John Chapter 21 (2) – A Blessed Assurance
The last chapter of John is a reassuring appendix to the Fourth Gospel, and reads like a recommissioning or a graduation ceremony.
The main character Peter first met Jesus by the Lake of Gennesaret, another name for the Sea of Galilee, where he was called to be a fisher of men (Lk 5:1-11). Here he meets the risen Christ at the same place with some kind of a reversal of events.
Two opposite responses
On both occasions the seasoned fishermen caught nothing after labouring through the night, but when they acted on Jesus’ word to let down their nets, a miraculously big catch! (Lk 5:6; Jn 21:6).
Peter who was so overwhelmed at the first meeting that he fell down at Jesus’ knees, begging Him to depart now did the exact opposite. When Jesus was in his fishing boat years before, Peter’s sense of his own sinfulness compelled him to urge the miracle-worker to leave (Lk 5:8). Now, no less sinful, having denied His Master thrice, he propelled himself fully clothed through the waters from boat to shore while his companions rowed the boat ashore (Jn 21:7-8).
“Do you love Me?”
Jesus, seeing the contrite Peter, wet from the morning swim, warmed up to him after breakfast. “Do you love Me?” was or Jesus to be assured; rather it was for Peter’s awakening. As Peter rightly said, Jesus knew the intensity of his love for his Lord and readily committed His lambs into his care (Jn 21:15).
Jesus wanted Peter to examine himself – after having denied the Lord three times, could he still honestly say he loved Jesus? The word used by the Gospel writer to express this was agapao, loving dutifully as a moral person would. To this Peter replied twice that his love for Christ was as passionate as before, both times recorded as phileo, loving from the heart not just with the head.
Jesus wanted Peter to confirm it, so He asked, “Do you love (phileo) Me?” Upon Peter’s emotional response, Jesus acknowledged that Peter will love Him to the end, even in the face martyrdom (Jn 21:18-19)
“Follow Me”
Glorying God by death announced before the call to follow Him! This might be unsettling to most, but to Peter, it should have been reassuring. He had the opportunity to affirm his love for Jesus – a total of three times, balancing out his three denials. Now Jesus assured him that he would be faithful unto death, followed by two more invitations to follow Him (Jn 21:19, 22).
The breakfast meeting by the sea was no coincidence. It was the loving Saviour seeking to restore Peter, to give him a sense of closure.