Readings from the New Testament

The apostle Paul, writing in the first century A.D., describes the inner conflict he was experiencing. He concludes by acknowledging God’s love and mercy in being set free from sin and the anguish he was feeling about not always doing the good he intended.

We know that the Law is spiritual;
but I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin.
I do not understand what I do;
for I don’t do what I would like to do,
but instead I do what I hate.
Since what I do is what I don’t want to do,
this shows that I agree that the Law is right.
So I am not really the one who does this thing;
rather it is the sin that lives in me.
…

For even though the desire to do good is in me,
I am not able to do it. I don’t do the good I want to do;
instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do.
…

What an unhappy man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body
that is taking me to death?
Thanks be to God, who does this
through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Romans 7.14-17,18b-19,24,25

Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him.

“Where are you going, Lord?” Simon Peter asked him.

“You cannot follow me now where I am going,” answered Jesus;
“but later you will follow me.”

“Lord, why can’t I follow you now?” asked Peter.

“I am ready to die for you!” Jesus answered,
“Are you really ready to die for me?
I am telling you the truth: before the rooster crows
you will say three times that you do not know me.”
John 13.36-38

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple was well known to the High Priest, so he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the High Priest’s house, while Peter stayed outside by the gate. Then the other disciple went back out, spoke to the girl at the gate, and brought Peter inside. The girl at the gate said to Peter, “Aren’t you also one of the disciples of that man?”

“No, I am not,” answered Peter.

It was cold, so the servants and guards had built a charcoal fire and were standing around it, warming themselves. So Peter went over and stood with them, warming himself.
…

Peter was still standing there keeping himself warm. So the others said to him, “Aren’t you also one of the disciples of that man?”

But Peter denied it. “No, I am not,” he said.

One of the High Priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, spoke up. “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” he asked.

Again Peter said “No”—and at once a rooster crowed.
John 18.15-18,25-27

After Jesus had been raised from death, he appeared to Peter and six other disciples early one morning while they were fishing. Peter learns how much Jesus loves him; Jesus’ three questions counterbalance Peter’s three denials of Jesus.

Jesus appeared once more to his disciples at Lake Tiberias.
This is how it happened. Simon Peter, Thomas
(called the Twin), Nathanael (the one from Cana in Galilee),
the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of Jesus were
all together. Simon Peter said to the others, “I am going fishing.”

“We will come with you,” they told him. So they went out in a boat,
but all that night they did not catch a thing.
As the sun was rising, Jesus stood at the water’s edge,
but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
Then he asked them, “Young men, haven’t you caught anything?”

“Not a thing,” they answered.

He said to them, “Throw your net out on the right side
of the boat, and you will catch some.” So they threw the net out
and could not pull it back in, because they had caught so many fish.

The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
When Peter heard that it was the Lord, he wrapped
his outer garment around him (for he had taken his cloths off)
and jumped into the water. The other disciples came to shore
in the boat, pulling the net full of fish. They were not very far
from land, about a hundred yards away. When they stepped ashore,
they saw a charcoal fire there with fish on it and some bread.
Then Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore full of big fish,
a hundred and fifty-three in all; even though there were so many,
still the net did not tear. Jesus said to them, “Come and eat.”
None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew
it was the Lord. So Jesus went over, took the bread,
and gave it to them; he did the same with the fish.

This, then, was the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples
after he was raised from death.

After they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John,
do you love me more than these others do?”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my lambs.”
A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord, “he answered, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.”
A third time Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter became sad because Jesus asked him the third time,
“Do you love me?” and so he said to him, “Lord, you know everything;
you know that I love you!”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.”
John 21.1-17

Claim the promise that you are a beloved child of God.

For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.
John 3.17