# Becoming a Disciple of Jesus - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 14 Oct 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75633274/becoming_a_disciple_of_jesus_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. Friends, on this third Sunday of Easter,
[0:03] Speaker 1: we have this magnificent gospel from the very end of
[0:06] Speaker 1: the Gospel of John, chapter 21. It's so rich theologically,
[0:10] Speaker 1: and the tradition has just loved this passage and drawn
[0:13] Speaker 1: out all sorts of implications. What I want to do
[0:16] Speaker 1: to get at it is to focus on St. Peter. Now, St. Peter, obviously,
[0:23] Speaker 1: great saint, the chief of the apostles. He's the rock
[0:27] Speaker 1: upon whom Jesus builds the church. The cross I'm wearing
[0:30] Speaker 1: has St. Peter on it. His basilica is the greatest
[0:33] Speaker 1: church in the world. Millions come to venerate his tomb.
[0:36] Speaker 1: So no one doubts the importance and greatness of Peter. However,
[0:40] Speaker 1: there's no question that the Gospels present Peter as a
[0:44] Speaker 1: deeply ambiguous figure, which is why all of us who
[0:48] Speaker 1: are kind of shady, ambiguous figures... can learn a lot
[0:52] Speaker 1: from him and from how the Lord deals with him. So,
[0:57] Speaker 1: you know, first of all, Jesus must have recognized all
[1:00] Speaker 1: kinds of qualities in Peter. That's why he chose him
[1:03] Speaker 1: as the chief of the apostles. He must have seen
[1:05] Speaker 1: qualities of leadership and intelligence and all that. There's no question, furthermore,
[1:11] Speaker 1: that it's his great confession. You are the Christ, the
[1:14] Speaker 1: son of the living God. That's the rock upon which
[1:16] Speaker 1: Jesus builds his church. So no one doubts, you know,
[1:20] Speaker 1: the significance of Peter. But remember that scene in Caesarea Philippi,
[1:24] Speaker 1: right after the confession, when Jesus begins talking about the cross,
[1:30] Speaker 1: and it's Peter, maybe he's sort of feeling, well, this
[1:32] Speaker 1: is my role now, I'm the head of the apostles.
[1:34] Speaker 1: It's Peter who says, I mean, Lord, heaven forbid this
[1:38] Speaker 1: should ever happen to you. And then he hears, it's
[1:41] Speaker 1: the greatest rebuke anywhere in the Bible. Jesus says, to
[1:45] Speaker 1: get thee behind me, Satan. So, I mean, right after
[1:49] Speaker 1: he's named him the rock, he also recognizes this very
[1:53] Speaker 1: negative quality in Peter. Now, we see exactly what it is.
[1:57] Speaker 1: And in a way, it's always what the problem is.
[2:01] Speaker 1: It's an aversion to the cross. So, yes, he's correctly
[2:05] Speaker 1: confessed Jesus as the Lord, but he doesn't want the cross.
[2:11] Speaker 1: And that's why Jesus calls him Satan. So, we see
[2:16] Speaker 1: this now throughout the Gospels, but The ambiguity of Peter
[2:20] Speaker 1: reaches its high point in all the events surrounding the
[2:24] Speaker 1: passion and death of the Lord. It's where Peter's compromised
[2:29] Speaker 1: character becomes clearest. Where do we see it? Remember in
[2:35] Speaker 1: the Gospel of John at the Last Supper, when Jesus...
[2:40] Speaker 1: makes to wash the feet of his disciples. And we're
[2:43] Speaker 1: so used to that now, but it was shocking in
[2:47] Speaker 1: his time and place to do that, for someone who
[2:49] Speaker 1: is recognized as a master to get down into this
[2:54] Speaker 1: menial position. It was something that you wouldn't even ask
[2:57] Speaker 1: a slave to do, and yet Jesus is doing this
[3:00] Speaker 1: to his disciples. Well, that's what the gospel is all about,
[3:04] Speaker 1: isn't it? I mean, that's the way of Jesus. It's
[3:07] Speaker 1: not the way of worldly triumph. It's the way of
[3:10] Speaker 1: even the most menial service and love. But who balks
[3:13] Speaker 1: at it? Peter is the chief of the apostles. It's
[3:18] Speaker 1: Peter the rock who says, no, no, no, you're not
[3:21] Speaker 1: going to do that to me. Well, this means that
[3:25] Speaker 1: he's resisting the way of Jesus. He confessed him correctly,
[3:31] Speaker 1: but he's not getting it. That same resistance to the
[3:34] Speaker 1: cross is manifested there. No, no, you're not going to
[3:37] Speaker 1: wash my feet. We hear this in Luke's gospel. And
[3:43] Speaker 1: for my money, it's one of the most frightening lines
[3:46] Speaker 1: in the whole New Testament. This is Jesus now speaking
[3:50] Speaker 1: to Peter. Simon, Simon, listen. Satan... has demanded to sift
[4:01] Speaker 1: all of you like wheat. But once you've turned back,
[4:07] Speaker 1: strengthen your brothers. Simon, Satan, remember Jesus said, get thee
[4:16] Speaker 1: behind me, Satan. Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat.
[4:20] Speaker 1: What does that mean? Well, that's that process that was
[4:22] Speaker 1: common in the ancient world of separating wheat from the chaff.
[4:26] Speaker 1: Remember when John the Baptist talks about the winnowing fan?
[4:30] Speaker 1: Same idea. You take this rake and you throw the
[4:34] Speaker 1: grain up in the air and then the wind would blow,
[4:36] Speaker 1: separating the wheat from the chaff. Sifting, separating out. But now,
[4:43] Speaker 1: now it's Satan doing the sifting. What does that mean?
[4:47] Speaker 1: That means Satan is going to try to separate all
[4:52] Speaker 1: that's good in you, to throw that away as though
[4:56] Speaker 1: it were chaff and to keep the chaff behind. It's
[5:02] Speaker 1: a frightening image because, look, we're all ambiguous people. We
[5:05] Speaker 1: all have good and bad in us. Imagine the devil
[5:08] Speaker 1: now is carefully separating out the good and the bad
[5:12] Speaker 1: and throwing the good away. letting it blow away in
[5:16] Speaker 1: the wind so that only what's worst in us remains.
[5:20] Speaker 1: That's what the image says. You know what does this
[5:24] Speaker 1: to us often? Crisis and trial and difficulty. You might
[5:30] Speaker 1: be going along okay, and you're both good and bad,
[5:33] Speaker 1: but the good is kind of winning the war. But
[5:35] Speaker 1: then there comes time of trial. And then something happens
[5:41] Speaker 1: where the good and bad in you get separated out.
[5:44] Speaker 1: And And sometimes it's the bad that remains. That's what
[5:48] Speaker 1: the Lord is saying to Peter. And that's exactly what's
[5:52] Speaker 1: going to happen now. They're all during the passion going
[5:55] Speaker 1: to be sifted by Satan. Well, what's right after that?
[6:01] Speaker 1: They come to Gethsemane. Jesus now at this terrible moment
[6:06] Speaker 1: of anguish. And he takes Peter, James, and John, his
[6:09] Speaker 1: closest disciples, with him. He prays and sweats blood in
[6:13] Speaker 1: his anguish. Peter falls asleep. Not a good thing in
[6:19] Speaker 1: the Bible to fall asleep. It means you're inattentive. It
[6:23] Speaker 1: means you're not up to it. It means you're not
[6:26] Speaker 1: standing a post. And so what does he hear? Simon,
[6:30] Speaker 1: are you asleep? Keep awake and pray that you may
[6:35] Speaker 1: not come to the trial. Well, the same thing. That's
[6:38] Speaker 1: the trial. Satan's sifting you like wheat. You see the
[6:41] Speaker 1: point here? Peter's not doing well. He's not doing well
[6:46] Speaker 1: at this moment. Then comes the worst moment of all.
[6:52] Speaker 1: Jesus is arrested. Peter follows him, and he goes into
[6:56] Speaker 1: the courtyard of the high priest's house. He's warming his
[7:00] Speaker 1: hands by the fire. It's a cold evening. And then
[7:05] Speaker 1: the scapegoating mob begins to form. You were with Jesus,
[7:11] Speaker 1: someone said. Peter denied it. No, no. Someone else. This man,
[7:19] Speaker 1: he's one of them. Again, Peter denied it. And I
[7:25] Speaker 1: get it. This scapegoating mob, this is dangerous stuff. Mob
[7:29] Speaker 1: starts forming around you. They're not going to be gentle
[7:34] Speaker 1: with you. This is a dangerous business. Then a third time.
[7:38] Speaker 1: Certainly you're one of them for you're a Galilean. His
[7:42] Speaker 1: accent gave him away. But he began to curse and
[7:47] Speaker 1: he swore an oath. Now, you know, we think cursing
[7:51] Speaker 1: is using a bad word, but there's much more than
[7:53] Speaker 1: that here. Taking an oath, taking an oath, invoking God himself,
[7:59] Speaker 1: invoking God. He says, I don't know this man. Well, everybody,
[8:06] Speaker 1: Satan will sift you like wheat. You bet. Separating out
[8:11] Speaker 1: what's good in you and letting what's bad in you remain. Well,
[8:15] Speaker 1: there you see it on full display. Three times, three times,
[8:22] Speaker 1: he denies that he even knows Jesus, even invoking God himself,
[8:27] Speaker 1: taking an oath to that effect. Peter is not in
[8:33] Speaker 1: a good situation. We hear, it's a beautiful detail, completely credible,
[8:40] Speaker 1: that when the cock crows at that point, as Jesus
[8:42] Speaker 1: predicted it would, Peter breaks down and weeps. I mean,
[8:47] Speaker 1: his inner state at this point has been compared, I
[8:50] Speaker 1: think pretty correctly, to that of Judas. Practically at the
[8:55] Speaker 1: point of despair over how far he's fallen. How effectively
[8:59] Speaker 1: Satan has sifted Peter at this point. Well, that's the
[9:05] Speaker 1: image we get, everybody. As the life of Jesus comes
[9:09] Speaker 1: to its high point, this is the state that Peter
[9:12] Speaker 1: is in. And, you know, St. Peter symbolizes the church.
[9:17] Speaker 1: And so all of us members of the mystical body
[9:20] Speaker 1: are meant to kind of move into this space. Okay,
[9:24] Speaker 1: with all that in mind, let's cut to the chase
[9:26] Speaker 1: now of this gospel from John. The Lord has risen
[9:30] Speaker 1: from the dead. Peter indeed ran to the tomb Easter
[9:33] Speaker 1: Sunday morning to see. But now they're fishing in the
[9:38] Speaker 1: Sea of Tiberias. They're back in their home country. He's
[9:42] Speaker 1: in the boat, Peter is, with these seven others. I'm
[9:45] Speaker 1: going fishing. We'll come with you. Well, this is the church, right?
[9:50] Speaker 1: Whenever you have Peter in the boat with the other apostles,
[9:53] Speaker 1: it's an image of the church. And they fish and
[9:56] Speaker 1: fish all night, catch nothing. Morning comes. and they spy
[10:01] Speaker 1: this figure on the shore. He tells them to put
[10:04] Speaker 1: the net on the other side. Oh, we've been trying
[10:06] Speaker 1: all night. But they do it. And of course, they
[10:08] Speaker 1: bring in this miraculous draft of 153 large fish. At
[10:13] Speaker 1: which point, John, as he usually does, he intuits, it's
[10:16] Speaker 1: the Lord. But here's what I want you to see.
[10:19] Speaker 1: At this point, there's a really curious detail. They're fishing,
[10:22] Speaker 1: so I know they're not going to be wearing their
[10:24] Speaker 1: formal clothes. But it says that Peter threw on some
[10:30] Speaker 1: clothes because he was naked. Our translation rather demurely says
[10:35] Speaker 1: he was lightly clad, but that's not right. The Greek
[10:38] Speaker 1: is gymnos here. Gymnos means naked. That's why a gymnasium,
[10:43] Speaker 1: a place where you would exercise naked, that's a gymnasium.
[10:47] Speaker 1: So Peter is gimnos, he's naked, and hearing it's the Lord,
[10:52] Speaker 1: he throws on clothes. Now, who's that remind you of?
[10:56] Speaker 1: Go right back to the beginning of the Bible. Adam,
[10:59] Speaker 1: before the fall, is unselfconsciously naked, right, in the presence
[11:03] Speaker 1: of the Lord. Why does he hide himself after he
[11:08] Speaker 1: sinned in his shame? Oh, I hid myself, you know,
[11:11] Speaker 1: I heard you come, I hid myself. Well, who told
[11:14] Speaker 1: you you were naked? You must have eaten from that
[11:17] Speaker 1: tree Here's Peter now. He stands for all of us sinners,
[11:23] Speaker 1: all of us who get sifted by Satan. He's ashamed.
[11:27] Speaker 1: He's ashamed to be in the presence of the Lord.
[11:29] Speaker 1: That's why he throws on clothes. When he comes to
[11:32] Speaker 1: the shore, Jesus prepares a breakfast for them. And then
[11:37] Speaker 1: he engages in some very important spiritual direction, spiritual formation. Listen,
[11:45] Speaker 1: he takes Peter aside. Simon, again, he calls him as beautiful.
[11:49] Speaker 1: That's his original name. Simon, son of John, do you
[11:54] Speaker 1: love me more than these? Yes, Lord, you know I
[11:58] Speaker 1: love you. Feed my lambs. And then with slight variations,
[12:03] Speaker 1: Jesus asked that same question. Simon, do you love me? Lord,
[12:08] Speaker 1: you know everything. You know I love you. Feed my sheep. Simon,
[12:12] Speaker 1: do you love me? Lord, of course I love you.
[12:16] Speaker 1: Feed my lambs. Now, as St. Augustine said long ago,
[12:21] Speaker 1: and every single Christian preacher, including me, has repeated it,
[12:24] Speaker 1: three denials have to be countered by three affirmations. And
[12:32] Speaker 1: what's the implication of the affirmation? Lord, I love you.
[12:34] Speaker 1: What's it mean to love Jesus? Feed my lambs, feed
[12:38] Speaker 1: my sheep, feed my lambs. See, to walk the way
[12:42] Speaker 1: of Jesus is is to walk the way of washing
[12:45] Speaker 1: of the feet. It means embracing the cross of self-denial
[12:50] Speaker 1: and love the other. It's as simple and as spiritually
[12:54] Speaker 1: complex as that. Do you love me? And Peter is
[12:58] Speaker 1: forced to say three times, yes, yes, yes. Well, then
[13:01] Speaker 1: feed my sheep. And then this line, which I think
[13:05] Speaker 1: everybody sums up Christian spirituality, if you want. Jesus says... Amen, amen,
[13:12] Speaker 1: I say to you. In other words, pay attention. This
[13:15] Speaker 1: is important. When you were younger, you used to dress
[13:18] Speaker 1: yourself and go where you wanted. But when you grow old,
[13:22] Speaker 1: you will stretch out your hands and someone else will
[13:25] Speaker 1: dress you and lead you where you do not want
[13:28] Speaker 1: to go. Now, we hear that he's speaking of the
[13:31] Speaker 1: death that Peter would die, his arms stretched out upside
[13:36] Speaker 1: down on the cross in Rome. But think of this
[13:40] Speaker 1: more generally, everybody. When you're young, full of yourself, full
[13:44] Speaker 1: of ego, dress yourself, go where you want to go.
[13:47] Speaker 1: It's my life. Don't tell me what to do. That's
[13:51] Speaker 1: kid stuff. See, when you're young, that's kid stuff, spiritually speaking.
[13:55] Speaker 1: But when you're older, that means you've come to spiritual maturity.
[13:59] Speaker 1: You let go of those childish games. And you allow
[14:04] Speaker 1: someone else to dress you. That means the Holy Spirit.
[14:08] Speaker 1: and take you where your ego doesn't want to go. Well,
[14:11] Speaker 1: that's what the Spirit typically does, because the Spirit's leading
[14:14] Speaker 1: you to greater love, to greater love, to greater love.
[14:18] Speaker 1: Feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. See,
[14:23] Speaker 1: we're all meant to identify here with Peter. We've all
[14:26] Speaker 1: been sifted by Satan. We're all ambiguous characters. We need
[14:32] Speaker 1: to say again and again and again, Lord, I love you. Lord,
[14:37] Speaker 1: I love you. Lord, I love you. And then be
[14:41] Speaker 1: willing to feed his sheep. That's how we become his disciples.
[14:46] Speaker 1: And God bless you.

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