Peter's Restoration

Spontaneous Ponderings

This past Sunday, our pastor brought up the passage in John 21 where Jesus restores Peter after Peter denied Jesus three times on the day Jesus was on trial to be crucified.

John 21:15-17:

¹⁵ 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.”

¹⁶ 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.”

¹⁷ 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.”

I’ve always been fond of this story. When I was little, during lambing season, my dad would take turns going out every couple hours overnight to check if any lambs had been born. As you can imagine, this gets exhausting after a while (especially in January when it is cold and snowy!). So sometimes, Dad would come in and say, “Karen, do you love me?” And I’d say, “Yes!” And he’s say, very tiredly, “Check my sheep.” We’d always have a good giggle over that. So when I read this story in John 21, I always think of my dad.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

The other thing that comes to mind when I read this story is the use of the word “love.” In English, we don’t really see the importance of the word “love” used throughout. However, Peter seems to be hurt the third time Jesus asks if Peter loves him, so it makes us investigate a bit further. For those of you who don’t know, there are four Greek words for love:

• Phileo – love between close friends

• Eros – love found in romantic relationships

• Storge – love between family members

• Agape – unconditional, sacrificial love

*For a more in-depth look at these words, see this article from Centered on Christ.