When Peter denied Jesus, has Peter lost his position as leader? Is Peter qualified to be one of the 12 disciples anymore? When you deny your Lord, haven’t you committed the unforgivable sin? What Peter did was extremely significant, and not in a good way. Now Jesus addresses the elephant in the room, the fact that Peter denied or disowned Jesus three times, and right at the moment of Jesus’ greatest need. Here’s John 21 verses 15-19:
“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
Finally, Jesus addresses the elephant in the room!
First, Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these?”
Peter answers, “Yes, of course I love you.”
You may have heard that Jesus and Peter are using different words for love here. Jesus uses agape and Peter uses phileo, which is the word for brotherly love. But most biblical scholars suggest that the different words for love aren’t the emphasis of the passage. Instead the repetition is. For now, we’re at “Do you love me” #1. Peter says Yes.
So Jesus says, “OK. Feed my lambs.” The word “feed” there is more likely referring to a general idea of caring for or tending. But this is a figurative passage. Jesus wasn’t a literal shepherd with literal sheep. Jesus is talking about the mission of his Kingdom and his followers. He is inviting Peter to take over the shepherding role! Peter is to tend, care for. Maybe Peter has lost his possibility of leadership and being a disciple. Maybe he has lost confidence in himself. But Jesus hasn’t lost confidence in Peter.
But this conversation isn’t done. Jesus repeats his original question, “Do you love me?” now for the second time. Peter again says “Yes, like a brother!” Jesus says a variation of what he said before, “Shepherd my sheep.” Has Peter figured out what Jesus is doing here? Is Peter counting the repetitions “Do you love me?” #1, and “Do you love me?” #2, thinking that a third one is coming, one for each of Peter’s three denials?
Or is Peter confused? Is Peter thinking, “That’s weird…why is he asking me the same exact question he just asked me?” Is Peter thinking, “Jesus is purposeful about everything he does, so what he is getting at here?” It seems that Peter might not fully get what Jesus is doing, based on what we read happens next.
Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” for the third time, and John tells us Peter is now feeling hurt. Why is he feeling hurt? Maybe he thinks Jesus doesn’t believe him? Why else would Jesus ask Peter the same thing three times? Or maybe Peter is sad because a realization dawns over him, “Oh…Jesus is asking me if I love him three times because I denied him three times.”
Peter, though he is sad, wants to make things right. He says “Yes, I love you!” And this time they both use the word for brotherly love. For a third time Jesus repeats, “Feed my sheep.”
Three denials. Three restorations. Do you see what this means?
We’ll talk about the significant meaning of Jesus’ restoration of Peter in the next post.
Photo by Kato Blackmore 🇺🇦 on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 