15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My lambs." 16 He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Shepherd My sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep.
Now that all the disciples have had a time of fellowship with Jesus, he takes Peter aside for a walk on the beach. This is evident from verse twenty where John is following them and eavesdropping on this conversation. This was private but not so private that the Lord didn’t want John to hear and record it. Many people have commented on and preached though this conversation so I’m quite sure there is nothing new in what I will say about it. Hopefully it will be a good reminder of what those others have drawn from it.
Each time that Jesus ask Peter about his love of Jesus, he addresses him very formally. “Simon son of John.” How different this is from the very familiar and intimate address of Simon, Simon when Jesus warned him that Satan would tempt him in Luke 22:31. Here, Jesus is using his full name, and it is like the stern reprimand of a mother or father when they have caught a child in the cookie jar. Yet, Jesus’ question reveals that this isn’t a scolding even though it most likely brings Peter’s attention back to the time when he said to him, “Simon, Simon.”
Do you love me is the question that Jesus is asking. And it isn’t just a matter of love, but a matter of a degree of love in the first question. It’s a question we all need to ask ourselves. Do we love Jesus more than any other person? Jesus taught this before in Luke 14:26. Jesus must have priority. And again, Jesus said in Luke 14:33, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” When Jesus asks Peter if he love him more than all the other disciples, he is also asking us.
Just to be clear, Jesus is using the word, agapao, in his first two questions. Strong’s defines this as, “to love (in a social or moral sense).”[1] This is the highest form of love as defined by 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. If you haven’t read those verses in a while, I suggest you do so and ask the questions, “Do I love others in this way? How would I answer Jesus if he asked me as he asked Peter?”
I’m sure Peter was remembering his denying that he even knew Jesus a couple of weeks previously. How could he not replay that over and over and find no way of forgiving himself or wondering if Jesus would forgive him. Now, I’m not advocating that we can forgive ourselves as that is unbiblical. But under such a grievous denial of loving Jesus, it is possible that is what Peter was feeling. It is a common problem in our unbiblical society and even in many churches. We are told we must forgive ourselves if we want to feel better after having sinned when the real problem is not believing God’s word. So he musters up the best he can and answers Jesus that his love is phileo. Strong’s defines this love as, “to be a friend to (fond of [an individual or an object]), i.e. have affection for (denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling.”[2] Note how much this definition is based on feelings.
Jesus asks again and Peter responds the same way. But the third time Jesus ask if his love is phileo. And Peter is now grieved. The wound is open, and Peter can’t do anything but trust Jesus. Each time he responds that Jesus knows his love. How can Jesus keep asking the same question if he knows? Finally, he clearly appeals to Jesus’ omniscience. Peter trusts that Jesus knows just how much he loves him. And that’s what we need to do when we have royally screwed up and need forgiveness. We need to trust that our agapao falls so far short of this divine love that we can only express our phileo for him.
However, along with Jesus’ questioning Peter is the three-fold instructions that come after each of Peter’s expression of love. “Tend My lambs. Shepherd My sheep. Tend My sheep.” All three of these commands could have been translated feed. But to shepherd is the word poimonio, which Strong’s says, “to tend as a shepherd of (figuratively, superviser).”[3] Clearly, Jesus is telling Peter he needs to get over his guilt and do what he has been called to do, which is to be the leader of this small band of disciples. And that is exactly what he does when they go back to Jerusalem. Jesus doesn’t say one word about Peter’s denial. He doesn’t condemn him. He just points him to his task.
We don’t have any Scripture that tells us that Peter asked for forgiveness. We can only assume that at some point he did. This reaffirmation of Peter’s leadership role without one word of condemnation, even for not being able to agapao Jesus, should encourage any of us who have fallen from grace and turned back for forgiveness. We can’t forgive ourselves, that is God’s prerogative (Mark 2:7), but we must accept his forgiveness and then act like it. If we try to hang on to guilt and beat ourselves up then we are adding to our sin, unfaithfulness because we are not believing the Word of God specifically, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
8 "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." 19 Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!"
There are many verses in the Bible that must have an explanation, or we would not have any idea about the meaning. This is one of them. Put yourself in Peter’s position and listen to Jesus words as if he were telling you this. What would you think it meant? I would think that he is telling me that when I was young and didn’t know Christ, I did whatever I wanted. But when I get old, I’ll have to depend on others to take care of me, even dress me. I won’t have any way of deciding where I want to go. Sounds like living after a bad stroke.
Since John told us that Jesus was telling him that it was about his death and glorify God in his death, we can understand, looking at history, he was telling Peter he would be crucified. Trying to get anything else out of this would be reading what we want into what Jesus said.
However, we can apply Jesus’ command to Peter to follow him to our own lives. Peter is told and presumably understood that Jesus was telling him he would be crucified. In view of this horrific death, he is still supposed to follow Jesus. That is a hard thing to contemplate.
Seldom are we told years in advance how we will die. But we should all consider that we will die and that no matter how we die, it shouldn’t change our commitment to follow Jesus. So, what has Jesus told us about this? He said this in Luke 9:23-27:
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Indeed, we are told that our relationship to Jesus may very well be the cause of our death. Everyone who follows Jesus should be aware of this and accept the possibility. It is sad to consider that there are many people think they are followers of Jesus, then deny Jesus under threat of death.
Jesus made it clear to Peter, he would have to make that decision in the future but unlike his denial at Jesus’ trial, he would hold firm to the end.
20 Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" 21 So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!"
Here is John, who never gives his name, following Jesus and Peter. If Jesus has a special love for John that was somehow different that his love for Peter or the other disciples, then it makes sense that Peter might want to know if Jesus is going to have John die a martyr also. Peter still has a long way to go. Here he is, being recommissioned by the Lord and he wants to know what will happen to John.
It is the same with just about all of us. We may have been called to serve in one way or another and we still look at others and wonder about them. We wonder if the Lord is as pleased with us as he is with them. We wonder if they are closer to the Lord than we are. We wonder if their ministry is more important than ours. In the case with Peter wanting to know what would happen to John, it may be envy. Peter apparently forgot the parable of the talents. “To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability” (Matt 25:15). While we have equal standing before the Lord, we don’t have equal ministries, lives, or abilities.
And so, Jesus reminds Peter of this very thing. It doesn’t matter what the Lord has called another person to do. We follow him. It is what we need to remember and do what we are called to do faithfully serving the Lord.
23 Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?"
Ether Peter or John repeated this to others. Perhaps it was to the other disciple that were gathered that day and asked what Jesus had told Peter. Without an explanation, people started the telephone game long before the telephone. Add this to Jesus’ words, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Matt 16:28). Now, you can see why people may have seriously thought that John wouldn’t die. But, John tags this at the end of his Gospel just to set people straight. This wasn’t a promise that John wouldn’t die.
24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
It is a mystery why John didn’t use his name in the Gospel. Apparently, everyone who read it knew it was from John. He appeals to their knowledge of him to verify that everything he wrote was true. It is almost like he is standing in front of a synagogue and reading the book. In fact, John had been telling everyone what was in the book long before he wrote it down.[4]
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.
This has to be a very significant verses in the Bible. Significant not because it speaks to redemption but because of the mind expanding thoughts when we consider the preincarnate Christ who created all things (remember John 1:3) and all that he is still doing since “he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:17). Out of all creation and all the other things that Jesus did while on the earth, and still does, John chose only to write what was sufficient to bring us to faith in Jesus.
So it is evident that John has completed his thesis as the Holy Spirit has breathed it out in this book.
Jesus is indeed God in the flesh. He is divine.
Salvation and life are found only in Jesus.
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