Lovest Thou Me?
John 21:15-23
I have done things in my life that I am deeply ashamed of. Before my own conversion, I had broken every commandment God gave to Moses on Sinai. I lied, cheated, stole, lusted, committed adultery many times, and did not show respect to my parents. I at least half-heartedly, pursued other religions and bowed to false gods, I cursed and mocked God, and I have killed. I have done many, many things in my life that I am deeply ashamed of.
Now, I know that the Lord has told us that the commandments of God can be broken without actually breaking them. He showed the Pharisees that even though they appeared outwardly to obey the law, inwardly they were breaking them, and that is just as bad. So, if a person lusts after someone else, it’s adultery in the heart. If a person hates someone, it’s murder. But folks, I not only broke God’s law in my heart, but also in actuality. Each and every one of them.
I deserve the just punishment of God against sin. I deserve to die spiritually and physically. I am deeply embarrassed by what I’ve done in the past and for many years, even after my conversion, everything I have done tormented me and I constantly asked, “How could God forgive someone like me?” And you know, I don’t think I’m alone in wondering this. The apostle Paul said that he was the “chief of sinners”, so I’m sure he had to deal with his own guilt and sorrow for all he had done, and look at Peter; after everything he said, all his boasting and then his public failure when he denied Jesus three times, even to the point of cursing in order to emphasize the truth of his denial, well I’m sure he was in the throes of guilt and shame for some time to come afterward.
Can someone like Peter be forgiven? Can someone who persecuted the Church like Paul be forgiven? Can someone like me be forgiven? Can any of us be restored and made useable for the kingdom of God? Can people like us become more than just another example of what not to do? Can we become more than someone you point out to your children and say, “Don’t follow their path or do what they did, or the same horrible end will come to you?”
1. Follow Me
Joh 21:15-20 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." (16) 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." (17) 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. (18) 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." (19) This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me."
As you probably remember from last week, the setting for this text is that Calvary was only a week or two earlier. Peter has sworn 3 times that he didn’t know Jesus, and at least one of those times he emphasized it with cursing. He ran out of the courtyard weeping. The Lord was tried, convicted, executed, and then buried in a tomb, but 3 days later He’s been reported alive! Several individuals had seen and spoken to Him, He appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room twice. Some were half-believing and others were half-doubting. They’re restless, perplexed, disturbed, and they just aren’t sure what to believe anymore.
The Lord and the angels had told them to go to Galilee and He would meet them there. It would have taken them only two or three days to reach Galilee, and they may have been sitting around waiting for a few days when Peter finally spoke up and said Joh 21:3 …"I am going fishing." The other disciples who were with him joined him and they spent all night out on the water, fishing, but not catching. Then as the sun began to rise over the horizon, some guy on the shore asked them, Joh 21:5 …"you don't have any fish, do you?" And when they responded in the negative, He told them to Joh 21:6 …"Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some."
Doing as the stranger said, they caught so many fish (153 to be exact) that they couldn’t haul them into the boats, so they began to drag them toward shore where they could bring them onto dry ground. But before that, John had realized who the stranger was and exclaimed Joh 21:7 …"It is the Lord!" At which point Peter picked up his cloak, wrapped it around himself, and then jumped into the water and swam 100 yards or better to get to Jesus. Once the other disciples reached shore, they joined Peter, sitting with Jesus at a fire of coals, who was broiling a fish and had a loaf of bread ready for them all to eat.
Now, we don’t know if anything was said among them beyond the Lord’s invitation to bring some of their catch, and to “Come and dine”, but the text does make it seem like they all probably ate in silence. They knew this was Jesus, but yet there was something different about Him. They ate the breakfast the Lord provided, and when it was over, the Lord looked at Peter and said, Joh 21:15 …"Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" Or as the KJV puts it, Joh 21:15 …lovest thou me more than these?
There’s much to be said about this, and the 2 other questions and answers that follow. I also know that the writer of our SS lesson today does not put much stock in the fact that both Jesus and Peter used different words for love in this conversation. He said that these words were frequently or commonly used interchangeably so we shouldn’t place much emphasis on their differences. I completely disagree. The words that the Holy Spirit used in composing God’s written word are vitally important. Each and every word is so important that Jesus said Mat 5:18 …till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
So, in other words, even the smallest part or the least little particle of the language is vastly important. It’ll outlast heaven and earth. The fact that sometimes, or even many times words can be used interchangeably does not mean that they always are. And in our text today, the words that Jesus and Peter both use are important to the context.
You see, I want you to notice first that in this exchange between Jesus and Peter, all 3 times the Lord calls him by his full name, Simon, son of Jonah. You know, I can remember when I was a kid, if I did something that I was fixing to get scolded for, my mom would look at me with great evil in her eyes and say, “Terry Lee Hovey…” in such a fashion that it’d send chills down my spine! Oh man, she used my full name! There wouldn’t be any backing out of this. No way did she mean anyone else but me. Whenever she said, “Terry Lee Hovey” brother, sister, I knew I was in trouble! Now, I don’t know if that’s what Jesus had in mind here, but I kind of think it was. It’s said that when Jesus called Peter “Simon” it was usually because he had done something that needed correcting. And if that’s the case, then when He also added “son of Jonah”, then I’m thinking He was letting Peter know that he had messed up big time, and he had better think about the answers he would give to the coming questions.
You see, Peter had already boasted that his love for the Lord was so great that he would gladly Joh 13:37 …lay down my life for Your sake. And that Mat 26:33 …"Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble." He was making a great boast that he couldn’t fulfill, and so Jesus had to challenge him on it. He wanted to see if Peter had learned his lesson after his denials, and that great words are empty of meaning when they aren’t followed through on. So, the first two times Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, the Lord used the Greek word “agapao”or “agape”. It’s a word that is seldom used in Greek writings prior to the NT, but it is used extensively in the NT because with the coming of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross on our behalf, He brought in a new concept of love that all the other Greek words for love just didn’t fit with.
I don’t have time to go into all the Greek words for love, but agapao, or agape in Christian usage is a love of commitment and sacrifice. It isn’t a selfish love like “eros” or erotic love which seeks to possess someone or something for ourselves, but instead, agape it is a self-sacrificing love. Love that would cause a man to give up their life for someone else, like the love that God has for mankind that caused Him to send His only begotten Son to us. The kind of love we are to have for our wives, and the kind of love we are commanded to have toward God.
Joh 21:15 …"Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" Now, some people think that when Jesus asked Simon if he loved Him more than “these” that He is speaking of the other disciples who were sitting around the fire with them. And you know, at one time he did make that boast, but he’s not boasting anymore. He has learned his lesson, the hard way. He knows that his love for Jesus doesn’t measure up to agape, so he responded each time Joh 21:15 …"Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." Or “phileo”. This response on the one hand is evidence that Jesus couldn’t have been talking about the other disciples, but Peter’s previous occupation, all the fishing gear, boats, nets, and such that he had just been using. To answer “Yes” to the Lord’s question if He was speaking of the disciples would have been boasting, “Yes, I love you more than they do.” But on the other hand, to answer “Yes” that he loved Jesus more than his former occupation, his former life would demonstrate humility.
The fact that each time he answers the Lord’s question of agape love, Peter responds with “phileo”, a lesser, less lofty word for love that means affection, friendship, a love one has for his fellow man, and it shows that Peter is painfully aware of his failures and knows that he had not been as committed as he once claimed. He hadn’t been willing to risk his life for Jesus. He even cursed in his denials of Christ. He had learned his lesson.
And because he had learned, with each response, the Lord restored and recommissioned Peter in front of the other disciples. His denials had been public, so his being forgiven and recommissioned also needed to be public. He had denied Jesus three times, he must also declare himself and be restored three times. So, in verse 15, Jesus told him "Feed My lambs." In verse 16 He told him "Tend My sheep." And then in verse 17 He said "Feed My sheep.
Now, Jesus often used the metaphor of sheep to describe all those who belong to Him, and here He does it again. So, when He told Peter to Joh 21:15 …"Feed My lambs.", He was restoring Peter to his place and service among the disciples. The lambs are the youngest and most vulnerable, and they need the most tender care. Jesus was commanding Peter to take care of the most vulnerable of His sheep. He was to teach new believers how to be a follower of Jesus.
When Jesus told Peter to Joh 21:16 …"Tend My sheep.", He was giving him additional responsibilities because tending is shepherding which speaks to the total care of the flock. It’s more than just feeding the sheep, but leading them, guiding them to pasture, protecting them from their enemies, and doctoring their illnesses and injuries. Sheep are more mature than lambs, and to “tend” them, one must be mature themselves, so Jesus is affirming that Peter is still useful despite past failures.
Then when the Lord told Peter to Joh 21:17 …"Feed My sheep." He was letting him and those with them around the fire know that He had restored him and would use him to teach and lead His people. And all of this was done in the presence of the other disciples so that it would increase their confidence in Peter despite his failures, but they would also understand that Jesus would use them too. You see, all of us have failed the Lord in our lives. We haven’t done things we should have done. We have done things we shouldn’t have done. All of us have a problem with sin. It’s only when we recognize this and that we are responsible for the things that we do that we can repent and be restored as Peter was.
Peter was restored and recommissioned, but the Lord also gave him reassurance that his failure in the courtyard of Annas, the high priest, would never be repeated because when He told him Joh 21:19 …by what death he would glorify God, He was letting Peter know that he would remain faithful to the very end. No more denials. No more weeping as he ran away. No more guilt. He was assured that one day he would die for Jesus, but until that time, he must Joh 21:19 …"Follow Me."
Follow me, and…
2. Don’t Worry (About Others or Other Things)
Joh 21:20-23 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?" (21) Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" (22) Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me." (23) 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?"
Peter and John were friends, so it’s only natural that after being told how he would end his life, that he’d be curious of his friend’s future. The whole gist of these last few verses is, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your concern.” You see, the Lord deals with us as individuals. When it comes to following Jesus, we all have different missions. We are put by the Holy Spirit wherever He wants us to be, and He gives us whatever it is we need to accomplish the job He’s laid before us. Our eyes are to be on Jesus, and no one else. We are to be obedient to what He wants us to do.
Early in his discipleship, Peter had a bit of an issue with looking at the things around him and taking his eyes off the Lord. When he stepped out of that boat, so long as his eyes were on Jesus he walked on water, but once he took them away and noticed other things he began to sink. And this is a problem many of us have as well. We’re called to our mission, not someone else’s, but we look around us and see how they’re doing. You know, some other church might be growing when ours might not be, and we wonder why them and not us? Or maybe someone else is blessed with a gift of the Spirit we wish we had, or maybe it’s prosperity, or them being able to do certain things that we aren’t able or allowed to do.
We take our eyes off the Lord, and we begin to notice how things are going for someone else and we get jealous. We wonder why not me or us? Why him or them? When the Lord said to Peter, Joh 21:22 …"If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me." This wasn’t so much an answer to Peter’s question as it was a rebuke. In other words, “What’s it to ya bud? Don’t worry about him. You follow Me. Don’t worry about anyone or anything else. You follow Me.”
And let me tell ya folks, all believers would do well to embrace this truth that the Lord has a unique plan for each of His followers. We need to follow His plan for us and stop worrying about what He’s doing with other people.
He tells each and every one of us, Joh 21:22 …You follow Me. So, are you following Him?
You know, it could be that maybe you’ve turned away and now you’re wanting to get back to where you know you should be. Maybe you’ve taken your eyes off the Lord and allowed the things all around you to take over, but you’ve noticed that you’re missing something. Things just are quite right.
Or maybe you are here today or listening to me on Facebook live and you know that you’ve never truly given your life to Jesus. You know of Him. You have heard of Him, but you still haven’t committed to Him.
If any of these describe where you’re at in your life right now, or if it’s something else, I’m going to close in prayer in just a moment, and if you would like to come to the altar and repent and receive Jesus or recommit or rededicate your life to Him today, you can do that as we sing our closing song.
Would you stand and pray with me?
