When therefore they had dined, Jesus says to Simon Peter, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He says to him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I am attached to thee. He says to him, Feed my lambs.
Peter had once claimed to love Christ more than anyone else did. Then he denied Him. Now, after breakfast on the shore, the risen Lord undoes that boast in front of the other disciples.
The Lord never mentions the denial. He aims at the cause behind it. He does not even call him Peter here; He uses the old name, Simon.
The Lord goes to the root of the matter. He does not speak of Peter's denying Him, but penetrates to its cause. Peter fell through confidence in himself, at least in his love to his Master... He calls him by his natural name. He knew well where the secret lay that gave the enemy his opening. He wanted to awaken a true sense of it in the apostle's soul.
Peter had once measured himself against the others out loud. The Lord now hands that comparison back to him.
"Do you love Me more than these?" Peter had said that he loved Him more, and yet had denied Him. Sadly, all had abandoned Him. But only Peter had denied Him. So he can no longer rely on his love compared with the love of others. Humbled in this way, he appeals not to his feelings but to the Saviour's knowledge. He does not add, "More than these," because he compares himself with Christ, and in humility he counts others better than himself.
The question and the answer do not use the same Greek word. English versions like the ESV render both as "love," so the change is hidden in translation.
The Greek word for love here is "agape." It is a strong word. It is used of God's love for His Son and for the world. It means a pure concern for the greatest good of its object. But in reply Peter refuses to use this word. He uses "phileo" instead, a word that means tender affection: "You know that I have affection for You." In other words, he can no longer trust the strength of his love. Yet he is honestly attached to the Lord.
What follows the confession is astonishing. Christ does not set Peter aside from service. He gives him the care of what He values most.
You might expect that at most He would take Peter back with divine patience. Instead, at that very moment, the Lord pours out on him the strongest testimony of grace. Peter is humbled by his fall and brought to complete dependence on grace. There grace shows itself in all its fullness. The Lord commits what He most loved to him — the sheep whom He had just redeemed.
The breaking and the commission are not two separate events. One qualifies him for the other.
What a volume of love there is in those words of the Lord to poor Peter, "Feed My lambs!" It is as if He would say: "I am going to make a channel of you for love to flow through. I am breaking you down so that you may be able to feed My lambs. You wanted to be a strong disciple. I am making you see your weakness. I am giving you a broken heart, so that you may be strong." There is nothing like a broken heart for a shepherd. When he has come to the end of self, there will be room in it for the lambs.
The Lord's charges are not all the same. Lambs and sheep need different care.
Two different words are also used here. It is "Feed My lambs" and "Shepherd My sheep." Lambs do not need correction and control so much as the food that makes sure they grow. The sheep need this too, and so the last word is "feed" as well as "shepherd" My sheep.
Why does the Lord do this in front of everyone?
The Lord sought out His conscience-stricken sheep at once after His resurrection and restored him to personal communion with Himself. But public restoration always takes a little longer. This way the Lord reaches deeper still into the soul, and His servant is better fitted for public service in true humility of faith. He also aims to reach the hearts and consciences of the other disciples. They must learn to judge themselves instead of keeping any lingering criticism of their fellow-servant. Then they can rejoice fully in his restoration.
- Trust misplaced. The denial was only the symptom. The real problem was Peter's confidence in his own love, and that is what the question targets.
- Trust probed. "More than these" hands Peter's own boast back to him, and he no longer dares to repeat it.
- Trust surrendered. Peter refuses the stronger word for love. He appeals not to his feelings but to what Christ knows.
- Trust restored. At that very point Christ entrusts him with what is dearest to Him — the lambs and the sheep.
- Trust proved. The care asked for is feeding, not scolding, and a heart broken of self is the one with room for the flock.
He says to him again a second time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, lovest thou me? He says to him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I am attached to thee. He says to him, Shepherd my sheep.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
He says to him the third time, Simon, [son] of Jonas, art thou attached to me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Art thou attached to me? and said to him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I am attached to thee. Jesus says to him, Feed my sheep.
Peter had denied his Master three times. Now the Lord asks him three times whether he loves Him. The question is not for information. It is the last stage of a restoration, and it ends with the Lord placing His flock in the hands of the man who failed.
The count is deliberate, and Peter felt it.
Why three? The Lord's enemies had asked Peter three times if he was a follower of Jesus, and three times he had denied the truth. So Simon knew that the Lord was searching and testing him. He felt the point of the knife in his heart, and knew that he deserved to be exposed.
In the original language the Lord and Peter do not use the same word for love.
The Lord's word for "love" is the one used for divine love, which never fails. Peter's word expresses brotherly affection, and that kind of love often fails — as his own did towards the Lord. On the third occasion the Lord comes down to Peter's word and says, "Are you attached to Me?"… Peter had boasted of more love for Christ than anyone. Now he admits that it took divine insight to discover that he had any love at all.
Commentators differ on what exactly grieved him. Some point to the repetition; others to the changed word:
It was not that He asked three times if he loved Him. What hurt terribly was the change of word. The Lord dropped His own word for "love" and used the weak word, as though He questioned whether Peter loved Him at all.
Peter had already met the risen Lord in private. Something deeper than the act of denial still had to come out — and the name the Lord uses points to it.
The actual sin had been dealt with at the private interview. Peter had judged the evil fruit of the old tree and confessed it to the Lord, and his conscience had been relieved. But the evil root that produced the bad fruit still had to be exposed and judged. Only then would his heart be fully restored to fellowship with the Lord. The Lord does this work in public for our profit. We all have the root of evil in us, even if we have not fallen into particular sins… So the Lord addresses Peter not by his new name of grace, but by his natural name, "Simon, son of John".
Peter no longer argues from his own record.
It is a wonderful thing to be satisfied with what God knows about us. You see it strikingly in restored Peter, when the Lord tested him on the very point he had boasted about. He says, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." He had confidence in himself before. Now he falls back on what his Lord knows of him. He had found out what he was, and he has not a word to say for himself. His comfort is, "You know."
The questioning ends in work, not in dismissal. Notice what the Lord tests before He hands over the sheep.
It is interesting to notice that the Lord's question is not "Do you love My sheep?" but "Do you love ME?" Then come the words: "Feed My lambs"; "Tend My sheep"; "Feed My sheep." This reminds us in passing that no amount of affection for the sheep will supply enough drive to keep serving them without growing weary.
The Lord's word for the sheep here is a tender one.
The Lord says: "Feed My dear sheep." These are the only times in the New Testament where "sheep" appears in this small, affectionate form. "Lamb" appears in it only here as well, apart from Revelation. What depth of meaning the Lord adds to His words by putting in that little ending three times!
All of this happens in front of the other disciples.
Here, in plain language, you have Peter restored in public in the most beautiful way… In the presence of them all He openly says, "I trust that man absolutely. I put into his hands the objects of My tenderest love and care — My lambs and My sheep, for him to feed by his ministry."… When Peter trusted himself, he failed. When the springs of his self-confidence were broken, that was the moment Christ could trust him.
- Threefold — Three denials, three questions. Peter counts them and feels how deep the Lord is probing.
- Downward — In the third question the Lord uses Peter's own weaker word for love, and that is where the grief bites.
- Root — The private meeting cleared his conscience. The public questions reach the self-confidence under the sin.
- Refuge — Peter has no claim left to make for himself. He rests on what Christ knows: "You know."
- Trust — The Lord tests love for Himself, not love for the sheep. He gives His flock to the man who has stopped trusting himself.