Starting Over (John 21:15–19)

Transcript

JR 39
04/13/2025
Starting Over
John 21:15-19
Jesse Randolph


I think we would all agree that there are certain times in our lives and certain areas of our lives where it would be nice to have a do over, it'd be nice to start over. Right? For some of you who are golfers, if you golf like me, meaning poorly and infrequently, you know what a do over is. You've had a mulligan, you've experienced that before, the golf's experience or golf's example of a do over. Now if your favorite sports team has had a rough year and the dawn of a new season arises, you have hope in starting over. No wins, no losses. Or when you've had a disagreement with your spouse one morning, and the day gets off to a bit of a rough start, and you come together, and you forgive each other, and you hug each other, it is a great feeling to be able to wipe the slate clean and start over. And there's really no place where this experience of starting over is sweeter than in our relationship with our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we've gone through a period of neglecting Him, not trusting Him, declining in our affections for Him, doubting Him, failing to prioritize Him, or sinning against Him, to be able to start over, to go back to square one, to regain those first love affections for Him is truly one of the sweetest experiences a believer can undergo.

The subject of our study this morning, Peter, who many have called the apostle with the foot-shaped mouth, he knew the sweetness of this experience. Peter knew what it meant to be hot and cold in his devotion to Jesus Christ. He knew what it felt like to be hyper-zealous for Jesus, but he also knew what it felt like to turn his back on the Lord. And he knew what it felt like to enjoy that sweetness of starting over with his Savior. And that's what we're going to see in the text we'll be in this morning. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you would, to the very last chapter of the Gospel of John, John 21, as we look forward to Good Friday and Easter next week, and we're taking a break from Luke for one Sunday, to look at what this section of John's Gospel says about starting over, going back to the basics, making sure that Jesus Christ and His person is central to who we are and all that we do.

John 21 is where we'll be, in verses 15-19. God's Word reads, “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.’ 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.’ 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. 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.’ 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.’”

It's a story many of us have read through before, for many of us multiple times. It's an account that many of us have heard preached with various different aspects of the text being emphasized. Some have emphasized the serenity of that scene on the seashore where through that blue dawn of early morning with that scent of a charcoal fire floating through the air, Jesus served His disciples breakfast. Others have emphasized the clear shepherding motifs—Tend My lambs, Shepherd My sheep, Tend My sheep. Others have emphasized the question that Jesus asks Peter those three times, Do you love Me? We'll touch on each of those as we work our way through this text. But what I want to highlight for us this morning is what I really believe is this macro theme that is sitting over this passage, which is that Peter, who had failed His Savior many times, was being restored, he was starting over.

Now to consider this text in its context, we do want to give ourselves sort of a running start by reviewing not only what the Gospel of John says about Peter and his life, but what the other Gospel accounts give us about this man. We know from the other Gospels, for instance, that Peter's original name was Simon, which comes from the Hebrew name Simeon, which goes all the way back to one of the names of Jacob's twelve sons for whom the 12 tribes of Israel were named. So Peter as we know him, or Simon as he was originally known as, came from good Jewish stock. Not only that, we know that Peter was one of the first followers of Jesus Christ.

Go back with me to chapter one of John's Gospel, John 1. We're going to be kind of hopscotching around the Gospels this morning, making our way back to our text ultimately. But look at John 1:40, this account of how Peter was initially called to follow Jesus. John 1:40 says, “One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. When Jesus looked at him, he said, ‘You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).”

So just to make sure we're clear and tracking here, Peter, who is identified here as Simon, the son of John, initially met Jesus through his own, Peter's own brother, Andrew. Andrew had apparently up to this point been following John the Baptist. But when John the Baptist says, “Behold the Lamb of God,” pointing to Jesus, Andrew now follows Jesus. And then Andrew brings his brother, Simon, to meet Jesus. And upon meeting Simon, Jesus, we see here, gives Simon this new name. And you see it there in verse 42, he would be now called Cephas. It's the Aramaic word for rock. In Greek it becomes “petros,” in English it becomes Peter.

Now we know that Peter was originally from Bethsaida, and then eventually, he went on to live in a city called Capernaum, which was just a few miles from Bethsaida. These were both towns, fishing villages on the northern shore of Galilee. And being from this coastal region of Galilee, Peter was a fisherman. In fact, turn with me, if you would, over to the Gospel of Luke, familiar territory, Luke 5. (We'll get here in a year or so, Luke 5. No, I don't want to make promises I can't keep. I'll just leave it there.) Luke 5:1 says, “Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him,” referring to Jesus, of course, “and listening to the word of God, He was standing at the edge of the lake of Gennesaret.” That's another word for the Sea of Galilee. “And He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, and the fishermen, having gotten out of them, were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat. And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered and said, ‘Master, we labored all night and caught nothing, but at Your word, I will let down the nets.’” You can already trace out these doubts that Peter had about what Jesus was saying here. It's as though he's saying, sure Jesus, whatever You say. We've literally been doing this our entire life. We've been fishing all night. But yeah, we'll go ahead and cast our nets. Right. Picking up in verse 6, it says, “When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.’ For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. And James and John, sons of Zebedee who were partners with Simon, were also likewise amazed.”

So we'll get into this in more detail. There's something glorious happening here in this scene as Jesus causes all these fish to come to these nets. We'll get in that when we get to Luke 5. But here we see, just for our purposes, that fishing was Peter's vocation. fishing was his job. He had a boat, he had partners, namely James and John, but he was about to embark on an entirely new calling, he was about to go through the ultimate career change. Look at verse 10 in the middle there. It says, “And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not fear. From now on, you will be catching men.’ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.”

So that's how Peter's journey began as a follower, as a disciple of the Lord. This Galilean fisherman was told that he would no longer be catching fish, but men. File that thought away. And that's what he did. For the next couple of years Peter was this fisher of men, learning at the feet of Jesus as the Lord's disciple. But Peter, we know, wasn't just any disciple. No, he was a part of the Lord's inner circle, part of the Lord's inner ring along with James and John. And we see that intimate relationship that those three had in a few different places in the New Testament. We think of that scene in Mark 5 where Jesus raises the daughter of Jairus. And Mark 5:37 records that “He allowed no one to accompany him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James.” Or we think of Jesus's transfiguration in Matthew 17, where there in verses 1-2 Matthew says that “Jesus brought with Him Peter and James and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them.” So Peter was not merely a disciple, he was not merely an apostle; he was in the inner circle, in the inner ring.

He played this unique role, this special role also as a regular spokesman, a regular representative of the apostles, of the disciples. For instance it was Peter, who after hearing Jesus's teaching in Matthew 19 that it is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” answered back to Jesus and said, “Behold, we,” he's speaking plurally there, “we have left everything and followed You; [and] what will there be for us?” In John 6:66 which records that many were going away and not walking with the Lord anymore, Jesus then says to the twelve, “Do you also want to go?” It was Peter who spoke up in John 6:68 saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” But again, he's speaking plurally, Where do we go? And then in Matthew 16:15 Jesus asks His disciples as a group, plurally, “Who do you,” who do y'all “say that I am?” And it's Peter who speaks up on behalf of the group saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Well, it wasn't just that Peter regularly spoke up on behalf of the other disciples, the other apostles; when he did so he often did so in an especially impulsive way, an especially hasty way, and especially rash way. We remember that scene in John 13:5. Jesus is pouring water into the wash basin and washing His disciples' feet, and He's got the towel prepared on His side as He's doing so. And who is it that speaks up? Peter. Peter says in John 13:6, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” And then in John 13:7 Jesus says back to Peter, “What I'm doing you do not realize now, but you will understand afterwards.” Peter then replies in verse 8, “You will never wash my feet -- ever.”

Then there's the scene in Matthew 16 where Jesus was in the presence of His disciples foretelling His own death and resurrection. And that scene is described in Matthew 16:21, and we're told there that “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and raised up on the third day.” Well, that didn't sit well with Peter. Matthew 16:22 says, “Peter took Him aside,” the Lord aside, “and began to rebuke Him.” Can you imagine? Can you imagine rebuking the Lord of glory? Can you imagine rebuking the One who formed you in your mother's womb? Well, that's what happened. And Peter's words of rebuke are recorded in Matthew 16:22, he says, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” In other words, I know better than You, Lord, and what You just said, there's no way that that's actually going to happen. But in verse 23, the Lord gives Peter some swift and needed words of correction. That's where he says to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's.”

And of course, at no point in his years of following Jesus did Peter prove himself to be more brash and bold with his words than we see over in Matthew 26. Turn with me to Matthew 26, where we see these events surrounding what we know as the Lord's Supper. Matthew 26:26, it says this, “Now while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it. And giving it to the disciples, He said, ‘Take, eat, this is My body.’ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them saying, ‘Drink from it all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.’ After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away because of Me this night, for as it is written, “I will strike down the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.” But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”’” And well, well, well, look who speaks up first in verse 33. “But Peter answered and said to Him, ‘Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.’” Peter was bold, Peter was not afraid to make bold claims. He was not afraid to make enormous promises, even promises he couldn't possibly keep. And Jesus was quick to call him out. Verse 34 says, “Jesus said to him, truly I say to you that this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And then look at Peter's reply in verse 35, look at how firmly he's digging in his heels here. He says, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.”

Well, after that, Matthew, we know, shifts his focus over to Jesus's prayer in Gethsemane, then the betrayal of Jesus, the arrest of Jesus. But to sort of bridge ourselves back to our text, I want to get into John's account of Jesus's arrest. Turn with me back to the Gospel of John, John 18 specifically. John 18 starting in verse 12, “So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better for one man to die on behalf of the people. And Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in. Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, ‘Are you not also one of this Man's disciples?’ He said, ‘I am not.’” Remember what Jesus had just predicted that Peter would do? “Truly, truly, on this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Well, here's denial number one.

Verse 18, “Now the slaves and the officers were standing there having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves. And Peter was also with them standing and warming himself. The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples and about His teaching. Jesus answered him, ‘I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together, and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them. Behold, they know what I said.’ And when He said this, one of the officers standing nearby gave Jesus a slap saying, ‘Is that the way You answer the high priest?’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?’ So Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.” Now look at verse 25, “Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself, so they said to him, ‘You are not also one of His disciples, are you?’ He denied it and said, ‘I am not.’” So there is denial number two.

Now look at verse 26, “One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with Him?’ Peter then denied it again.” Denial number three. “And immediately, a rooster crowed.”

So let's review, and I fully understand that this is not doing justice to the entirety of Peter's life and his ministry, but this is all introduction and ramping up to our actual text for today. Peter was this Galilean fisherman who was directly called by Jesus to follow Him, to become this fisher of men. He answered the call, and time and time again, he showed himself to be this outspoken, ardent disciple; this enthusiastic, strong willed, brash apostle. But Peter was also this man who, despite all of his strengths and virtues, also had real weaknesses and also experienced real failure, none of which loom larger than what we just looked at—his threefold denial of Jesus on the night his Lord was betrayed and arrested and ultimately led away to be murdered. When it came down to go time, when it really mattered, when he had his grand opportunity to show his loyalty to the Lord, Peter failed. Peter failed Jesus, he failed his Savior, he failed his Master, he failed his Lord. And he was desperately in need of a do over, he desperately needed to start over. And that brings us back to our text for today.

We left off in John 18 here with the arrest of Jesus and Peter's denial of Him. John 19 then tells the account of the crucifixion and death of Jesus, we'll see that this coming Friday night. John 20 is the account of the resurrection of Jesus, we'll go through that a week from now. But today what I want us to zero in on is John 21, this very specific post-resurrection appearance of Jesus that John records for us here. I've already read for us verses 15-19, but let's briefly consider some of this material that comes before those verses, where we see this seashore encounter that these disciples had with the risen Savior because it colors all that we're about to get to. Look at verse 1, John 21:1, it says, “After these things, Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples.” “After these things” here means after Jesus's earlier post-resurrection appearances, which are recorded over in John 20. He appears to Mary Magdalene, He appears to doubting Thomas. “After these things, Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples.” And He does so, it says, “at the Sea of Tiberias.” That's another name for the Sea of Galilee. “And He manifested Himself,” John says here, in a certain way, “in this way.” This is John's entry point now into the rest of the story.

Now note here, when Jesus manifested Himself to these disciples, He did so to this limited group. It wasn't to the entirety of the twelve, rather he gives us these names of these seven individuals that Jesus manifested Himself to. Verse 2, it was “Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.” So note right away, Simon Peter is listed first. That's very, very typical in the Gospel accounts. He is frequently given that place of prominence. And then you have these two men mentioned by name, Thomas and Nathaniel, then the two men mentioned by parentage, the sons of Zebedee, and then there are these two other unnamed men.

Now to capture the atmosphere of this scene, we need to consider what these men had just gone through. They had gone to Jerusalem and witnessed what they assumed was this climactic event, Jesus' triumphal entry into the Holy City, that scene where all the palm fronds were being waved around and the people in Jerusalem were declaring, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” So they saw that. Then they witnessed one of their own, Judas, betray their teacher. And then they witnessed their leader, Peter, deny their Lord. Then they witnessed the agonizing crucifixion of Jesus. Then they witnessed the miraculous resurrection of Jesus. And then they had even witnessed Him in His resurrected state. So these men, they knew that Jesus was alive, but yet they were in this state here of being perplexed. From their vantage point, they didn't know if that one encounter they'd had with the risen Lord was going to be just a onetime event. Would they ever see Him again?

So the scene here is that these men are down by the sea, which they were so familiar with. This was home to them, this was their native territory, this was a comfortable, familiar environment. At the same time everything in their world had been turned upside down. They were understandably confused and worried and worn out as they milled around the seashore there. And then Peter, it's always Peter, this man of action, he makes the first move here in verse 3. “Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing.” Now to be clear, that's not Peter saying, “I'm just going to toss a line in the water for some recreation time.” He's not saying here, “I'm going to go fishing for some fun. It's been a stressful week.” No. This is another episode of Peter being self-willed, another episode of Peter being stubborn. We've seen this already, but in his first encounter with Jesus Peter was told by Jesus, recall, “Follow Me and I will make you,” what? “Fisher of men.”

And now Peter here is being reported as fishing for fish. He says, “I'm going fishing.” And there's a sense of settled finality to those words. Peter here is saying in effect, “I can't take this anymore, I need to do something else. I'm going back to my old life. In the middle of all this confusion and uncertainty I know that the Lord gave me this commission, but I'm going to lay it aside, and I'm going to do what I want to do. I am going fishing.” Those words are incredibly disappointing to read. They're so understated, but they're so sad. See, Peter's this leader, this man who had been entrusted with so much by the Lord. He had these disciples who were looking to him for leadership, he had this great potential. And in the throes of his sadness and self-loathing, no doubt he was dogged by the guilt of that remarkable failure in denying the Lord. He's ready to give it all up. Peter here is thinking about putting a hook in some fish's mouth. I would say Satan here was looking to put a hook in Peter's. He was looking to sidetrack him, to get him off a mission, to pull him away from what the Lord had called him to do.

Well, being this influential man that he was, Peter's decision led others to follow him. Still in verse 3, it says, “They said to him,” this is the disciples speaking to Peter, “‘We will also come with you.’” So the other disciples, they're restless like Peter, they want relief like Peter, they've had a stressful crazy week like Peter. So they follow their leader Peter. But they don't get the relief they're looking for by going fishing because their overnight fishing trip left them empty handed, really empty netted. Look at the end of verse 3, it says, “They went out and got into the boat and that night they caught nothing.” So these professional fishermen spend all night fishing and they caught nothing, not one fish, not even a guppy. A total letdown, this major disappointment. Insult is being added to injury here as this new low happens in this week of highs and lows.

The scene continues in verse 4, it says, “But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach. Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.” So what's being pictured here is they're rowing the boat back to shore at daybreak. They're no doubt frustrated over this lack of overnight success. They see this outline of a man on the beach there, but because it's too dark or he's too far away, they can't put two and two together and see that's Jesus. He then asks them a question, verse 5, “So Jesus said to them, ‘Children, do you have any fish?’” Ouch. That's the question no fisherman wants to hear after a rough night out at sea when he's caught nothing. What did you catch? Jesus is the omniscient God of the universe. Do you think He knew how many fish were in those nets? Absolutely. He's not asking this question because He needs to get information that He is not privy to. He's asking the question more in this tone—you didn't catch any fish, did you. That's the phraseology here. And they answered Him, of course, no. And this is not like one of these no's, like ‘no, not yet,’ or ‘no, we're just going to try another side of the lake a little bit later.’ This is a dejected, flat, sheepish ‘no.’ They knew they had not caught fish, and they weren't about to catch any fish.

And look at the instructions He gives them in verse 6, “And He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’” Now to this point the disciples in the fishing boat, they don't realize whom they're talking with. From their vantage point this pre-sunrise encounter is with this total stranger who just happens to be walking along this shore, and now he's offering them, these professional fishermen, some fishing advice. And He's giving them this out of left field advice that they throw their nets off to the right side, as though they didn't try that overnight, but they're prompted to follow it. Verse 6, “So they cast,” meaning off to the right, “and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.”

And that's when it started to click that this wasn't a stranger. This was the Lord, this was Jesus. Look at verse 7, “Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved,” that's John, who we're told says to Peter here, “‘It is the Lord.’” And then now note what Peter does with this information. After being told it is the Lord, this is when he helps his fellow fishermen haul in the fish. Right? This is when he falls flat on his face, sings hallelujah, and praises God, hands in the air. Right? Wrong. Look at the rest of verse 7, it says, “So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on, for he was stripped for work, and cast himself into the sea.” In other words, Peter jumped immediately into the water and splashed and swam his way to Jesus. This was Peter's typical impulsive approach to just about anything, flailing and rushing with very little thinking or contemplating, and in doing so, leaving the rest of the group behind. Verse 8, “But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about 200 cubits away, dragging in a net full of fish.” I can't help but thinking of the disciples here being a little perturbed and saying something like, “Hey, hey, thanks, Peter. We got it. We'll haul the fish, and you go ahead and splash and swim your way to shore.”

But they eventually convene on land. Peter, the other six disciples, and Jesus, they're all gathered there on the seashore. And when they get there, they see that the Savior has prepared breakfast for them. Look at verse 9, “So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire in place and fish placed on it and bread.” Remember, these are tired men, these are emotionally worn out men, these are physically exhausted men. They've been laboring all night. They're no doubt cold and hungry at this point, and the risen Jesus has lit a fire and made them breakfast. The Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Creator of each and every one of those fish who swam into those nets, the Creator of the men who now stood before Him, had cooked breakfast for them. Toward Him, especially leading up to this scene, they had showed Him nothing but a lack of trust and a lack of belief and a lack of faith as they went back to fishing. But by preparing breakfast for them, He's communicating to them here that He's not done with them, He's not about to cast them away.

Then this, verses 10-11, “Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish which you have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of large fish, 153. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.” So here we see precision in what the Apostle John records. There were exactly 153 large fish, and we see providence as the Lord caused providentially every one of those 153 fish to swim into those nets at that time. And now, verses 12-14, “Jesus said to them, ‘Come have breakfast.’ None of the disciples dared to question Him, Who are you? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.” So this stunned group of disciples is now sitting with the risen Jesus around this charcoal fire, and they're not asking questions, they're not questioning Him. The blood that was at the foot of His cross is hardly dry, and they realize how quickly they've gone off mission from the risen Lord, from going from fishers of men to being fishers of fish. And yet here He is having prepared breakfast for them. This must have been an awkward encounter. There must have been some sort of awkward silence here as they were eating this meal.

But that brings us back to our text, we're starting in verse 15 here. The scene shifts from Jesus's breakfast with all the disciples, where He's met their physical needs by filling their bellies, to now turning to Peter. And Peter, remember, had been through it. He had been zealous, he had been diligent, he had been bold, he had been brash, he had denied his Lord, he had seen his Lord die. And now in this early morning setting, with that familiar aroma or scent of a charcoal fire wafting through his nostrils, the same scent that he was contending with when he denied the Lord three times, this scene unfolds where Peter's given this chance to start over. Look at verse 15, it says, “So when they had finished breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John.’” So Jesus addresses Peter the way He addressed him back when they first met. Remember John 1:42, where He says, “Simon, son of John.” Now he's using the same address all this time later. These are words of comfort, these are words of familiarity.

And then, we get to the heart of this exchange between these two, between Jesus and Peter. And we see the same pattern play out three different times. First, there's a question from Jesus, then a response by Peter, and then there's a command to Peter from Jesus. And it all starts with this question that we see asked here, “do you love Me more than these?” Now for hundreds of years now people have been debating the meaning of that single word, “these.” Who are, what is, the “these” that Jesus is referring to when He says to Peter, “do you love Me more than these?” You can picture Him pointing to something or to someone. Some have said that “these” refers to Peter's fishing nets. So the Lord is asking Peter here if it's a fishing net, as he's considering the cost of following Christ, is he willing to put his greatest value and worth and cost on his relationship with the Lord rather than his trade, his old trade of fishing? Now, others have said that “these” here refers to the other disciples, meaning Jesus is asking Peter if he, Peter, loved Him, Jesus, more than he, Peter, loved Thomas or Nathaniel or James or John or his own brother, Andrew.

I actually don't think it's either. I take the word “these” here to be a word of comparison, meaning Jesus is asking this question with the other disciples in view. And what He's asking Peter here is not whether Peter loved Jesus more than Peter loved Andrew let's say. Instead, He's asking him whether he loved Jesus more than all those other men loved Jesus. He was asking him whether Peter's love for Christ exceeded the love that the other disciples had for Christ. Was Peter's love for Christ greater and stronger than theirs? And why would Jesus ask Peter such a question? Why would He go there? Was Jesus insecure? Of course not. Instead, Jesus asked Peter this question to challenge Peter. Recall what Peter said in that account we read from Matthew 26 at the Last Supper, Matthew 26:33, where Peter says, “Even though all may fall away,” as in he might fall away, and he might fall away, “I will never fall away.” And so, what Jesus here is doing in His post-resurrection state, even though Peter had failed Him before, is giving him the opportunity. Though he had denied Him three times, He was giving him an opportunity to prove his love for Him, giving him a chance to start over, giving him a chance to stay true to him. Peter was going to be given another chance, and the door to that second chance has opened with this question, “Do you love me more than these?” So that's what the “these” is referring to.

But we have to spend some time considering that word for love that Jesus uses there when He says, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” The word that He uses for love there is from the Greek word “agape.” It's the strongest expression, strongest word for love that exists in the ancient koine Greek language. It refers to that self-sacrificial, others-focused, purely volitional type of love. It's the love that Jesus Himself demonstrated for us when He went to the cross. Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love,” agape, “toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. So when Jesus asked Peter this question, do you love Me, He's asking him pointedly, “Are you unwavering in your devotion to Me? Are you firmly resolved in your commitment to Me?”

Now how would the old Peter have answered that question? We know, right? We know how old Peter would have responded. Old Peter would have said, “Oh, Lord, You better believe it. Let me tell You how much I love you. You don't even know how much I love You. Surely, more than these yahoos love You. I love You the most.” That's what old Peter would have said. But that's not how he answers here, does he? No. Look what's recorded in verse 15, it says, “He said to Him, yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Now already, that reply is so much more toned down and tame than what we're used to seeing from Peter. It just jumps off the page.

But what's really fascinating is that Peter here doesn't even use the same word for love that Jesus does in the original question. Jesus uses the word “agape,” Peter uses the word “phileo” which means brotherly love or deep affection. So Jesus is using the highest possible form of love as His term of reference, and Peter is going down a few layers on the rungs in the ladder with “phileo.” Why? Well, he'd learned his lesson. Not wanting to be so boastful again and then have himself proven foolish when he forsakes the Lord, not wanting to overshoot the mark, not wanting to use words that he would come to later regret, he downshifted in his terminology. Jesus here is asking him, “Do you love Me with an unreserved, wholly devoted love?” And Peter's reply is effectively, “Lord, I'm fond of You.” Now in any other setting Peter's reply here might be taken to be offensive, insulting, irreverent, but not here. Peter's response was taken for what it was. This was a man who was deeply humbled. This was a man who is now sensitive to his own limitations. This is a man who didn't want to stumble into those same traps he had stumbled into before, and so he says, “You know that I love You. Lord, You know I have a deep affection for You. Lord, You know I am fond of You.”

To which Jesus replies, here's the command, “Tend My lambs.” So the conversation quickly goes here from fishing to shepherding. As the Good Shepherd there stands on the shores of Galilee, and as He's addressing Peter, He's thinking of His lambs, He's thinking of His sheep, His flock. They were His, He's sovereign over them. He's their Savior, and they're always at the forefront of His mind. So he's telling Peter here that though Peter had failed Him, the Lord had not only forgiven him, but He trusted him to tend to, to feed, to lead the young ones in His flock. Though Peter had this past, this past where he had fallen and he had stumbled and he had failed, and though Peter had just expressed this less than passionate form of love for Jesus, Jesus yet trusted him and expected him to tend to and protect His precious flock. “Tend My lambs.” He had this clear commission, imperfect, flawed man that he was.

Well, the next cycle of question-answer-command comes in verse 16. It says, “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.’” Now note right away here Jesus goes back to calling Peter, not Peter but what? Simon, son of John. He goes back to the name He addressed him by when He first called him to follow the Lord, and by doing so Jesus here is taking Peter back in time to that period of relative innocence when he first started following Christ.

And note here, this time in the second round Jesus doesn't use any words of comparison, there is no, “do you love Me more than these” this go around. He simply asks, “do you love Me?” Why though? Why didn't He use the term of comparison again? Answer, Jesus is gracious. He's already used that term of comparison in the first round of questions in verse 15, so He wasn't looking to pummel Peter with his past, He wasn't looking to bludgeon him verbally, He wasn't looking to shame him or embarrass him. But at the same time He was looking to establish Peter's love for Him. So He asks that more simplified question here, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” And look at how Peter answers. “He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.’” And by the way we have the same thing happening here, where Jesus uses the highest form of love possible in this question. There's agape love, and Peter replies with phileo love. So Jesus is asking the question, “Do you love Me, Peter, with a selfless, sacrificial, duty bound form of unrestrained commitment?” And Peter won't go that high, verbally. Again, the old Peter definitely would have done so, he probably would have tried to outdo Jesus with his vocabulary. But the new Peter, the restored Peter didn't. Again, Peter knew his past, he knew his tendencies, he had a genuine distrust of himself.
He had wised up, and there would be no more of these emotional outbursts that we saw before, no more allowing your tongue to outrun your brain. So instead he responds, “You know I really like You. You know I'm fond of You, Jesus.” That's the meaning here.

And then Jesus gives him this second command, “He said to him, ‘Shepherd My sheep.’” The word there is “poimano,” from which we get our term pastor, a pastor is a shepherd. That's what Jesus is saying here to Peter, “Pastor My people, shepherd My sheep. Watch over and tend to and protect those precious lambs in My flock. Lead them and guide them into truth. Protect them from wolves. Prepare them for the eternity that's to come.” And we know, by the way, that Peter would take this to heart, this advice that Jesus gives all throughout this passage.

Actually, we have time. Go with me to 1 Peter 5, written, of course, by this same Peter many, many years later, after this whole incident by the seashore in Galilee. 1 Peter 5:1. Peter here, moved by the Spirit, says, “Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing, not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; and not for dishonest gain but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to you but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” In other words, just as Jesus had told Peter at the Sea of Galilee with that smell of a charcoal fire blowing through the air, “Shepherd My sheep,” Peter here is now telling all future generations of elders and pastors to carry the baton forward as they shepherd the flock of God.

But back to our text, John 21. We now get to this third exchange which follows that same pattern of question-response-command. Verse 17 says, “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.’” Now on first glance this looks like Jesus is asking the same exact question as He did the second time around. In our English Bibles they look exactly the same, the same question is posed, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” And on first glance what it looks like here in verse 17 is that Peter is getting annoyed with Jesus, that Jesus is asking him essentially the same question again. It says, “Peter was grieved.”

But something is happening underneath the surface of our English text that I need to highlight here. And that something that's underneath here is that Jesus has changed the wording of His question. He has dropped the agape word, and He's adopted Peter's word, phileo, meaning Jesus here this third time around is asking Peter, “Peter, do you have a deep affection for Me? Peter, are you fond of Me?” In other words, Jesus now is questioning Peter at Peter's level. It's as though the Lord is asking Peter here, “Okay, Peter, you've now twice volunteered that you have this fondness for Me, this deep affection for Me. I'll use your word, phileo. So now I'm going to ask you, Peter, do you really? Are you sure you have even that fondness for Me?”

And Peter was grieved here, verse 17, not because the Lord asked him another question, a third question. Peter's grieved here because the Lord asked him that question using that word. Peter remembered how zealous he had been. Peter remembered those soaring pledges of loyalty he had made to the Lord before. And now here he was being asked by that same Jesus such a very basic question, “Peter, do you have affection for Me? Peter, are you fond of Me?” That's what grieved Peter, that he had fallen so far, that now the Lord had to even ask him a question like that.

It was a powerful, poignant moment. And Peter answered Jesus yet again this third time. Just as he denied Jesus three times in the night of Jesus's arrest, now he's affirming his love and affection for Jesus three times on the shores of Galilee. And look at the answer he gives end of verse 17. “And he said to Him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you.” He uses phileo there again. Now in his earlier days Peter surely would have tried to convince Jesus that He, Jesus, couldn't possibly know the love for the Savior that was exploding within Peter's heart. That's how he would have replied before, but no longer. Peter now is humbled, he's humbled before the all-knowing, all-seeing Christ. He says, “You know all things,” meaning, “there's nothing about me, Lord, that You don't know.” And then he says, “You know that I love You,” phileo. “You know that I have a deep affection for you.” Peter had grown, he'd been convicted, he had been humbled. And now he is ready, primed to do whatever it was the Lord would have him do. And the Lord tells Peter end of verse 17, what He would have him do now, “Tend My sheep.” That's the same word that we see at the end of verse 15. Peter was to spend the rest of his life, broken vessel that he was, clay pot that he was, not fishing but shepherding, tending to Christ's sheep.

And then we get to the last part of this encounter. Look at verse 18 where Jesus says to Peter, “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.” Verse 18 here is John's record of what Jesus told Peter about what would happen to Peter in the future. And just as Jesus had rightly predicted that Peter would deny Him three times, now Jesus was predicting that Peter would live for Him and ultimately die for Him. When he was young, when he was younger, it says, verse 18, he had liberty. “You used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished,” it says. But in his old age, says Jesus, Peter would lose his liberty. He would be taken captive, he would be stretched out. He would be girded, literally tied with cords in his context, tortured and crucified just like his master Jesus was. Peter, who in Luke 22:33 had boldly proclaimed, “Lord, I am ready to go with You to prison and to death.” Peter, who had boldly said to Jesus in John 13:37, “I will lay down my life for You,” would in the end be given that chance. Having been restored, having started over, he would be given that chance to one day finish well by laying down his life for the Lord.

And that's picked up at the beginning of verse 19, which is really an explanation of verse 18, where John records, “Now this He said signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.” And we know that the prediction of Jesus here came true. The early church historian Eusebius wrote this of Peter's death. “And at last,” it says, “having come to Rome, he was crucified head downwards, for he had requested that he might suffer in this way.” So the witness of church history is that Peter, not deeming himself worthy of dying the same way Jesus did, asked himself to be crucified upside down.

But not before he lived a fruitful life of obedience to the Lord's command at the end of verse 19. Look at what's recorded at the end here. It says, “And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’” And with that we come full circle. Though those words “follow Me” would have taken Peter back again to when he and Jesus first met, back to the beginning, by saying follow Me, Jesus was communicating to Peter that He was ready to start over with him. And that's what would end up happening between this very moment of being told, follow Me, and then Peter's eventual upside down crucifixion. We know that Peter would end up being used mightily of the Lord. I mean, just think of the first part of the book of Acts: Peter's powerful sermon at Pentecost, his healing of a lame beggar in Acts 3, his boldness in standing before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4, his joy in being arrested for preaching the cross in Acts 5. On and on and on it goes. In other words the restored Peter, the Peter who had started over in this scene, would go on to live this fruitful life of service for Jesus, highlighting what really was a total devotion to the Lord. He had learned, He had grown. And one day he did receive his crown of glory.

At the beginning of our message this morning, I put it before you that I think we could all appreciate the opportunity to start over, to have the do over. And maybe that's describing someone in our auditorium here this morning. You've stumbled into sin. You've lost the joy of your salvation. You've drifted. You've lost the zeal for Jesus Christ you once had. You've over promised and under delivered yet again. And now you're deflated, and you're frustrated. And if you're being honest, there are many days where you feel like you're just going through the motions with this whole church thing.

If that describes you, I want to give you a few reminders and a few encouragements by way of this text. First, just remember that if you have put your faith in Christ, if you are a true follower of Jesus Christ here this morning, you have put your ultimate hope in the Lord's death and resurrection, well then, that means He knows you. That means He loves you, and that means He will never cast you out of His family. Remember the words of Paul in Romans 8:39, and it means what it means, that “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.” So take that to heart, that the Lord knows everything about you, even the worst things, and He still loves you.

Second lesson to take away from this is that you and I both have so far to go, don't we? Just like Peter did in his context. The reality is we are these incomplete repair projects, right? Broken vessels in need of continual sanctification and growth. And what that ought to do day by day, week by week, is drive us deeper and deeper to a point of true humility. Peter went through that. In fact, Peter reported on that. Over in 1 Peter 5:5, having learned this lesson, he articulates that very principle. He says, “All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Third, keep at the forefront of your mind the question that Jesus asked Peter three times here, “do you love Me?” Note the question He didn't ask. He didn't ask, do you love theology? Do you love learning Greek and Hebrew? Do you love debating doctrine? Do you love dispensationalism? Do you love Ryrie? Do you love MacArthur? Now, what was the question? “Do you love Me?” If you're feeling a bit like Peter this morning, you're only going to be able to start over if you're hearing the actual question Jesus is asking you, “Do you love Me?” Do you love Him?

Last, I hope you'll remember this example of Peter, this profile of Peter who was this great man used greatly of the Lord, but a fallen man who was this called man but ultimately a broken man, and in the end a man who humbled himself before the Lord, was restored to the Lord, started over, and ended up being used mightily of the Lord. And that can happen for you, too, if you're in that position today. The same can happen in your life. All you have to do is humble yourself and ask Jesus through prayer to help you live out these words I'm going to read for you as I close. These are the final words that Peter would record by his pen in the Scriptures in 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

Father, we thank You for this time this morning. We thank You for the truth and the clarity of Your word. We thank You for the example of Peter that we've studied this morning. We thank You that You are a forgiving God, a merciful God, a gracious God, a compassionate God. And even when we stumble, even when we fall, even when we trip all over ourselves as we walk the walk of faith, You forgive, You restore, You are gracious, You are good. And we praise You for that. So God, if there's someone here this morning who is feeling down or dejected or feeling like they've just outrun Your forgiving arm, or that Your forgiving arm is too short to forgive, God, help them correct that thought. Help them to humble themselves and draw near to You, to repent, to be restored. Help them to consider the example of Peter here, and how You turned his heart back to You and used him greatly for Your service. And Father, if there's someone here who has never even experienced the grace of God, who has never put their faith in Jesus Christ to begin with, I pray that today would be the day they would understand that they can have the ultimate forgiveness of their sin and have eternity secured for them, an eternity in heaven, if they would simply believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, believe that You raised Him from the dead, and so be saved. We love You. We praise You. In Christ's name we pray, amen.