John 21:15-21
When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter,
“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asked a
second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” He asked a
third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was sad that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do
you love me?” He replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. I assure you that
when you were younger you tied your own belt and walked around wherever you
wanted. When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and another will tie
your belt and lead you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to show the
kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. After saying this, Jesus said
to Peter, “Follow me.”
Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus
loved following them. This was the one who had leaned against Jesus at the meal
and asked him, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” When Peter saw this
disciple, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”
Food for thought!
As far as the language goes, the question of Jesus,
«Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me more than these?» can mean two things
equally well.
(a) It may be that Jesus swept his hand round the boat
and its nets and equipment and the catch of fishes, and said to Peter: «Simon,
do you love me more than you love these things? Are you prepared to give them
all up, to abandon all hope of a successful career, to give up a steady job and
a reasonable comfort, in order to give yourself for ever to my people and to my
work? Are you ready to change career?» This may have been a challenge to Peter
to take the final decision to give all his life to what Jesus was asking him to
do. Yes, sometimes Jesus demands a lot from us; he sometimes pulls us out of
our comfort zones.
(b) It may be that Jesus looked at the rest of the
little group of the disciples, and said to Peter: «Simon, do you love me more
than your fellow-disciples do?» It may be that Jesus was looking back to a
night when Peter said: «Though they all fall away because of you, I will never
fall away» (Matt.26:33). It may be that he was gently reminding Peter how once
he had thought that he alone could be true and how his courage had failed. It
is more likely that the second meaning is right, because in his answer Peter
does not make comparisons any more; he is content simply to say: «You know that
I love you.» Sometimes, we take ourselves to be different from all humanity, to
be strong, to be special, until facts prove us otherwise, that we are not
different from the rest of humanity, that we too are flesh and blood.
This is the lesson Peter learnt. That fateful night he
had pledged to Jesus: «I will never fall away.» That same night, Peter fell
away, not once, but three times. He fell away just like anybody else; he was as
weak as anybody else. Over confidence is dangerous.
Did you ever notice this? In his first letter, Peter
began his letter thus, «I, Peter, I am writing this letter.» (1Pt 1:1). In his
second letter the same Peter begins, «I, Simon Peter, am writing this letter.»
(2Pt 1:1). Why this change in names? Why in the first letter just Peter and in
the second letter Simon Peter? Well, in the first letter, Peter wrote full of
energy. In the second letter, which he wrote years after, Peter acknowledged
that he was still Simon; he acknowledged that in him there was still a Simon.
The name «Simon» represented Peter the man, the natural man, Son of Jona,
whereas the name «Peter» represented Peter the apostle, the supernatural man;
Peter is the vocation, Simon is the man in flesh and blood. So, in the first
letter, he wrote as Peter. After many years, he still recognized that still his
humanity had not left him; that he was still human, still weak, still
struggling, still normal, still Simon. We do well to remember this: that the
struggle, the temptations, the flesh and blood do not die away with time; our
«Simon nature» will accompany us until the end, until we die; until death does
part us from them, we will continue to feel the urges of flesh and blood.
Thankfully, we have Jesus, who knows that we are both
Simon and Peter, both natural and supernatural, both human and Christian. That
is why whenever our Simon over runs our Peter he gives us chance to reaffirm
ourselves, as he did with Peter. He asked him three times if Peter loved him.
Why? It was three times that Peter denied his Lord, and it was three times that
his Lord gave him the chance to affirm his love. Jesus, in his gracious
forgiveness, gave Peter the chance to wipe out the memory of the threefold
denial by a threefold declaration of love. After our fall, Jesus will always
give us another chance. For Jesus there is always a second cup. When it's sin
versus grace, grace wins always; where sin increased, God's grace increased
even more. (Rom 5:20)
