a question of the QUALITY of love

Thank you, William, for your very concentrated searching for the Resurrection "loves" that Jesus draws from Peter.

As you are "wondering if you know of any writings that can take me further…", I am remembering C.S. Lewis's...

THE FOUR LOVES, C.S.Lewis. The Four Loves the author distinguishes are Affection, Friendship, Eros and Charity; and while each has been examined sufficiently often, from Ovid to St. Bernard and from St. Paul to Stendhal, there have been few advocates to do justice to them all. Professor Lewis sees how each merges into another, how one can even become another, without losing sight of the necessary and real differentiation between them. He knows the peculiar values of each without supposing any to be all in all or self-sufficient; and he discerns too the deceptions and distortions which, can render the first three, the natural loves, dangerous without the sweetening grace of Charity, the divine love which must be the sum and goal of all. This anatomy of love is illuminated and enlivened by Professor Lewis's gifts of immediacy, lucidity and aptness of expression and illustration. "He has never written better. Nearly every page scintillates with observations which are illuminating, provocative and original." (Church Times) Collins 1960

---- Forwarded Message ----
From: William J . . .
To: Donald . . .
Sent: Mon, 12 April, 2010 16:31:39
Subject: Fw: [Blog] Mary Magdalene... and a question of the QUALITY of love

Dear Donald,
What an extraordinarily beautiful sermon illustrating and employing the devotion of Mary Magdalene, by one whose writings I am now discovering on the 'outward' trail of Meister Eckhart! "God is infinite and without end, but the soul's desire is an abyss which cannot be filled except by a Good which is infinite"... And what an emotive painting.. the expressions on the face of the Risen Lord and of Mary...
This is truly a delight to come home to, and how it drives me on! Thank you!
With my love in the Risen Lord,
William

PS ...see below
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May I write of another 'moment' that has had me 'jotting' for hours.... John 21:15-17.... I am still on the lake shore, the dawn encounter with the Risen Lord, His questions of Peter haunting me… especially as I have read something intriguing with regard to the meaning of the word used for “love” in the original Greek. But do I read too much into the use of the meaning of the word? I was wondering if you know of any writings that can take me further…
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NJB commentary: "Love" is expressed in the text by two different verbs which denote respectively love and friendship or cherishing. But it is unclear whether this is anything more than a stylistic variation.

NRSV commentary: The first two times Jesus asks the question, the Greek verb for "love" is agapan. The third time, and in all of Peter's replies, the Greek verb for "love" is philein, sometimes said to represent a lesser type of love. However, the two may be interchangeable.

AMP text (Amplified Bible):

(15) When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do--with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]". He said to him, "Feed My lambs".

(16) Again He said to him the second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]". He said to him, "Shepherd (tend) My sheep".

(17) He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?" Peter was grieved (was saddened and hurt) that He should ask him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]". Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep".

Do I read too much into the use of the meaning of the word? Perhaps the first two questions demanded a reply too personal and emotionally urgent for Peter to answer in the same terms used by Jesus. Jesus knew that Peter loved Him and His Father with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, and was seeking confession from Peter as to the quality of Peter's love for Him, as well as of his belief in Him and devotion to Him, in order to confirm Peter in his love for Jesus and to release the distress that had burdened Peter ever since the moment of his denial of Jesus. Peter's replies are wonderfully honest and direct, straight from his heart, expressing that his love is not the impersonal love of some of Jesus' followers, a creedal love established solely by 'reasoning' and 'intention' on the plane of purely 'spiritual devotion'. Peter's love for Jesus is more intensely personal than their love for Him (excluding John who was not present at that moment, following on behind), and for the Father (thinking of Philip's request as spokesman on one occasion, Jn 14:8 "Lord, show us the Father"). One can imagine Jesus delighting in this intensely personal expression of love, so much so, rephrasing and softening the third question; for Peter had twice declared how he loved Jesus with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Him as for a close friend, seeking thereby to confirm Peter in the depth of his love for Jesus by asking him in the same terms in which he had made his two replies, "Do you love Me with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend?" Peter's final reply says it all, "Lord, you know all things; you can tell that I love you".