Do You Love Me?

            When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John,
             do you truly love me more than these?”

            “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

            Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

                                                                                                            John 21:15

            There he was, Simon Peter, the Simon Peter, most vocal of Jesus’ students and largely considered the right-hand man of the Master Himself. He was Petros, “the rock,” whose statement that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16) is the basis of all of Christianity.

            And he was ashamed to look into Jesus’ eyes.

            In John 21:15, we hear Jesus speak His first words to Peter after the resurrection. The question Christ poses here is not simply an affirmation of Peter’s faith, though. Indeed, it goes much deeper than that.

            “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written:

                        “‘I will strike the shepherd,

                          and the sheep will be scattered.’...”

            Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”

                                                                                                            Matthew 14:27,29

            In order to understand fully the scope of Christ’s question in John, it is necessary to back up several days to the Last Supper. In Mark 14, Jesus takes the last meal he will eat before His crucifixion. After the meal, the group walked to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples began to do one thing they excelled in - bickering. Luke tells us that they were again arguing about their places in Heaven and who would receive the greatest honors. Jesus took a chance to reinforce His lesson on servitude, and then He made one last prophecy about His death (Luke 22:24-39; John 13:31-33).

            I can only imagine what was entering Simon Peter’s mind as he listened to his Master talk about an early death. Still, he remained quiet, a skill that only came after three years with Jesus, and listened on. It was then that Christ said the unthinkable. Could it possibly be that every disciple would run away? Peter could not stand to hear this; certainly Simon the Rock would never run! Then Christ said something even more unthinkable: Peter himself was going to deny Him three separate times. The Bible says that “Peter insisted emphatically, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’” (Mark 14:31 ).

            Everything in Peter’s heart cringed at the possibility of denying Christ. He knew that Jesus always spoke the truth, but would he really disown Him?

            Then [Peter] began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them,
            “I don’t know the man!”

            Immediately a rooster crowed.

                                                                                                            Matthew 26:74

            After Christ’s arrest, He was taken before the Jewish religious court, the Sanhedrin, to be tried. Because the Apostle John knew the high priest, he was allowed into the courtyard outside of the trial room. He then called to the doorkeeper and asked her to let Peter in (John 18:15-16). As Peter stepped into the courtyard, the doorkeeper recognized him as Jesus’ disciple.

            When the girl recognized Peter, his statement was memorable. Was it, “Yes, I am His disciple, and I give myself to the Sanhedrin to die with Jesus”? Was it “You bet I know Jesus. In fact, I’m the president of the official Jesus Christ Fan Club. Join now; all new members during the month of Nisan get a free Icthus air freshener”? No, Peter looked at the mob of people facing him and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about” (Matthew 26:70 ).

            As the night air began to chill Peter, he stepped to the fire where the servants stood warming their hands. As the fire lit his face, another stated that Peter was one of Jesus’ followers. Again, Peter “denied it, saying, ‘I am not’”(John 18:25 ). A little later, more and more people recognized his face and his accent as belonging to the disciples. I can imagine Peter’s head swimming with voices saying that he was with Jesus. He probably remembered the soldiers seizing Christ and feared for his life. Then he cried out and swore at the people, denying he even knew Jesus. Right then, as Jesus had predicted, the rooster crowed. Jesus turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered what the Master had said. He ran away in shame and “wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62 ). That was the last time recorded in Scripture that Peter saw Jesus before Christ’s death.

            Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”

            He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

            Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

                                                                                                            John 21:16

            John 21 begins with Peter returning to his previous vocation, fishing. Even though he and the disciples caught nothing all night, Jesus appeared the next morning and told them to send out their nets again. They were miraculously full of fish. When Peter realized that it was Jesus on the shore, he jumped into the April water and swam to the shore. When he and the rest of the disciples landed, Jesus had breakfast waiting for them. They ate, and Jesus turned to Peter. His first question was reminiscent of Mark 14:29, where Peter said, “‘Even if all fall away, I will not’” (). Jesus refreshed Peter’s memory and asked if he was still more faithful than the rest of the disciples. More important than that, though, was the main point of the question paraphrased, “Do you love me?”

            Imagine Peter’s relief when Jesus did not get angry with him! He had seen Jesus angry (Matthew 21:12-13), and he knew that he deserved all the anger Christ had. Instead, Christ forgave Peter and asked for his repentance in one question. The word Peter used in response is (phileo) which means “to love as a brother.” Peter says, in essence, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you as much as [or more than] I love my brother.” This is significant, as it was Peter’s brother, Andrew, who had led him to Jesus in the first place (John 1:41).

            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.”

                                                                                                            John 21:17

            The first question Jesus asks us today is that same question that He asked Peter so long ago. “Do you love me?” Bill Gates is the richest man in the world. God doesn’t ask for his riches, though; he asks, “Do you love me?” The President of the United States has control of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, and Armed Forces Reserves. Still, God doesn’t ask for military reinforcement from the President; he asks, “Do you love me?” How much more do you have than Peter had? God asks, “Do you love me?”

            This question was also an offer for forgiveness. Even though Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus asked, “Do you love me?” Osama bin Laden is accused of being the ringleader for a group that has caused thousands of deaths. God doesn’t ask him to say a Hail Mary for every life he’s taken and submit himself to the authority of the church; God asks, “Do you love me?” In the 1500s God called Martin Luther to a new understanding of the Gospel. Even though Luther had lived as a monk his entire life, God didn’t tell him that his revered life was good enough. God asked, “Do you love me?” How much more or less sin have you committed than did Peter? God asks, “Do you love me?”

            Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

                                                                                                            John 21:17b

            While Christ’s forgiveness of Peter depended only on his acceptance, the work of love did not stop there. Peter established that, indeed, he loved Jesus. Because he loved Jesus, though, there was a calling.

            God’s calling is much like any other request; there is work to do, and there are rewards after the work is done. The difference between the calling of God and the calling of men, though, comes in the relationship between the works and their rewards. When we work here on earth, the reward is usually equal to the amount of work we do. In heaven, though, the ones who answer God’s call will receive not only the reward of heaven for all eternity, but also robes and crowns. They will be able to praise God for all eternity (Revelation 7:9-10).

            What was Peter’s calling? It was an order from the Good Shepherd (John 10:14-15) to take care of His flock. Peter answered this call by preaching and leading the disciples. On the day of Pentecost, he preached a sermon that led to the conversion of three thousand people (Acts 2:40-41). Along with John, he healed a beggar (Acts 3:6-7). He even led one of the first Gentile converts to the Lord (Acts 10:44-48). For the rest of his life, Peter took Jesus’ call to heart.

            Now, my calling and your calling probably won’t be as large-scale or as dangerous as that of Peter. The calling God has given you may be simply to life a life that is radically different from the world. Maybe God wants you to live a clean life, especially around the guys at the factory, until they ask you why you’re so different. Maybe your calling is to spend some money and time at a local homeless shelter. Know, though, that God doesn’t just call preachers and missionaries. He calls mechanics, chefs, teachers, and store managers. Every person who loves God has a call. If you truly love Him, listen and He will give it to you.

            “I tell you the truth, 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.

                                                                                                            John 21:18-19a

            Peter indeed preached for the rest of his life. The Sanhedrin attempted to stop him (Acts 4:18). Herod arrested him (Acts 12:1-3). Eventually, Peter was imprisoned and sentenced to execution. According to the most common stories, Simon Peter was to be crucified, but he protested to dying the way that Jesus had died. Instead, Peter requested to be crucified upside-down, for he felt unworthy to suffer as Jesus suffered. This is what Jesus meant by “stretch out your hands” and “someone else will...lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18 ).

            Peter had to pay a cost. This is one of the hardest parts of following Christ, but it is a crucial thing. Jesus said that we are unworthy of Him if we hold something else, even our families, dearer than we hold Him (Matthew 10:37). If we love Christ, we must pay a cost. We can only hope to take the cost with the readiness with which Peter took his.

            Still, there is hope for us who bear heavy costs. Jesus said, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age...” (Mark 10:29b-30a ). Peter received great things from God because he love God, answered God’s calling, and bore the cost for that calling. What, then, will you do?

            Then [Jesus] said to him, “Follow me!”

                                                                                                            John 21:19b