If you study the Gospel of John you could write out a list of
theological issues a mile long. I list six of them here. And at the
end of this post I note something good which happened to me while reflecting on these words of
the risen Lord. Here from John
chapter 21 is an amazing post-resurrection conversation between Jesus and
Peter:
[14] This was now
the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised
from the dead.
[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] A second time
he said to him, "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
grieved because he said to him the 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] Truly, truly, I
say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you
would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will
gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go."
[19] (This he said
to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to him,
"Follow me."
John
21:14-19 (RSV).
Phillip Long in his excellent description
of this dialogue, titled "The Restoration of Peter," states:
But there are some
unresolved questions – what about Peter? We know that he has declared himself
to be the most faithful disciple, willing to be arrested and killed alongside
his Lord. Yet when Jesus was arrested Peter makes a lame attempt to defend Jesus
(only to be rebuked for attacking with a sword). He then makes his famous three
denials, failing to make good on his commitment to follow the Lord all the way
to the cross.
Phillip J. Long, "John 21 - The Restoration of Peter,"
online at
Can you imagine talking to Peter about how these words of Jesus
affected and changed him? In my meeting with Peter, these are the things
I would want to discuss:
1) As the Greek stories of "hubris" taught long
ago, pride does come before the fall. Peter's claim that he was
a heroic believer who would lay down his life for Jesus made his
later denial that much more of a disabling shock to him. We can't live up
to our words.
2) The arrest of Jesus was a bad memory for Peter.
That arrest of Jesus, which included Peter's attack with the
sword, was chaotic, not the almost quiet scene with the betrayal
with a kiss as depicted in most movies. Jesus' followers had fled.
Peter cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant (Jn 18:10), and a
young man who offers resistance has his clothes torn off and flees from
the scene naked (Mark 14:43-52). See Richard Bauckham, Jesus
and the Eyewitnesses (Eerdmans 2006) at 184-187,194, 196 (on
"protective anonymity," these two in Gethsemane are not named in the
Gospel of Mark because when Mark was written naming them would have
subjected these two to danger from law, but in the Gospel of John Peter safely
could be named because by then Peter was dead). The whole scene and the
injury to the high priest's servant coupled with Peter's denial soon after,
had to have been a nightmarish experience for Peter. This
restoration described in Jn. 21 helps to put those awful memories
behind him.
3) Peter's role as a leader. On this
subject Bauckham says: The point of the betrayal of Peter is not to denigrate
him, "but to show him as the disciple who through failure and grace is
enabled by Jesus to become the chief pastor of the church." Jesus and the Eyewitnesses at 396. Another example would be St. Paul
who persecuted the church and became its greatest missionary. Failure and
grace go together. The greater the failure, the more that grace is
appreciated. Past failure does not mean that a person cannot be restored
to leadership. In fact, there is a mysterious link here between failure,
grace, restoration and church leadership.
4) Statements of love. Here
is a perfect post-resurrection setting, which could not be more
different from Peter's experience with Jesus at the time of his arrest,
with Jesus in his post-resurrection body now eating breakfast with his
followers. If you visualize it, it is a picture of peace and joy for all
who are present. Then comes this conversation. In
John 21 quoted above Jesus says to Peter three times, "Do you love
me?" But my meditative take on that is that Jesus is saying, "I love
you." These were words of forgiveness and love. After his
three-time denial of Jesus earlier, for Peter to hear these words of love out
loud from Jesus three times was what Peter needed See Phillip Long's
companion blog piece on Peter's restoration, "John 21:15-19 - Peter,
Do You Love Me,"
5) Jn 21:15-19 - love for individuals. This
scripture reveals the loving character of God - not just in general or for the
church, but for each individual. Here Jesus speaks to his follower one on
one, and says, "I love you. Follow me." Satan tells
believers that their sins make them useless to the church, and that they should
not bother with kingdom work because they are useless failures. That's
yet another lie from the father of lies.
6) Not a coincidence. At the very
same time that I was reading about this restoration of Peter, over
my internet radio station came Aaron Keyes' beautiful song, "Not
Guilty Anymore." How does this song of forgiveness come on over the
radio at the same time I am picturing this scene of Jesus and Peter in
John chapter 21? That's a mystery, but it's not a coincidence.
For those few moments while the song played out, the music and my
thoughts of this conversation between Jesus and Peter were a moving
experience for me. I am so grateful.
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