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THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

For Reflection

Tom Wright was Bishop of Durham and is the author of many books on the New Testament, including (as N. T. Wright) the monumental works in the series Christian Origins and the Question of God.

Follow Me!

It is Jesus who is the Good Shepherd (St John 10). It is Jesus who has the task of leading and feeding his sheep and lambs, guiding them to and from pasture, keeping them safe from predators. He knows them and they know him. He has now given his life for them. But the commission of John 20:21 was quite specific. ‘As the Father sent me, so I’m sending you.’ There’s no getting away from it. And this is what it means. Peter is to share Jesus’ task of shepherding.

Here is the secret of all Christian ministry, yours and mine, lay and ordained, full-time or part-time. It’s the secret of everything from being a quiet, back-row member of a prayer group to being a platform speaker at huge rallies and conferences. If you are going to do any single solitary thing as a follower and servant of Jesus, this is what it’s built on. Somewhere deep down inside, there is a love for Jesus, and though (goodness knows) you’ve let him down enough times, he wants to find that love, to give you a chance to express it, to heal the hurts and failures of the past, and give you new work to do.

These are not things for you to do to ‘earn’ forgiveness. Nothing can ever do that. It is grace from start to finish. They are the things to do out of the joy and relief that you already are forgiven. Things that will be costly, because Jesus’ own work was utterly costly. Things that will mean following Jesus into suffering, perhaps into death. In the last week, as I have been writing this, more Christians have been killed around the world, simply for worshipping Jesus. ‘Someone else will dress you and take you where you would rather not go.’ Peter will complete his task as a shepherd by laying down his own life, in turn, for the sheep.

But even this is not something different from the call that drew the disciples in the first place. ‘Follow me!’ Now that Jesus has taken the steep road to the cross, and has proved that death itself is defeated by the life and joy of the new creation, he can ask for everything from those he has rescued, and know he will get it.

Peter went from strength to strength. He was still muddled from time to time, as Acts indicates. But he became a shepherd. He loved Jesus and looked after his sheep. No one could ask for more. Jesus never asks for less.

JOHN FOR EVERYONE TOM WRIGHT

Scripture Reading

ST JOHN 21:15–19

‘“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”’

Prayer

Good Shepherd,

as you laid down your life for me,

so may I lay down my life for you.