Feed my sheep.
-John 21:17
Context
This is the last chapter of this book and it takes place after Jesus has been crucified for “claiming” to be the Son of God and the King of the Jews. Prior to that, Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, had denied Jesus three times. At this point, Jesus had already risen from the dead (crazy, right?) and had appeared to his disciples twice. This is the culminating point - the last encounter before Jesus ascends to heaven (recorded briefly in the Gospel of Mark). This is the last time Jesus is a physical character in the Bible but it’s not the last time he is mentioned. The study will start with observing what’s going on in the passage, followed by “connecting the dots”, then interpretation and application. To make the study easier to follow, I’ve underlined key phrases and broken the passage up into three sections.
John 21 (New International Version)
SECTION 2: Verse 15-19
When 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.”
Again 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.”
The 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. Very 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.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
SECTION 3: Verse 20-25
Peter 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?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Because 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?”
This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
Jesus 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.
Study
To squeeze out as much juice as we can from this passage, we are going to look at the denotations first. That means we’re going to consider the literal happenings/events and phrases. Then we will look at the connotations to make deeper meaning of passage. Finally, we will apply this passage to our personal circumstances.
SECTION 2
DENOTATIONS
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CONNOTATIONS
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Jesus asks Peter if Peter loves him more than “these”, “these”
being the fish.
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Jesus asks Peter if he loves the Giver more than the gift.
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Peter denied Jesus three times and now he tells Jesus he
loves him three times.
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Jesus did not remind Peter of the denial. Jesus simply
gives him a chance to redeem himself. He shows such compassion.
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Peter is hurt the third time Jesus asks.
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This is interesting because we can only imagine how Jesus
felt about being denied three times! We are not told how Jesus felt about the
denial, but if someone rejects you thrice, well, that’s brutal.
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Jesus gives Peter three tasks: to feed his lambs, take care
of his sheep, and feed his sheep.
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To do Jesus’ work, we have to love him first. It can’t be
the other way. Jesus gives him purpose. The disciples had turned back to fishing
after Jesus died, but Jesus reminded Peter of his God-given calling: to be a
fisher of men. (Throughout the Gospels, “lamb” and “sheep” are used to
describe people in general. Jesus is the shepherd.) Jesus gives Peter his
position of shepherding while Jesus is not physically on earth. Keep in mind though, that Jesus is the ultimate
shepherd. In part 1 of this study, we saw how Jesus fed the disciples, even
though the disciples were working to feed other people. In the same way, while Peter is shepherding the lambs, Jesus is shepherding him!
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Peter is the only one who is given the commands.
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Jesus and Peter had a very intimate relationship. He was
one of the disciples who was closest to Jesus. I’m not sure why he was the
one given the commands, but as you read further on through the New Testament,
you will see that Peter played a pivotal role in the creation of the Church.
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Again, he gives Peter the command to follow him. This is
how Jesus had called him the first time he chose him as a disciple.
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Jesus gave him yet another second chance. As I mentioned, Peter
and the other disciples had turned back to what they did before they knew
Jesus. Now Jesus tells them to follow him again.
What’s different is that this time, Jesus won’t physically be with them.
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SECTION 3
DENOTATIONS
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CONNOTATIONS
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Peter asks “what about him?”
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Peter is worried about someone else’s calling and someone
else’s relationship with Jesus instead of his own.
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Jesus tells Peter that what he has for the other disciples
shouldn’t be his concern.
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Basically, Jesus tells Peter to mind his own business
because Jesus' relationship with that disciple is between them.
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John finishes the story by highlighting that there aren’t
enough books in the world to tell Jesus’ story.
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Wow. John highlights how cool Jesus is! We already knew how cool Jesus was but John put it into words for us!
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Application
Jesus doesn’t bring up your past mistakes to make you feel
bad. He wants to know if you love him now. Sometimes we feel like we aren't
good enough to follow Jesus because of what we’ve done in the past, or how we’ve
denied him in the past. Jesus loves us, and he wants us to love him. He gives
us countless chances to redeem ourselves.
When we feel like we’re drifting through life with no aim or going back
and forth between our pre-Jesus and post-Jesus selves, Jesus calls us again. He
tells us to follow him, no matter how we have betrayed him in the past. And if we
love him, he gives us a purpose. He gives us a mission and it’s our choice to
accept it or not.
Don’t worry about others. Your relationship with Christ is
your relationship with Christ. When you start worrying about what Jesus is doing with
other people, you get distracted. Follow Jesus despite what others are doing,
and don’t stop following him because of what others are doing. He has a special
calling for each one of us according to the qualities and talents that God has
given us.
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Jesus truly loves you.
With love,
Mandile.
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