to have knowledge of, to come to know, to understand.” It carries with it the idea of intimacy (as in between a husband and wife). Whenever the Bible talks about having “knowledge” of God, it is speaking of an intimate and experiential form of knowledge, the only kind that can be had while basking in the awesomeness of His presence. In other words, God is not interested in what you do unless you have an intimate, love relationship with Him. How terrifying to know that you can be doing all these things, great things in the eyes of the church, and not have an intimate, saving relationship with God.
And yet, how wondrous to know that what God wants more than anything is to be loved. Throughout our time together I have been attempting to show you this amazing, life-changing truth…God loves (agapao) you. God, Who has need of nothing, sovereign over all, unapproachable in His holiness, indescribable in His glory…loves. If we were to stop there, it would be enough. The fact that God would choose to love is beyond comprehension. He could have created us and demanded worship from us- mindless subjects with no choice but to proclaim and submit to His glory. The thought that He did none of those things but instead chose to love affirms His grace and mercy. But we do not stop there. God…loves. And He loves…you.