Fifty Forgotten Days: “From Fish to Sheep” John 21:15-17
Several disciples had just witnessed and had been PART OF another fish miracle on the shores of Galilee. The catch of 153 fish at the Galilee Breakfast with Jesus pointed to the large HOLY SPIRIT-Pentecost catch to come when 3,000 would be saved (caught) through the Gospel sermon of Peter in one day. The miracle was a reminder to us who follow Jesus that we are to share the Gospel as “fishers of men” to those who are lost in a sea of sin. Now Jesus moves from fish and fishing to sheep and shepherding.
Today’s scripture continues after having breakfast with the risen Savior on the beach in John 21:15-17: 15“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love (Agapao) me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you. (phileô)" Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love (Agapao) me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. (phileô)" Jesus said, "Take care of (tend) my sheep."
17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me (phileô)?" Peter was hurt (grieved, sorrowful) because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me (phileô)?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you. (phileô)" Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.”
(“We have two different Greek words in our passage translated “love“: 1. Agape speaks of the noblest type of love: sacrificial love. It’s more than a feeling—it is an act of the will. Jesus, Himself, is personified as “AGAPE” LOVE in 1 Cor. 13.)
2.“We have phileo-love. Philia refers to brotherly love and is most often exhibited in a close friendship. Best friends will display this generous and affectionate love for each other as each seeks to make the other happy. You don’t want to ever let a friend down BECAUSE you love them.” It involves feelings of warmth and affection toward another person; we do not have phileo-love toward our enemies. However, God commands us to have agape love toward everyone.” S. Michael Houdmann, gotquestions.org)
A Call to a Higher Degree of the Highest Love
This is the third appearance by Jesus to disciples, Peter being present all 3 times. Peter had denied Jesus three times while Jesus was being interrogated leading to His crucifixion, and now Jesus asks Peter 3 times: Do you love me? The first time saying, “Do you love me more than these?” It would be one thing to have a friend or spouse ask you this question three times in succession, but what if the RISEN SAVIOR, your Lord Jesus, questions you with these words: Do you love me more than these?
More than These: Was Jesus pointing to the boatload of fish still sitting there? That meant alotta dollars and cents to a few fishermen! Do you love me more than personal profit? Do you love me more than your profession, than your career or your livelihood? Do you love me more than your calling? Are you willing to sacrifice what you may love most in life in order to follow me?
Agape-love is the love that God has for His people which prompted the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus, for our sins. Do you love me more than your own interests? Or maybe Jesus was asking if Peter loved Him MORE than the other disciples loved Him. After all, Peter had denied Jesus, recorded for the world to hear; or maybe He was asking Peter if He loved JESUS more than Peter loved his friends.
Although John uses the words “agapao” and “phileo” interchangeably in some cases (i.e, the phrase “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is used four times in his Gospel: Three times he uses the word “agapaô” and one time he uses “phileô”), but I am not certain that John is using two different words to infer the same thing here. “FISHERS OF MEN”, the people that God calls to represent him, ARE CALLED TO A HIGHER DEGREE of the HIGHEST LOVE! After all, we are called to deny OURSELVES, not to deny our Savior. We are CALLED TO DECLARE, not to deny Jesus. We aren’t called, though, because we HAVE that kind of love. It is God who creates that kind of life and love IN US. The reason that we were created is to bring ALL GLORY to God, and to LOVE HIM ALONE with everything that is in us! The reason we are SAVED is to FOLLOW and DECLARE our Savior, and so the Risen Jesus says to Peter, but also to us: Do you love me more than these?
The Cure for Denial is a REPENTANT Heart.
If you do, "Feed my lambs.” And so a second time, Jesus said, "Do you truly love (Agapao) me?" Peter answers, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. (phileô)" Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." Then quickly a third time he said to him, "Do you love me (phileô)?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me (phileô)?"
Jesus had asked Peter 2 times, “Do you Agapao me?” Do you love me with an unfailing, committed, sacrificial love? When Jesus asked him the third time, Jesus reverted to the lesser degree of love, the degree to which Peter had replied. This is WHY Peter was “HURT” (Lupeo), he was actually grieved; He was thrown into sorrow. What WE usually mean by “being hurt” is that we are unwilling to forgive someone else for a wrong that they did against us. Think about that for a minute. We SAY we are hurt, but what is actually happening many times is that we are exalting ourselves over the aggressor or perpetrator and saying: I am worth more than the treatment that you gave me. I didn’t deserve what you said or did to me, and I am going to continue to hold it AGAINST YOU until YOU somehow make it right. But Peter was “HURT”, because He was convicted!
The Cure for Denial is a REPENTANT HEART. Listen to Paul in 2 Cor. 7: 8-10: “For though I caused you sorrow (lupeo) by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it-for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while - 9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance ; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Paul uses this word for “Hurt” or “Sorrow” 7 times in 3 verses. Restoration and Reconciliation follow Repentance. The bottom line is that GODLY SORROW produces repentance WITHOUT REGRET.
The pain and sorrow of repentance are not penalties in the lives of believers, but valuable means of Godly instruction so that children of faith see IN IT a firm relationship to joy. Psalm 126:5: “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.”
We know that Peter’s heart was “HURT” but yet He professes the omniscience of the Savior: Peter responds to Jesus, ”You know ALL THINGS! You knew BEFORE I denied you three times, that I would do so. You KNEW my heart then, and you know my heart NOW, that I phileo (love) you as the closest of friends.” Peter knows that the LOVE OF God in Christ is far greater than his sin of denial. Godly sorrow and repentance brings renewed intimacy with the Savior (and also with others) because Godly repentance brings us face to face with the infinite LOVE of Jesus: I CAN”T possibly ostracize myself from you BECAUSE of God’s Love for me.
A Repentant Heart will trust and obey.
In his repentance, Jesus calls Peter into specific ministry. A sorrowful and repentant heart towards one’s own one sin and a profession and trust in the Almighty God and Savior, Jesus Christ to forgive, save, and reconcile will produce a Heart that will TRUST and OBEY the SAVIOR. (That actually becomes the theme of 1 Peter in the NT.) Peter was the flamboyant fisherman, not an educated theologian. He was CALLED and appointed by Jesus to become a pastor and preacher who would train tend, feed and care for, and equip those of the 1st century church whom God had called into fellowship through the Gospel to serve HIM, and so that THEY would be fishers of men. This appearing by Jesus on the Beach shows that the mission assigned to the disciples did not end with His death and resurrection, but it was only beginning.
The mission of the Church continues, as God calls fishers of men into Ministry and Service. For Peter, this would entail the calling of a Pastor, to FORMALLY teach God’s Word to believers. That is, not everyone’s calling, but it IS EVERYONE’S CALLING to RELATIONALLY teach the Gospel to everyone that we meet. THERE ARE NO purely SPECTATORS following Christ. Salvation is God’s idea not man’s; and making fishers of men and disciples is His idea, too. Ministering and serving is His idea, too. Providing for ministry and service comes from Him too, but He accomplishes it through those who have been caught in the net of the Gospel of His Love.
Someone else shared the GOSPEL with us. Now we share it with someone else, and SUNDAY MORNINGS is NOT supposed to be where you first HEAR the Gospel. Whenever we gather it is to praise and worship our Lord and Savior, to adore Him, to glory in His Word and Spirit together, so that WE ARE EQUIPPED to go out from here and “GO FISHING”, exercising the Gospel as we go. Talk about God’s love and greatness to those around you. Weave the Gospel into your everyday activities and conversations.
We Love Him because we have been loved. We serve Him ‘FISHING’ because He first CAUGHT us in His Love, and we serve out of gratitude and from a WILLING HEART, not from a spirit of servitude or compulsion. (Peter later said that in 2 Peter.)
Peter became known as the apostle of HOPE: NOW as Jesus reinstates Peter as a disciple and as one who would care for other believers, Peter begins to realize the great depth of Christ’s Love to forgive him, even though he denied Him and even refused to identify himself with the other disciples, and that He refused to even admit that He KNEW the very Jesus who would DIE FOR HIM! Jesus had taught that to the one who is forgiven little, he will love little; to the one who is forgiven much, the same loves much. (Luke 7:47) Now Peter accepts Jesus’ appointment for Him: If Jesus has said it, I have to trust Him and be obedient!
This is not the end of Peter’s story but the beginning: Jesus’ call to Peter would NOT be for him to follow Him only for the next 3 hours, 3 days, or weeks, but for the rest of his earthly life. He was given the responsibility to shepherd others for the next THREE DECADES! It was not until the Holy Spirit filled Him at Pentecost that he was able to witness, WITH NO DENYING IT.
The same Peter, who emphatically had denied Jesus, affirmed His Love for Christ on the shores of Galilee and stood up in a crowd a few weeks later and declared in Acts 2:32: "This Jesus, God raised up again, to which we are ALL witnesses. 33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear…36 … God has made Him both Lord and Christ -this Jesus whom you crucified." 37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" 38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”
“Following” means fishing, fellowshipping with Christ and His Body, and being faithful to the GREAT SHEPHERD. You are faithful to Him by serving Him! Hebrews 13:20-21: “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:4; “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”
I. “Fishers of men” are called to a Higher Degree of the Highest Love!
Do you love me more than these?
We are called to deny OURSELVES, not to deny our Savior
II. The Cure for Denial is a Sorrowful Heart:
Restoration and Reconciliation follow Repentance.
Peter’s heart was “HURT” but He professes the omniscience of the Savior:
You know ALL THINGS!
III. A Repentant Heart will TRUST and OBEY.
Believers are called into Relationship and into Ministry:
“Following” means fishing, fellowshipping with Christ and His Body, and being faithful to the GREAT SHEPHERD.
