"The Lord's questions always reveal me to myself" -- Oswald. And, in Peter's case, the revelation was not entirely unwelcome. "He was awakening to the fact that in the real true center of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus." Oswald does not elaborate on why the questions were painful, but I think in addition to his devotion, Peter recognized his frailty, that he could not return Christ's love in kind. Christ's love comes without limit, without wavering, without ulterior motives. Our love will always be finite and mixed with selfishness, but the good news for Peter is that Christ's questioning revealed his love to be genuine and deeply felt.
I usually think of Christ revealing my sin to me -- my greed or jealousy or self-absorption -- peeling away the layers of pretense and false righteousness. Oswald's words today awoke in me the possibility that Christ might reveal good things in me as well -- his work in process, his Spirit producing fruit, his transformation/my metamorphosis. He might show me myself and I might not be repulsed. That is a new -- and quite welcome -- suggestion.
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