“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  Simon Peter gets understandably pretty annoyed with our Lord asking him again and again if he really does love him.  But let’s think about what’s really happening here.  It was just a few short weeks ago, that St. Peter denied the Lord three times in a row.  “Do you know this guy?”  “Peter says, No.”  “Peter says, No.”  And a third time, Peter says, “No, I don’t know him.”  But today, the Lord gives St. Peter the opportunity to repair his three denials.  Three times Peter turned his back on Christ when he needed him most; but now, three times, the Lord prompts the same St. Peter to accept him, to say “Yes” where he had once said “No.”  Three “No’s” made right by Three “Yeses.”  

This is the difference between Peter and Judas.  Both denied the Lord, both betrayed him, both abandoned him.  But the difference is what comes after.  Judas despairs, but Peter repents.  Both are sinners, and that’s important for us to notice.  Both denied the Lord, and for very poor reasons. We do the same thing when we sin. But in these two men, we see the two options that lie before us when we are confronted with our sins and weakenesses: when Judas realizes what he’s done, he despairs and gives up on life.  But Peter, as we see today, even irritable and impatient as he is, still manages to return to the Lord.  He’s not shamed by his sins, he’s sorry for them.  And that’s a big difference.  

Judas sold his relationship with God for 30 pieces of silver.  Can you imagine giving up Eternal Life for 30 dollars?  Well, in a sense, that is what we do when we sin.  We sell our relationship with God for a brief adrenaline rush of gossip, or meanness, or impurity, or whatever.  We sell off our joy, our peace, if it’s serious even our salvation, for 30 bucks.  The good news is, with God, these sales are never final.  God accepts returns.  If the sin is relatively minor, a prayer of apology or the sign of the cross or a good pious communion can call down God’s forgiveness.  And if we want a bit of extra help or the sin is more serious, to continue the analogy, we can go see the customer service department.  That’s me.  That’s the great sacrament of confession, where an even greater exchange is made.  The glorious exchange of heaven and earth, when Christ takes our sins upon himself and offers to his Father the great sacrifice on our behalf.  This is Christ’s sacrifice that we grab hold of, in the great sacrament of confession.  And this is the sacrifice, the great exchange, that is remembered and made real, again and again, upon our altar in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  Christ taking all of our sins unto himself, and offering himself to the Father as the perfect sacrifice for sin.  And the price is fully paid.  We are set free.  Our sins, no matter how serious, are not held against us.  We are admitted to eternal life, by his mercy.  

Christ can do this for us, because he is true and perfect God, as his Resurrection proves.  He can offer that enormous a sacrifice.  His sacrifice is big enough, perfect enough, to pay the price for every sin of every person that ever lived.  Because God himself is making this sacrifice; the sacrifice is perfect and infinite, just as he is.  But because Our Lord is also a man; not just God, but also a man: that means the sacrifice is ours, it’s coming from us; it’s coming from our own human race.  It’s our sacrifice.  And through him, our sins are erased from the Book of Judgment, if we just do one thing: if we just turn to him as Peter did, if we do not despair, if we do not define ourselves by our sins, if we do not give up in the face of our weaknesses.  But instead if we keep trying, if we keep following the Lord, if we keep struggling to do the right thing, if we just get up when we fall, if we keep saying, “Yes, Lord, I do love you, you know that I love you,” then his promise is this: death will be swallowed up in victory; even if our sins are as red as scarlet, we will be made pure and white as snow.  And our reward will be life: eternal, heavenly, perfectly peaceful and joyful life, with him, with all the Angels and Saints, and with the righteous company of all the just, the eternal bliss of heaven.  And it costs us nothing.  Nothing but love.  Lord, I do love you.  Help me to love you even more.