The Gospel: John 21:15-19
¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, 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 then said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, 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 John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." ¹⁹ He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."
Today’s Focus
Jesus restores Peter through three questions beside a charcoal fire that mirrors the three denials, commissions him to shepherd the flock, predicts his martyrdom, and closes with the same two-word invitation that began their entire relationship.
In the Margins
Breakfast is finished. The charcoal fire is still burning. Jesus turns to Peter and asks the question three times. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Three questions by a charcoal fire. Peter denied Jesus three times by a charcoal fire in the high priest’s courtyard. John uses the same specific Greek word for the fire in both scenes, anthrakia, the only two appearances of that word in the Gospel. The fire of denial and the fire of restoration are deliberate bookends for Peter’s story.
The Greek words for love in the exchange have drawn significant attention. Jesus uses agapaō in the first two questions, the love of total self-giving. Peter responds both times with phileō, the love of friendship and affection. In the third question Jesus shifts to phileō, meeting Peter where he is. Whether this represents a theological descent or a convergence in language is debated. What is not debated is the emotional weight of the third question. Peter was distressed that He asked a third time. The repetition was doing what repetition does. It was pressing precisely on the place that needed to be pressed.
Each declaration of love receives a commission. Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. The pastoral language draws from the Good Shepherd discourse of John 10, where Jesus described the shepherd who calls the sheep by name, lays down his life for them, and knows his own. Peter is being given the shepherd’s task, not despite what happened in the courtyard but through the restoration that addresses it directly.
Jesus then speaks of Peter’s death. When you were young you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. When you grow old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. John tells us Jesus said this to signify the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. The stretched hands point to crucifixion. Peter who denied Jesus to avoid association with a condemned man will die the same death, glorifying the God he once denied under pressure.
After all of this the commission is two words. Follow me. The same two words spoken on the shore of Galilee when Peter first left his nets. The story begins again on the other side of the failure, with full knowledge of what failed and full provision for what comes next.
If you have a Peter story, a moment of denial or quiet collapse or the failure of something you thought was stronger than it was, this passage does not minimize it. It asks the question three times. And then it commissions. And then it says follow me.
Reflection Question
Where have you disqualified yourself from following Jesus because of something you did or failed to do, and what would it mean to hear Him ask the question again and answer honestly?