I remember, as a child, wincing while my mum held firmly to the hand that had a splinter lodged in palm or finger. It astonished me that something I’d barely noticed entering could be so excruciating to remove. But if it stayed in, the risk of inflammation and serious infection was real. We tend to associate splinters with our physical bodies, but our minds, hearts and memories can receive them too – words that echo in our ears, scenes that flash before our eyes, stabs of recollection that haunt us and hold us back. Those things – things we can’t unsee, unhear, unsay or undo – live on within, causing inflammation, infection, even immobility.

That’s why in this passage, with three probing questions (vs 15–17), Jesus takes Peter back to the night of his denials. Jesus is gentle and firm in his pursuit. Peter protests (v 17). If God knows everything, even what’s going on inside us, why does he still ask us to express it when doing so can be painful? The answer we see here is that he has more for us. Through Jesus’ three questions and his own pained responses, Peter receives the reinstatement and release of renewed trust, as well as the reminder that all he does flows from love.