Simon Peter was the disciple with a foot-shaped mouth. "I will never leave you no matter what the others do," Peter protested one day after the Lord told the disciples that they would all desert him. Not much later, Peter denies the Lord three times in the courtyard, swearing the third time that he never knew the man.

After his resurrection Jesus appears to some of his disciples. They have some breakfast together, then Jesus turns to Peter and says, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others?" Peter replies, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus says to him, "Feed my lambs." A second and a third time Jesus questions Peter’s love, and Peter assures the Lord that he loves him. Jesus again commands him to feed his sheep.

Today we too hear our Lord’s voice saying to us, "Do you love me?" And he waits to hear our answer. If it is, "Yes, Lord, you know I love you," we must be willing to first hear and then act upon his command to "Feed my sheep." That is, reach out to each other and communicate God’s love through both words and actions. Anything less than a wholehearted willingness to turn our lives over to God for his use is to, in effect, offer junk for Jesus.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian martyr during the Second World War, says it so poignantly, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." Turn your life over to the Lord. Die to self, in order to live for God. God wants our lives, our unqualified yes. Compared to that, all else seems like junk - having some value but far from what God wants.

Respond positively to Christ today and then follow his command to, "Feed my sheep."