The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
Week 10: Chapter 9 — The Second Call
Read Chapter 9 of The Ragamuffin Gospel. Key passage: John 21:15-19 (Jesus reinstates Peter).
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In this penultimate chapter, Manning offers hope to everyone who has failed spectacularly — people who have denied, betrayed, or walked away from their faith — by turning to the story of Peter's restoration on the beach.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Read John 21:15-19. Jesus asks Peter three times, 'Do you love me?' — mirroring Peter's three denials. Why does Jesus not simply announce forgiveness and move on? What does this tender, repetitive exchange tell us about how grace works in us over time?
2.Manning calls this 'the second call' — the moment of recommissioning after failure. He argues that many Christians have never fully received their second call because they cannot believe they deserve it. Have you experienced a 'second call' moment in your own life — a sense of being restored after a significant failure?
3.Peter had not merely stumbled — he had denied knowing Jesus, three times, on the night Jesus needed him most. Manning uses this to argue that no failure is too great for grace to cover. Do you believe that? What failures in your own life still feel beyond grace's reach?
a.What would it mean to hear Jesus ask you — three times, tenderly — 'Do you love me?' How would you answer?
b.What 'feed my sheep' commission might be waiting on the other side of your receiving that restoration?
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