Sacrificing Freedom
So one of the beautiful things about being a priest is that I get to see and meet a lot of newborn babies. What a beautiful gift of life it is, how beautiful and precious those little children are when they are infants. But as most parents know, that doesn’t mean that it is easy.
A baby, in his first months of life, is only concerned with one person, himself. Feed me, change me, burp me, rock me... And their only way of communicating that is by crying. They cry in hopes that someone will come to them and respond to them. This is all normal and healthy because the baby can’t really do anything by themselves yet…
But here’s the thing, babies are not thinking about how mom or dad feels, or how much sleep they got last night, or how tired they are. Their one concern is their own needs and wants.
The reality is that as the child grows, this habit of thinking only of themselves can remain. It can turn into: “That’s mine” “Give me that” “I want ice cream” and then continue to “I don’t want to do the chores”, “I don’t want to hear it”, “I don’t feel like cleaning do that right now…” Then as teenagers, it’s “I don’t feel like it”, “you never care about what I want.” “That’s not fair” “What do I get out of it?”
But the real problem is that sometimes we as adults can still have these bad habits… sometimes we don’t grow out of this. Sometimes our only concern is about my needs and my wants. And if you try to stop me from getting what I need and want, then you are taking away my freedom… And because of that, Freedom can become our highest good. You can’t tell me what I can or can’t do. If you force me to do that then I’ll leave, I want to be free to do what I want... what I feel like doing…
Brothers and sisters, I think the reason why sometimes we never grow in holiness, is because we never grow up. And we never grow up, because we never learn one essential lesson... it’s not all about me!
The truth is that freedom is not the highest good. Freedom is not the most important thing. The most important thing… The highest good is Love.
St. John Paul II says that, “Freedom exists for the sake of love.”
The goal of life is not about doing what I want and getting what I want… The goal of life is about learning to give love and in turn receive love. If we use our freedom for selfish reasons, if we use our freedom to hurt others, then that freedom is being abused. To love means I use my freedom for the sake of the good of another. That means I even am willing to give up what I want to do or have, for the good of another. There’s no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus cuts straight through to this reality by asking Simon Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” He asks him three times, Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Why? Because Jesus wanted Peter to have a mature faith, a mature relationship, a mature love.
I want to say that the whole encounter in the Gospel today was probably for Peter. Jesus is standing on the shore a far off and he tells them to cast the net to the right and a bunch of fish are caught. St. Peter at this point should have a sort of deja vu, he should remember the first time when they were in the boat and Jesus tells him what to do and he catches the fish…
Then the Beloved Disciples, John tells Peter, “it is the Lord.” Again he should remember when they were in a boat and Jesus came walking on water, and Peter says, “Lord if it is you, command me to come.” And so Peter this time without hesitation, jumps into the water towards the Lord.
Then as he arrives on the shore, there is a small charcoal fire… again deja vu… to that night, when Jesus was arrested.
Peter would remember that he boldly said that he would lay his life down for Christ. But then when the time came and Jesus was arrested and tortured, Peter was in the courtyard by the charcoal fire trying to stay warm, and out of fear and selfishness he denies knowing Jesus three times. So now Jesus asks Peter, in front of the other disciples and in front of another charcoal fire… “Do you love me?” three times: “Do you love me more than these?” “Simon, do you love me?”
Brothers and sisters, Jesus is asking you and me, “Do you love me?” And all of us have to answer that question today. But notice that saying, “Yes Jesus, You know that I love you” is not enough. When St. Peter said, “Yes”... Jesus was not like, “thank you, I’m so happy, come eat…” Instead he tells Peter, “Feed my lamb, tend my sheep.” He says basically, “If you really love me, I want you to go and take care of others.” “I want you to think of the good of others more than yourself…” Why? Because talk is cheap.
For example, if you’re married, you can’t say, “Honey, I love you, I love you” but never spend any time with them... you’d be a liar. Or say, “Honey, I love you” and go commit adultery against them. It doesn’t make sense.
Today, Jesus says to you and to me, “Ok, if you truly love me, prove it. Prove it by going out and caring for others, feeding them, and laying down your life for them.” “I want your life to no longer be about you, I want it to be about OTHERS.”
“Freedom exists for the sake of love,” St. John Paul II says. That means that true love requires that I use my freedom for others. Jesus did not save us from our sins so that we can be free to do whatever we want. Jesus saved us from our sins to be free to love.
