In The Word
Read: John 21:15-25
The Love Motivation
15 So 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, “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 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, “Tend My sheep.
Our Times Are in His Hand
18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.”19 Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He *said to him, “Follow Me!”
20 Peter, turning around, *saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” 21 So Peter 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 saying went out among the brethren 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 to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written in detail, I suppose 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, Yahshua asks Peter about his level of commitment to Him. Peter was a fisherman by trade and had decided to dust off his nets. Yahshua 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 Yahshua 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?