“This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.” John 21:14.
The following verses recount Jesus’ thrice repeated question to Peter, “…do you love Me?”
“So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him ‘Feed My lambs.’ He said to him again a second time, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Tend My sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, 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, ‘Feed My sheep. Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.’ This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’” John 21:15-19.
The wording in this portion does not quite give the impact of their conversation so two Greek words will be inserted in this passage below to give you a better idea of what is going on.
The word love is used seven times in this conversation; yet unlike the single English word love which derives its meaning from the context of a sentence, such as love between friends, love between husband and wife, mother and child, or erotic love; the original Greek words are specific with a different one to convey a different meaning.
In this case there are two different Greek words to signify which kind of love is being referred to. In order to gain the full impact of this conversation you will need to familiarize yourself with each one.
The first one is agapao, means to be fond of to love dearly. For example this is the word used by Jesus when speaking to His disciples in the following verse.
“These things I command you, that you love [agapao] one another.” John 15:17.
There is a third word that is not used in the conversation between the Lord and Peter. The word is agape which means, affection, good will, and benevolence.
The two words, agape and agapao are used in the following verses which end in the words “God is love [agape]”
“Beloved, let us love [agapao] one another, for love [agape] is of God; and everyone who loves [agapao] is born of God and knows God. He who does not love [agapao] does not know God, for God is love [agape].” 1 John 4:7-8.
Let us paraphrase these verses to see if they become easier to understand.
“Beloved let us love dearly, one another, for affection, and benevolent good will is of God; and everyone who loves dearly is born of God and knows God. He who does not love dearly does not know God, for God is a God of infinite affection, benevolence and good will.” 1 John 4:7-8.
The term infinite has been added to the last sentence above because that is truly what separates the agape love that we can express with the help of the Holy Spirit from that of the Godhead.
“… [that you may comprehend] the love [agape] of Christ which passes knowledge; that; you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:19.
It is this agape that is described in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, and is expected to exist between Christians. Agape is a love which only the Holy Spirit can fill us with, an unselfish love for God and those around us.
The other word for love is phileo; this is the love which exists in friendship which might be rendered, brotherly love or to have affection for. Phileo is the word for love that Peter uses throughout this dialogue. It is not as strong a word for love as agapao.
“…Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you agapao Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I phileo You.’ He said to him, ‘Feed My lambs.’ He said to him again a second time, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you agapao Me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I phileo You.’ He said to him, ‘Tend My sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you phileo Me?’ Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you phileo Me?’ And he said to Him, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I phileo You.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed My sheep.’” John 21: 15-17.
Peter was reinstated with the Lord when Jesus met privately with him after His resurrection (Luke 24:33-34), but now he is being reinstated publicly, so there will be no discussing the matter of his denials of Christ by the disciples. It is now a dead issue.
Peter’s fear of using the word agapao when speaking of his love for Christ is another matter. How could he profess his perfect love for Jesus after he had denied Him three times? After all he had told Jesus before His arrest, “I will lay down my life for Your sake”.
Strong men, and more often strong wills, have great confidence in their ability to handle a situation. For this reason they will accept a task knowing within themselves that they have the will and strength to do it without help, often they boast of this. This confident self-sufficiency is what brought about Peter’s downfall.
“Peter answered and said to Him, ‘Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’ And so said all the disciples.” Matthew 26:33-35.
As Dirty Harry once said in a movie of the same name, “A man has got to know his limitations”, this is good advice, Peter did not know his, the disciples did not know theirs, and you and I have got to be aware of our own.
“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3.
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:13-17.
Peter had utterly crashed and burned with his denials of Jesus; so much so that he did not even have the confidence to proclaim the agapao love that he supposed that he should have shown when faced with denying the Lord.
It is not as though he did not feel this kind of love for the Lord, because twice he said, “Yes, Lord; You know…” and the third time he said, “You know all things; You know…”
Even though Peter did not have the confidence to make bold assertions, he appealed to the Lord’s omniscience by saying, “You know…”
It seems as though when Peter said, “You know all things…” he must have finally come to the full knowledge that he was talking face to face to the omniscient living God who also talked face to face to Moses. What a staggering thought.
“But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face…” Deuteronomy 33:10.
Love for Christ is not the only subject of this dialogue because Jesus also said three times, “Feed My lambs.” “Tend My sheep.” and finally, “Feed My sheep.” Christ, the head of the church, now turns the care for the church over to His disciples.
Feed My lambs, give special care to the weak and young among the flock, feeding them from the word of God; bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Tend My sheep, shepherd the flock, keeping them in the will of Christ.
Feed My sheep, some render this “My little sheep”, the shepherd is not only to watch over the sheep and care for them, but they are to feed the flock which Christ lovingly refers to as My little sheep.
But most emphatically Christ states, My lambs, My sheep, My little sheep; not the pastor’s or minister’s or the elder’s sheep, but My sheep; we belong to Christ, not the shepherds.
“The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by constraint but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” 1 Peter 5:1-4.
Scripture says of Christ:
“He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.” Isaiah 40:11.
Jesus did this at His first advent, He has given this responsibility over to His disciples for a time, and He will resume caring for the flock again when He returns. Still, even now Jesus is called the head of the church, and the Chief Shepherd.
“For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.” Ephesians 5:23.
Finally in verse 18, Jesus prophesied the manner of death by which Peter, “…would glorify God.” The description of stretching out the hands is a reference to crucifixion which took place about 64 A. D. when by tradition he was crucified upside down. Through all this the Lord’s admonition to Peter is to, “Follow Me.”
“Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’ Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’ Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?’ This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.” John 21:20-24.
By the sound of the narrative, the Lord and Peter were walking along the shore of the sea because John was following them. This is the same person mentioned above who leaned on Jesus’ breast at the Passover Supper.
“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. Then, leaning back on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, ‘Lord, who is it?’” John 13:23-25.
After Christ had told him to, “Follow Me” Peter immediately asks a completely inane question, “But Lord, what about this man?” While it is true that Peter and John are often mentioned together which might indicate that he felt a certain responsibility for the young man, it sounds as if he felt that he should be leading him in his ministry. Regardless of his motivation, Jesus’ reply remains the same, “You follow Me.”
It is fortunate that Peter did ask this question because; down through the ages people have assumed leadership over others because they felt the need to tell others what to do.
If Christ calls someone to do this, well and good, but if He has not, untold damage can and has been done to the body of Christ because someone is serving Satan, not Christ in shepherding His sheep.
Just the confused report about John’s living until Jesus’ return shows that many Christians are not fit to lead or teach. God has men separated for the task of leadership and He will call them and enable them.
As for those not fit to lead, there are other gifts that they alone can use to the glory of God; there are teachers, evangelists, prophets, ministries, exhorters (comforters), givers, and merciful, to name some.
All of these are wonderful gifts to glorify God and edify, or lift up the church. Yet, instead of using their gift to the best of their ability, they complain that they would make a better pastor, teacher or evangelist, while neglecting the treasure within them. Jesus Himself tells those who are dissatisfied, “…what is that to you? You follow Me.”
“And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen” John 21:25.
While He was here on earth, Jesus labored day after day, from morning to night, sometimes late into the night.
As you read these accounts it becomes inescapable that He led a sinless life in which He gave of Himself for the comfort and well-being of others, and tirelessly went about doing the works of the Father exhibiting the personality of God, revealing Him to mankind.
John mentions that Jesus did many other things which were not recorded, meaning that the four gospels are only a small part of the life of Christ on earth.
Like all Scripture, they do not tell us everything there is to know, but it tells us everything we need to know; which is already far more than we can gather in a lifetime.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the [agape] love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all, Amen.” 2 Corinthians 13:14.
Do You Love Me? John 21:15-25 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 7-24-13, updated on 5-2-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.