It has only been a week since we celebrated Resurrection Sunday. When our churches were beyond capacity and the air electric. When we sang rousing songs about the cross and the grave— victory and life over darkness and death. When we raised our hands and declared it was indeed the Greatest Day in History. The day when everything changed.
And we meant it — we truly did. In that moment anyway. Yet here we are, almost a week after the exhilarating high of Easter and the world has moved on. Back to normality. To our non-stop, busy, stressful lives with very little room on the throne for a risen Savior.
Thankfully He isn’t ready for us to move on just yet. There is still some business to do. And so, with the events of Holy Week still so fresh, He stands before us with a question.
“Do you love me?”
The same question that He had for Peter— of all people. The disciple who had fallen so far in the space of just a week. Who, living with the shame of his denial, was back doing what he knew best, in his boat. Jesus, however, wasn’t prepared to leave him there.
“Do you love me?” Jesus asked him. Three times.
He knew the answer, of course, but He needed Peter to know it too. To make a stand and replace His denial with a declaration of love. Without doubt, without fear. To declare it, believe it, and live it.
Do you love me?
Do you love me?
Do you love me?
He asks the same question of us today.
The events of Easter may be long behind us but we are not passive participants in the story. Because this is our story too, and we get a say in how it ends.
We can choose life— eternal life, and accept the gift of salvation that is offered freely but never forced. To make Him the King of our heart and live out our God-given purpose and vision and calling. To make Easter the beginning of our story, not the end, and choose Him.
Or we can return to our normality. The path of least resistance. To the person we were before, the life we once lived— without joy, without hope. Without Him. The choice is ours.
“Do you love me?”
Take your time. It will be the most important answer you ever give.