"Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?"
If John, writing the "lovest thou me?" using 'agapas' twice and one last time 'phileis', really wanted to mean that Jesus was accepting Peter's imperfect love as a legitimate way to sacrificial Love, why does he refer to himself as "disciple whom Jesus loved" using 'ephilei'? Was Jesus' love imperfect at that time either? Let's remember: the time in question was after the resurrection. Isn't God's gift perfect? Was Peter's love really of God or that natural "love" people put their "faith" in? My point is: John's lesson was that same wisdom Paul openly articulated in Romans. Didn't John himself also state, "We love him, because he first loved us"? It's about humility as the only way to Grace, to true Love.
The nontranscendent belief is a faithless disaster. When it comes to 'eros', if you believe that the "love" in you is as genuine as Peter believed his "philia" was, you'll find yourself in that "heavy burdens and grievous to be borne" situation. Didn't Jesus say that to look on a woman to lust after her is adultery? Wait, wait... how could He say that and at the same time accuse the pharisees of being the oppressors? Because Jesus didn't expect anyone to be "just" like them, being "proud". They were kind of ashamed of Wisdom and Her name, weren't they? Being the natural offspring of Abraham, they believed they were somehow born-gifted. Believing in the born-gifted One and in his false self at the same time is what Peter did.
That's why churches are full of friends of the world forever resembling the pre-gift Peter. I once read some young evangelical in deep confusion, saying, "Who created this sex thing? It must have been the devil!". I see people being "fed" by leaders as lost as them or worse. So, if you're out there loving to make people "afraid" because it makes them give you a lot of money, you'd better repent, quit your "job" and start searching to have Fear. You're fools who believe "riches" compensate for the emptiness, anesthetize the pain, but among the souls you don't care about are those hoping to find the Medicine. You just can't really care with the care of the world; not everyone feels comfortable with an unfruitful fake life.
Kids, your "bosses" at home, church, work cannot understand Truth.
Don't let their busyness infect your lives.
