A hit record of the 1960s asked, "Do You Love Me?" Jesus asks Peter that same question in today's Gospel reading --- three times. Each time that Peter answers in the affirmative, Jesus responds, "Feed my sheep."

A major question Jesus' followers must be asking in the days and weeks following the resurrection of Jesus Christ must have been "What do we do now?" What does it mean that Christ is risen from the dead? Is his mission accomplished? Are we simply waiting to be lifted into the heavens? What does it mean to follow him now?

Jesus begins to answer these questions with this exchange. What does it mean to love the risen Christ? Feed his sheep. Jesus suggests that his followers are to continue his ministry of love, compassion, generosity and hospitality in his name.

We are all asked the same question today. "Do you love me?" Jesus asks us. If you're like me, you immediately answer like Peter does: "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." And like Peter Jesus calls all of us to continue his ministry in this world. "Feed my sheep." This one, for me, is not so easy to respond to. I'm usually too busy trying to feed myself and my family.

It is easy to say that you love someone. It's a lot harder to do it. We show what we love by how we live. If you spend the majority of your time and energy in the pursuit of money and material success, it would seem reasonable to infer that you love money most of all. If you spend the bulk of your time and energy improving your physical appearance, it would seem that you love beauty most of all. When you spend every waking moment trying to figure out how to please and be with another person, it is a good indication that you are in love with that individual.

Easter unleashes a new reality for the first followers of Jesus and for all of us. Jesus has conquered sin and death, but his victory is not an invitation to indifference. Easter is the beginning of a new reality, not the end of the story. The transformation of humanity is a process, not an event. It is a process that continues to this day. Clearly the world still needs the saving love of Jesus Christ. Those of us who claim to love him are called to spread that love.

Perhaps a more appropriate contemporary song to quote would be, "Who Do You Love?" We show who we love by our actions. Jesus tells that if we love him we will continue his work. It is pretty easy to tell if our answer to "Do you love me?" is believable. Are we actively involved in serving the needs of our communities? This is the challenge of Easter.

The good news is that Jesus lives. The challenge for us is to continue to live like him.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.