In The Word
Read: John 21:15-25
The Love Question
15 Now when they had finished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, sonof John, do you love Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Tend My lambs.” 16 He *said to him again, 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, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was hurt 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, “Tend My sheep.
Our Times Are in His Hand
18 Truly, truly I tell you, when you were younger, you used to put on your belt and walk wherever you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will put your belt on you, and bring you where you do not want to go.” 19 Now He said this, indicating by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had said this, He *said to him, “Follow Me!”
20 Peter turned around and *saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them—the one who also had leaned back on His chest at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who is betraying You?” 21 So Peter, upon seeing him, *said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” 22 Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” 23 Therefore this account went out among the brothers, that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”
24 This is the disciple who is testifying about these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
25 But there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written in detail, I expect that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
In today’s reading, Yeshua asks Peter about his level of commitment to Him. Peter was a fisherman by trade and had decided to dust off his nets. Yeshua asked Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” I do not think our Savior was asking him to compare himself to the other disciples, but was referring to the fish. “Do you love fishing over serving Me?”
He then asked Peter twice, “Do you agape Me?” Agape is the highest form of love. Peter answers twice, “That I phileo you.” Phileo is a lower form of love. Peter was being conservative with his commitment because he had once made an assertion that he would die rather than deny Christ. He did not want to make the same mistake. However, this conservative commitment would not work with our Lord.
So a third time Christ asked, “Do you love Me?” This time Yeshua uses the word phileo. This grieved Peter. Was it because our Lord made him face his failure of denying Him three times by acknowledging Him three times? Did He want to restore Peter’s confidence? Maybe it was because our Lord met him where he was and said, “I still want you to prove that level of love to Me by the same action: feed and tend to My people.” It was as if our Lord was saying to Peter, if you love Me at all, then follow Me.
There are some questions we need to answer to our Lord. Do we love Him over anything else we do? What level of commitment do we have for Him? Is it agape or phileo love? Whatever level it is, will we follow Him by serving others until the day we die?