Do You Love Me?

Breakfast is over and Peter walks with Jesus by the
sea. They talk. You have read the conversation but
probably you have not understood that the word in
Greek for 'love' is not what we translate as love in
English. Here is what Peter heard.

...Oh Simon Peter, son of Jonas, are you Loving
(Agapeo, pure unselfish love) Me greater than
these? He said to Him emphatically Yes, Lord,
You Know that I affectionately love (phileo, bro-
theraly love) You. He said to Him, You must feed
my lambs.

He said to him, again, the second time. Oh Simon
Jonas, are you Loving (agapeo) Me. He said em-
phatically Yes, Oh Lord, You know that I affection-
lately love (phileo) You. He said to him, You must
shepherd My sheep.

He said to him a third time, Oh Simon Peter, do 
you affectionately love (phileo) Me? Peter was 
made grieved, because He spoke to him a third 
time, are you affectionately loving (phileo) Me? 
So then he spoke to Him, Oh Lord, you know all 
things. You know that I affectionately love (phileo) 
You. Jesus said, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-17 
From the Greek translation, The Pure Word.

Reader, only God can love with pure unselfish love.
The pain in Peter for his denial of his Lord was
great and when Jesus asked Him to go for a walk
with Him, his heart sank--at least most of us are in
fear after such failure. Peter was totally incapable
of using the agape word in response to Jesus' ques-
tion. It is interesting to me that Jesus came down to
Peter's level in the third question. Denial is such a
terrible thing, but Agape Love Itself, covers and
blots out that which we cannot move. Peter was
given the opportunity to affirm his love for Jesus
three times which matched the three times that he
denied his Lord.

You, dear reader, are loved with pure, unselfish love
just as Peter was. It is only His agape Love within
that is able to love, agapeo, others unselfishly.