BIG IDEA:
EACH UNDERSHEPHERD MUST PASSIONATELY AND PERSONALLY FOLLOW THE GREAT SHEPHERD AND CARE FOR THE SHEEP
(:15A) INTRODUCTION
“So when they had finished breakfast”
Context: Peter has constantly been thrusting himself forward as the “most committed” and “most passionate” of the disciples. However, he had been humbled by succumbing to the threefold denial that Jesus had prophesied. Here Jesus asks Peter to reexamine his previous boastful claims (Deffinbaugh).
I. (:15-17) PASTORING THE LORD’S FLOCK IS THE ULTIMATE DEMONSTRATION OF LOVE FOR THE GREAT SHEPHERD
(Proving our Love is an Individual rather than a Competitive Issue)
3 Challenges Relating to Peter’s Level of Love and Commitment
A. (:15b) Challenge #1 – Demonstrate Your Love by Your Shepherding
“Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love (agape) Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love (phileo) You.’ He said to him, ‘Tend My lambs.’”
B. (:16) Challenge #2 – Demonstrate Your Love by Your Shepherding
“He said to him again a second time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love (agape) Me?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love (phileo) You.’ He said to him, Shepherd My sheep.’”
C. (:17) Challenge #3 – Demonstrate Your Love by Your Shepherding
“He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love (phileo) Me?’ Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love (phileo) Me?’ And he said to Him, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love (phileo) You.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend My sheep.’”
Deffinbaugh: Caution should be exercised in making too much of the two different words for “love” which are employed in this text. The two verbs are agapao and phileo. The first two times Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him, the word for love is agapao. The third time Jesus asks, He employs the term phileo. Every time Peter responds to Jesus’ question, indicating his love, he employs the word phileo. The distinctions that some make between these two terms may hold true in some cases, and for some authors. They do not seem to hold true for John, who often uses different terms for the same concept. When commentators do seek to emphasize the distinctions between the two Greek words John uses, they do not agree as to what the meaning and emphasis of these terms are. We should keep in mind that when Jesus spoke to Peter and asked him these three questions, He spoke not in Greek (the language in which the Gospel of John is written), but in Aramaic, the language spoken by the Jews of that day. The change in words may have some significance, but I hardly think it is the key to understanding the passage. . .
It was when Jesus asked the same question the third time that Peter was deeply grieved, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” It was not that Jesus changed from agapao to phileo that troubled Peter. Peter was grieved because Jesus found it necessary to ask virtually the same question three times. I do not like to be asked the same question repeatedly. I conclude that either the person asking the question wasn’t paying attention (this could not be the case with Jesus), or that my answer was not acceptable or credible. The three-fold repetition must have registered with Peter as being related to his three-fold denial. Peter was grieved because he realized that the bold and even arrogant claims he had made proved to be empty. Peter is not distressed with Jesus; he is grieved over his own sin. Jesus is not attempting to shame Peter; he is seeking to reaffirm his call to service. Did Jesus question Peter about his love for Him three times? Then note that three times Jesus instructed Peter to care for His sheep. Does Peter fear he has been cast aside as useless? Jesus tells him to return to His work, three times!
II. (:18-23) TRUE DISCIPLESHIP INVOLVES PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO FOLLOW THE LORD – EVEN TO THE POINT OF DEATH
A. (:18-19) Follow Me = Fundamental Discipleship Command – Even to the Point of Death
1. Prophecy of Peter’s Unpleasant Death
“’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 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.”
2. Fundamental Discipleship Command
“And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’”
B. (:20-23) Follow Me = Fundamental Discipleship Command – with a Personal Rather than Competitive Focus
1. (:20-21) Wrong Focus – Peter comparing His lot to John
“Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His breast at the supper, and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’ Peter therefore seeing him said to Jesus, ‘Lord, and what about this man?’”
2. (:23) Fundamental Discipleship Command
“Jesus said to him, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!””
3. (:24) Rumor Control
“This saying therefore 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?’”
(:24-25) EPILOGUE FOR THE WHOLE BOOK
A. (:24) Credible Author / Eyewitness
“This is the disciple who bears witness of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his witness is true.”
B. (:25) Selective Content / Vastness of Ministry of Christ
“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 which were written.”