In the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye and Golde are struggling to keep their balance in a fast-changing world.  Their daughter Hodel has rejected the husband that they have arranged for her and has chosen a husband for herself whom she loves.  The husband that she has chosen for herself is poor and doesn’t possess the material goods and security that the husband that was arranged for her possesses.  In marrying for love, there will certainly be struggles and suffering in her future.  Hodel chooses to suffer for love.  Tevye realizes that the world that he has known, a world full of well-tried traditions is changing and he and Golde will have to embrace new ways of living.  Tevye tells Golde, “It’s a new world… A new world. Love.”  A world in which love sets the standard of living is unfamiliar to Tevye.  He shocks Golde with a surprising question:  “Golde… do you love me?”  The question seems foolish and silly to Golde.  After all that they have been through together, how can Tevye ask such a question?  Does love really matter?  Don’t we just understand one another?  When life is filled with suffering and painful struggles, love seems superfluous, like a silly affectation.  And yet, to know that we are loved is a place that we can find rest from our struggles and know peace.

     In the gospel of John, Jesus, the Risen Christ, puts the question of love before Peter.  He asks him:  “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (Jn 21,15)  Do you love me?  The love that Jesus is asking Peter about is a love that is “more”, more than the things of this world, more than life itself.  It is an eternal love.  Peter pushes aside Jesus’ question by claiming familiarity:  “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.”  Peter is right.  Jesus does know.  Jesus knows the secret depths of the heart.  Yet, that doesn’t answer his question and it is not enough.  With the resurrection of Jesus, a new world has begun, a new covenant has been established in the blood of Jesus, and the new covenant has a new law and that law is expressed simply by Jesus at the Last Supper, the First Eucharist:  “I give you a new commandment:  love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (Jn 13,34)  A little later Jesus will say to his disciples:  “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.  Remain in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” (Jn 15,9f)  He follows that with:  “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.  This I command you:  love one another.” (Jn 15,16f)  Love is not just a feeling or warmth of the heart, it is a commandment that makes demands upon us to give our lives in service and sacrifice for the good of the other.

     Peter is frustrated and distressed that Jesus asks him three times if he loves him.  Peter says, “Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.” (Jn 21,17)  Jesus is asking “something more” from Peter’s love than an understanding or a non-verbal acknowledgement.  Jesus is challenging Peter to take up a new life and to leave behind the old way of life that only resulted in “empty nets.”  Jesus is calling Peter to a fruitful love.  The resurrection of Jesus and his entrance into the glory of the Father calls for a new way of life, a new way of love.  Jesus calls Peter to follow him into this new life of love and to be the shepherd that he is meant to be.  As the good shepherd, Peter must love the sheep that are entrusted to him and be willing to lay down his life for the sheep in the manner of Jesus.

     When Jesus asks the question, “Do you love me?”, what is your response?  Most of the time we are like Peter and just say to the Lord, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.”  After all, we go to church on Sunday, we give our little tithe, we say our prayers and we try to do nice things for others.  Isn’t that enough?  What more do you want?  Jesus says simply, “More.”  Jesus wants more from us.  He wants us to truly live our faith in the new covenant of love that is sealed in the blood of Christ.  He wants us to offer fully and joyfully, our worship in the Eucharist.  Celebrate new love.  As the Father loves Jesus, so Jesus loves us and so are we to love one another with a faith-filled, fruitful love.  Become the love that we have received.  It is a new world.  Love.