The most important Scripture verse to keep in mind this morning doesn’t actually come from our reading from John’s Gospel. Instead, I want to draw your attention to some words written by Paul in Galatians 2:20: “... I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” We are, each of us, extensions of the risen Christ, so to speak – wrapped up in the life of the risen Christ; the continuation of the life of Christ in the world today - and yet, obviously not a perfect continuation. We grow and develop; seeking Christian maturity but finding it a desperately elusive quality to claim. Some Christians fall into the trap of being self-satisfied, thinking that a simple expression of faith in Christ is all there is to a Christian life; but others become discouraged, thinking that God demands perfection from a Christian life. Neither are true. I want to address the second issue today - that elusive quality of Christian perfection and our inability to lead the perfect Christian life even if we live very sincerely in the life of the risen Christ. I want to suggest that the Christian life is a process, and that individual Christians are - each of us - a work in progress. There’s nothing wrong with that, because by being a work in progress, we are in fact following the example of Christ Himself, about Whom we’re told in Luke 2:52 that He “grew in wisdom and stature … .” So, if we're going to live our lives in the life of the risen Christ then we also surely need to grow “in wisdom and stature.”

 

         In today’s passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus identified three stages of development in Peter`s spiritual life, as he grew into a progressively more mature disciple who would, indeed, live his own life in the life of the risen Christ, and just as Jesus shows us different stages of development in Peter's life of faith, so do these stages of development often characterize the stages of development of many Christians, and once we identify the stages Jesus identified in Peter’s life, we can fit ourselves into the picture and determine where we fall on that developmental scale. This isn’t laid out mechanically in the way a child development expert might speak of stages of development. Jesus doesn’t say “Stage 1; Stage 2; Stage 3" but you can certainly see in the passage where Peter has been spiritually, where he is at the time of this exchange, and where Jesus expects him to progress. 

 

     We see the first stage of Peter's development in the first part of v.18: “when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted.” New Christians (in terms of spiritual development and not age) are very much like young children. They like to test the limits; they like to explore; they like to experiment with anything and everything wonderful about their new life; and, sometimes, they get in trouble because of it. New Christians – like young children – are often self-centred. That isn’t a criticism of either new Christians or young children; it's just a fact. There is no more self-centred human being than a newborn infant, whose entire consciousness is wrapped up in his or her immediate needs and in the desire for instant gratification. A baby doesn’t care that you’re sound asleep at 4:00 in the morning after a hard day at work. The baby is hungry; the baby cries; the baby wakes you up. New Christians are very much like that. They need a lot of nurturing and a lot of care and a lot of patience. Peter, new in the faith, “dressed [himself] and went where [he] wanted.” Peter had little commitment beyond his own immediate emotional reaction to circumstances. Jesus was arrested and Peter drew his sword, even though Jesus had taught him the way of peace and non-retaliation. Then, having thought about it a bit more, Peter not only put his sword away; he ran away, too afraid to stand by Jesus as he was tried and crucified. Peter hadn’t yet developed the spiritual maturity to be committed or even to openly display his love for Jesus when the going got tough. Spiritual immaturity can be displayed in many ways. In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul offers an extended teaching about spiritual gifts, and he’s particularly critical of the Corinthians for the ways in which they were using what might be called the supernatural gifts of tongues and healing. They were using them not to glorify God but, in effect, to get a spiritual high. They had become addicted to spiritual gifts. They had begun to believe that if miraculous and supernatural things weren’t happening there was something wrong. That’s why in 1 Corinthians, Paul placed limits on the use of these gifts. He realized that in their immaturity, the Corinthians had started to rely on miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit to prove the Spirit’s presence, rather than simply trusting the Spirit to be  there as they focused on the presence of Christ . In many ways, we see in both Peter and the Corinthian church that first stage of a life lived in the life of the risen Christ: a stage of both dependence and rebellion, as new Christians test the limits. There’s nothing wrong with that stage of development (it's perfectly natural, in fact) as long as it’s a springboard to the second stage of a life lived in the life of the risen Christ.

 

     In our passage, Jesus and Peter engaged in a very strange conversation. Three times, Jesus asked Peter, “Do you truly love Me?” Three times, Peter answered, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” Did Jesus suffer from low self-esteem? Did He need constant reminding of Peter’s love? That’s not it. Actually,  according to John, Jesus and Peter are speaking of different kinds of love. It’s not a mysteriously repetitive question and answer; it’s a sort of argument between them. Jesus is asking Peter, “Peter, do you love me enough to give your life for Me?” and Peter is trying to hedge, “Well, Lord ... um ... I love You like a brother.” To use the two Greek words that are both translated into English as “love,” Jesus is asking, “Peter, do you have agape for Me?” and Peter is answering, “Actually, Lord, I have filia for You.” Peter has moved beyond the point of thinking that this is all about him. He realizes that things have to centre around Jesus - he loves Jesus like a brother, but he’s not yet sure that he’s willing to give up everything up to and including his life, if necessary, for Jesus. The argument (or challenge) ends with the third question, and, interestingly enough, it ends with Jesus giving in. In the third question, John has Jesus switching to filia instead of agape. In effect, Jesus says to Peter, “All right, if that’s all you can give me right now, I’ll gladly accept it.” Jesus challenges Peter to go deeper, but in the end accepts the depth that Peter can offer at that moment. Jesus doesn’t ask more of us than we’re able to give, but Jesus does ask us to give all that we’re able to give, and He challenges us, as we grow, to gradually give more and more and more, which finally leads to the third stage of the life lived in the life of the risen Christ. 

 

     The third stage comes when we turn filia into agape: when we’re able to willingly acknowledge that everything we have (our families, our money, our possessions, our lives) belongs to God and not to us. Peter would grown “in wisdom and in stature” and after his spiritually youthful experiments with faith, Jesus told him that “when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” The reference isn’t pleasant. John explains what Jesus is referring to in the very next verse: “Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God” In the end, filia (loving Jesus like a brother) did become agape (a love strong enough to sacrifice literally everything.) When Jesus said to Peter  “follow Me,” it was more than just a spiritual challenge in which Jesus was saying “be My disciple” or “obey My teachings.” John, writing many decades later, thought about that exchange between Jesus and Peter and understood what Jesus meant. “Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’” Some thirty years later, Peter himself was crucified, for no reason except that he refused to save his life by renouncing his faith and denying that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Filia had become agape, and Peter willingly gave up everything.

 

     Where are any of us, I wonder, as we live our lives in the life of the risen Christ? The answer is different for each of us, but what matters is whether we’re reflecting the life of Jesus by growing “in wisdom and in stature.” Jesus will never ask we who live His life today for more than we’re able to give, but He does ask we who live His life today for everything we’re able to give.