Jesus reinstates Peter- feed my sheep (John 21:15-25) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Jesus reinstates Peter- feed my sheep (John 21:15-25)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music

 

15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17The 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. 18Very truly I tell you, 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.” 19Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

20Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”)  21When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” 22Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” 24This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. 25Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.      

Here in verse 15 the Lord was restoring Peter’s love toward Him. Peter did have a heart to love the Lord, but he was too confident in his own strength, his natural strength. Peter’s love for the Lord was precious, but his natural strength had to be denied and dealt with. The Lord allowed Peter to fail utterly in denying the Lord to His face three times (18:17,25,27), so that his natural strength and his self-confidence could be dealt with. Furthermore, Peter had just taken the lead to backslide from the Lord’s call. His natural confidence in his love toward the Lord also must have been dealt with by this failure; yet he might have been somewhat disappointed. The Lord therefore came to restore his love toward Him, to charge him with the shepherding of His church, and to prepare him for his martyrdom so that he would not follow Him with any confidence in his natural strength.

Verse 15 Jesus said, “Simon Peter, Do you love Me?” the Greek word refers to a higher and nobler love. So for the first love in v.16. Peter responded “ Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” The Greek word denotes an intimate love. So for the second love in v.16 and for all occurrences of love in v.17. The fruit-bearing in ch.15 is the outflow of  the riches of the inner life. Here, to feed the lambs is to nourish them with the riches of the inner life. To feed others, we need to enjoy the riches of the Lord’s divine life. This requires that we love Him. To believe in the Lord is to receive Him. to love the Lord is to enjoy Him. The Lord came as life and the life supply to us. We need to have faith in Him and love toward Him. This Gospel presents these as the two requirements for us to participate in the Lord.

Verse 16 Shepherding is for the flock (10:14,16), which is the church (Acts 20:28); hence, it is related to God’s building (Matt.16:18). Later, Peter in his first Epistle indicated this, saying that growth by feeding on the pure milk of the word is for the building of God’s house (1Pet.2:2-5) and charging the elders to shepherd the flock of God (1Pet.5:1-4).

Verse 17 Perhaps in questioning Peter three times, the Lord was reminding Peter of how he had denied Him three times. The first know in this verse refers to the inward, subjective consciousness; the second refers to the outward, objective knowledge.

Verse 19 Later, Peter referred to this (2Pet.1:14). What the Lord wanted here was to prepare Peter to follow Him unto death, not by anything of himself or according to his own will.

Verse 22 The Lord was there with the disciples. How then could He say “Until I come”? since He was there, He did not need to come. If He meant that He would leave them and later come back to them, how could He say to them, “Follow Me”? How could they follow Him? the answer to all these questions is related to His invisible presence. In His visible presence He would leave and come back later. But in His invisible presence He would be with them all the time. On one hand, He would be with them, and on the other hand, He would be away from them. So on one hand, they could follow Him, and on the other hand, they would have to wait for His coming back. After His resurrection the Lord remained with the disciples for forty days (Acts.1:3-4) in order to train them to realize , practice, and live by His invisible presence. In v.23 the Lord indicated that some of His believers would follow Him unto death, and that some would remain., i.e., live until He comes.

Verse 23 The span of what is covered in the last two chapters of this Gospel is broad. It begins with the discovery of the Lord’s resurrection and ends with His coming back. Between these two events are all the matters related to the Christian life during the church age; seeking the Lord with love toward Him; seeing the Lord in resurrection; receiving the revelation of the issue of the Lord’s resurrection –that His Father is our Father and we are His brothers—by experiencing His manifestation; meeting with the believers to enjoy the Lord’s presence; having the Lord breathe the Holy Spirit into us, and being sent by the Lord with His commission and authority to represent Him; learning how to live by faith in the Lord and trust in Him for our daily living; loving the Lord, the natural strength having been dealt with; shepherding the flock for the building of the church; practicing the Lord’s invisible presence, with some following the Lord even unto death to glorify God, not by self-will but according to His leading, and some living until He comes back. 

Verse 25 This verse, together with 20:30-31, affirms that this Gospel is the record of selected things that serve the purpose of testifying to the matter of life and building. In Matt.28 it is pointed out that the Lord’s ascension is not mentioned in John or Matthew. The reason it is not mentioned is that today, after His resurrection, the Lord is still on the earth tobe with His believers, and He will be with them until the end of this age, when He will be manifested in His visible glory (1Pet.1:7;2Thes.1:7), that is, when He will come back to the earth in His visible presence (Matt.16:27) to establish His visible kingdom. The Gospel of Matthew unveils and testifies that today, after His resurrection, the Lord, who is the spiritual King of the invisible kingdom of the heavens, is still on the earth in His Spirit of resurrection to be with the people of the kingdom  of the heavens in His invisible presence; hence, Matthew does not mention His leaving the earth to ascend to the heavens. The Gospel of John reveals and testifies that as the Triune God, the Lord became flesh (1:14) to be the Lamb of God (1:29) and, after accomplishing His redemptive death for man, was transfigured in resurrection to become flesh (1:14) to be the Lamb of God (1:29) and , after accomplishing His redemptive death for man, was transfigured in resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit (1Cor.15:45) and to enter into those who believe into Him to be their life for eternity, never to be separated from them; hence, it would have been inappropriate for John to mention His going away in ascension.

Furthermore, the four Gospels are a full revelation of how the Triune God came to complete Christ, that is, to make Christ complete. The record in the Gospel of John is crucial regarding this matter. It shows us that the completing of Christ, who was anointed and commissioned by God to accomplish God’s eternal will, was carried out by the Triune God becoming flesh in order to be united with man. First, through His death in the flesh He accomplished redemption for man, and then through resurrection He was transfigured to become the Spirit that He might enter into the believers (20:22) to be united with them, that they might be united with the Triune God (17:21). Thus, He became Christ, the embodiment of God, and is able to take away men’s sins and enter into men to be their life that they may become the sons of God to be His members, constituting His Body as the full expression of the Triune God. Thus, He is in them to be all their reality and to be with them invisibly until their bodies are redeemed and transfigured that they may enter into His visible presence to be completely united with Him and completely like Him, and to become the New Jerusalem, which is about to be completed, as the mutual habitation of the Triune God and His redeemed people for eternity.

 

Bibliography,

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.