Do you remember the movie Beauty and the Beast? The Disney version? In the beginning of that movie an old beggar woman arrives at the castle of a French prince. The woman asks for shelter from the cold, and in return, offers the young prince a rose. Repulsed by her appearance, the prince turns her away. The beggar warns him not to judge by appearances, but the Prince ignores her and shuts the door on her. The woman then throws off her disguise, revealing that she is a beautiful enchantress. The Prince tries to apologize, but she has already seen the lack of kindness in his heart. She conjures a powerful curse, transforming him into a hideous beast, and the entire castle and all its surroundings into a dark, forbidding place, so that he will learn not to judge by appearances. The curse can only be broken if the Beast learns to love another and receives the other's love in return before the last petal of the enchantress's rose withers and falls; if not, he will be doomed to remain a beast forever. As the years pass, the Beast sits in his castle wallowing in despair, convinced that no one could ever love him.
As the story progresses a beautiful village girl named Belle finds her way to the castle and as time goes by begins to fall in love with the Beast. But before Belle can profess her love the castle is invaded by villagers and the Beast falls in the battle. In the final scenes Belle tries to reassure the badly wounded Beast that everything will be fine, but he knows that his wound is fatal. The Beast dies succumbing to his injury. Belle, in tears, whispers that she loves him, but it’s too late, the last petal falls from the rose.
I think we all know what it feels like to be in this place. To be in the dark pit of despair where we know we have screwed up and there’s no way to undo what we did and no way to take it back. Maybe it’s some secret sin that we’ve been fighting and it just grabs us and before we know it it’s a done deal and we know we’ve let ourselves down and we know we’ve let those who love us down, and more importantly we know we’ve let Jesus down. And we wonder how we will ever be able to find our way back to the way it was before when there was light. Do you know what I’m talking about? Can you relate? Let’s look at our text.
15 Ὅτε οὖν ἠρίστησαν λέγει τῷ Σίμωνι Πέτρῳ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Σίμων Ἰωάννου, ἀγαπᾷς με πλέον τούτων; λέγει αὐτῷ, Ναὶ κύριε, σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ, Βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου. 16 λέγει αὐτῷ πάλιν δεύτερον, Σίμων Ἰωάννου, ἀγαπᾷς με; λέγει αὐτῷ, Ναὶ κύριε, σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ, Ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου. 17 λέγει αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον, Σίμων Ἰωάννου, φιλεῖς με; ἐλυπήθη ὁ Πέτρος ὅτι εἶπεν αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον, Φιλεῖς με; καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ, Κύριε, πάντα σὺ οἶδας, σὺ γινώσκεις ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ [ὁ Ἰησοῦς], Βόσκε τὰ πρόβατά μου. 18 ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ὅτε ἦς νεώτερος, ἐζώννυες σεαυτὸν καὶ περιεπάτεις ὅπου ἤθελες· ὅταν δὲ γηράσῃς, ἐκτενεῖς τὰς χεῖράς σου, καὶ ἄλλος σε ζώσει καὶ οἴσει ὅπου οὐ θέλεις. 19 τοῦτο δὲ εἶπεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ δοξάσει τὸν θεόν. καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν λέγει αὐτῷ, Ἀκολούθει μοι. (John 21:15-19 UBS4)
Then when they ate breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “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 sheep.” He 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, “Shepherd my sheep.” He said to him a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he 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. Truly, truly I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you wanted, but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not want.” He said this now indicating by what kind of death he would glorify God. And saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21:15-19 My Translation)This scene in John’s Gospel is a climax in the story of the relationship between Jesus and Peter. When we consider it in the context of Peter’s life, it tells us about Jesus’ unfailing love for him. It also tells us about the nature of Peter’s call, how Peter must respond to that call. And it tells us the same things for each one of us individually.
In this episode we find Peter in that low spot like in Beauty and the Beast, where all appears to be lost. The scene is at the shore of the Sea of Galilee after the resurrection and just before Jesus is taken up into heaven. It occurs after the disaster of Jesus’ crucifixion and the scattering of the disciples. Peter has returned to his old occupation of fishing. We don’t really know what Peter’s story is after the resurrection. We know that he was one of the first to see the open tomb and that he was one of the first to recognize the risen Lord. We don’t know what he did between then and when Jesus met the disciples in Galilee on this day of ascension.
Peter had been at the center of Jesus’ inner circle during his ministry. Peter was the first to be called. In Mark’s Gospel (Mk. 1:16-20) we see Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee and he comes upon Simon and Andrew and calls on Simon (later to be named Cephas or Peter) to follow after him, and we are told that Peter followed “immediately.” Imagine what it might be like if you were going about your business and some hairy stranger came to you and invited you to drop everything and follow him. We probably all want to think that if we saw Jesus we would do it but the ties that bind us to this world are strong, I wonder how many of us could break them just like that. But Peter did. Peter must have seen something really special in Jesus. Why else would he give up his livelihood to follow this itinerant preacher?
Nevertheless, it is important to recall that Peter didn’t choose Jesus, Jesus chose him. 1 John 4:19 tells us “We love because he first loved us.” Jesus must have seen something really special in Peter too. We have to wonder what. As subsequent events will show, Peter wasn’t a learned man, wasn’t particularly bright, had moments of pride and bluster. From the gospels we learn that he was wrong at least as often as he was right. And Jesus must have known from the start that Peter would fail him at the crucial moment. And yet he still chose him as one of his closest companions.
Peter was present at every important scene in Jesus’ ministry that we know about. Peter was present when Jesus raised a little girl from the dead (Mark. 5:41). He was there at the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Peter was present at the Mount of Transfiguration where he was, I think, so overwhelmed that he made a complete idiot out of himself (Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36). Do you remember that scene? “Hey! Here’s Moses and Elijah! Let’s put up some tents!”
It was Peter who first sensed who Jesus really is. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus asked the disciples who the people said he was, and they gave various answers. Then he asked “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, e and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. (Matthew 16:16-20 NIV)
Wow. This is a high commission for a screw up like Peter; someone Jesus knows will deny him publicly. Think about what does that might tell us about Jesus’ love for Peter, and about his love for us.
The last verse in the above passage is instructive. Why would Jesus tell Peter and the disciples not to reveal that he is the Christ? The answer is that even though it now begins to dawn on them who Jesus really is, the truth of what that means remains elusive. Even though at this point in the gospel narrative Jesus begins to talk openly about his death, none of the disciples, including Peter, can grasp it. We know this because when Jesus talks about his death Peter attempts to rebuke him. Can we blame him? Peter must have believed that the Christ would be a great leader like Moses or David who would restore Israel to earthly glory; the idea of this Christ suffering and dying was beyond comprehension.
We can see this lack of understanding especially in the events of Passion Week. In John 13 we see Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. Jesus explicitly tells Peter he doesn’t yet understand what he’s doing (John 13:7), and Peter demonstrates this by first refusing to allow Jesus to wash his feet and then offering his whole body to be washed as a sign of his devotion. Later in the same chapter Peter tells Jesus he is willing to die for him, and Jesus responds by predicting Peter’s impending denial. Peter protests that such a thing could not be possible, but we know that it was.
Later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter couldn't stay awake while Jesus was praying in agony. But when the action began he was ready to start a violent revolution, beginning with cutting off the ear of the High Priest’s servant (John 18:10). Again Jesus highlights Peter’s lack of understanding by rebuking him and asking “shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11) Peter cannot imagine that his hero is now allowing himself to be arrested and subject to trial without a fight. He doesn’t get it.
Can you imagine how demoralizing all these events must have been? All of the other disciples ran for their lives. But Peter followed Jesus at a distance to see what was going to happen. And so we come to the scene of Peter’s triple denial. Only hours before Peter had vowed, and demonstrated, his willingness to die in a violent upheaval. Now he is left desolate, faced with the fact that he has failed his friend, the one he considers the Messiah.
And it only gets worse for Peter. Jesus is questioned, beaten, mocked, and eventually executed all within the sight or intimate knowledge of Peter. The foundation of Peter’s life was pulled out from under him. How could he have been right about Jesus being the Christ when he has now been mocked and killed? And even after the resurrection, which Peter was one of the first to witness, Peter is left with the fact that he who had been one of Jesus’ special friends, called to be a leader, who had been such a vocal and steadfast supporter, had at the moment of decision abandoned him. And it is in this emotional state that we find Peter in the scene of our gospel reading.
We can assume that Peter has returned to his old vocation of fishing. His career as a “fisher of men” appears to be over. And he has betrayed the one he loved the most. Don’t we all come to moments like this? Don’t we all at times question our commitment to the Lord after committing some stupid sin? As pastors and Christian leaders don’t we all suffer from our inability to lead “holy” lives and don’t we all feel some doubt relating to our worthiness for the call, or even about the gospel itself? I know I do. I think that’s why this story is here. John doesn’t tell us this just to set the record straight. He tells it to reveal something important about the nature of Jesus’ love, and also about the nature of our call as Christians.
The most important thing we learn about this interaction is that Jesus’ love for Peter never wavered. Recall that Jesus knew at the outset that Peter would fail. Jesus’ love for Peter was there at the beginning, when he called Peter to be a fisher of men. It was constant when Peter blustered and failed to recognize or misunderstood what he was being called to. The love of Jesus was unfailing when Peter was proclaiming his undying devotion, and the love of Jesus was unfailing when he knew that Peter was actively denying that he even knew him. Not even death could separate Peter from the love of Jesus.
God’s steadfast and unfailing love for those who fail him is not limited to Peter. Many of the great figures of our faith, including Abraham, Moses, and David, committed sins against God that in the end could not separate them from God’s love. In a sense you could say that the whole story of the Bible is one of God’s steadfast love toward humans in the face of mankind’s rebellion and failure. And that same love that God has for the heroes of the Bible, he also has for each one of us. Paul writes in Romans:
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35–39 NIV).
Not even death can separate us from God’s love.
And this incident tells us something else. As I already mentioned, it was out of love that Jesus called Peter to begin with. And it was with love that Peter followed. But let’s look at that call again. Jesus said “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark1:17 ESV). Jesus told Peter at the outset that following the call, becoming a disciple, meant being molded into someone who would do the work of Christ. When we look at the record of Peter’s failures we must also look at the fact that Peter was steadily becoming more like Jesus. He was learning. It might not seem so on the surface, when all we can see is Peter clearly messing things up, but recall that it was Peter who first identified Jesus as the Christ. It was Peter who stepped out of the boat in faith (Mt. 14:28-31), and even though he ultimately failed, he was willing to try even against everything his natural mind must have told him. Even Peter’s denial created a crisis that we can compare on one level to Christ’s crucifixion. It was a sinful act that led to complete brokenness, so that all that was left in this relationship between man and God by the time Peter interacts with Jesus on the shore of the sea is the broken sinner and God’s love for his chosen one.
Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus here gives Peter three opportunities to reaffirm his love. After each affirmative, as Peter is being restored to sonship, there is a call to action. “Feed my sheep,” Jesus says. “Shepherd my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.” When we consider Peter’s story as a whole we can see that the trajectory of Peter’s journey was from the life of the natural man through death to complete surrender in Christ. And with that surrender all that was left was the call to do the work Jesus came to do: to seek and to save the lost because of his great, unfailing love for sinners.
On a personal note, many years ago when I first was becoming a Christian I read this passage and saw it as a call to ministry. I was not able to follow that call then because I had too many of my own ideas about what it means to be a Christ follower. It was only decades later, when I was applying for admission to seminary, that I fully surrendered to the call. So in a sense I have followed in Peter’s path: from misunderstanding to a clearer understanding. From the life of the natural man to life in Christ.
Jesus is asking you right now, “Do you love me?” What is your answer? Are you still trying to respond out of your preconceived notions of what it means to be a follower of Christ? Or are you broken enough to surrender to him completely? If your answer is the latter, then Jesus is saying, “Feed my sheep.”
I think I would be remiss to end here without making some brief remarks about what happens to Peter after this episode. We know that he became one of the great leaders of the Church and one of its most effective evangelists. Tradition tells us that he was martyred for the love of God by being crucified upside down. But we also know that he didn’t become perfectly holy. Various stories in the book of Acts show how he struggled to understand what it means to be a Christ follower. And the episode in the letter to the Galatians where Paul rebukes him shows us that his behavior was not beyond reproach. But from the time of the episode in today’s gospel reading we can be sure that he was committed to complete surrender and conformity to Christ. He was committed to love in his imperfect way as God loves, and that is what Jesus commands, both him, and us.
Well remember where we were in the movie Beauty and the Beast, with the Beast dead and Belle broken-hearted and the last petal falling from the rose? Do you remember how it ends? A miracle! The spell is broken. The Beast, brought back to life, is restored to his human form. The castle becomes beautiful again. The last scene shows Belle and the prince dancing in the ballroom while her father and the objects watch and they live happily ever after.
This story from the gospel shows us a much greater miracle than the one in Beauty and the Beast. Just like for Belle, in an even more profound way for Peter, and for all of mankind, all was darkness, all was lost. And miraculously, Jesus broke the spell! He restored creation, he restored Peter, and he restored you and me. He’s not counting your past, present, or future sins against you. He’s not asking you to be perfect. He’s just asking you one simple question right now, “Do you love me?” Do you love him enough to surrender to his care completely? Do you love him enough to follow him to the cross? How will you answer? If your answer is yes, then he is saying, “Feed my sheep.” Amen.
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