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Faith

Restoring broken faith

tending-sheepThere are times of testing in every relationship, when one person does something which breaks the bond of trust. In Peter’s case, it happened when he denied Jesus. On the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter had resolved to fight to the end to defend him. He had even taken along a sword for that purpose. But as the night wore on, he fell asleep when he should have been on guard, and then when Jesus had been arrested, Peter acted like a coward as denied even knowing him.

The denial happened three times, and chapter 21 of John’s gospel describes a parallel event which happened after Jesus’s resurrection. Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” – one for each time Peter had denied him. Jesus had forgiven Peter for the denials, but the lesson of the moment had to be something that would remain with him for the rest of his life. Jesus’s instructions were “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” and “Feed my sheep.”

Peter was going to need that memory to see him through the tough times ahead, which Jesus predicted: “But when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” Every Christian lets Jesus down from time to time. It’s called sin, and Jesus has already died to pay for it, so we are forgiven. We need to stand up again, move on, and feed his sheep.