It is interesting to me that Jesus popped in and out of the disciples' lives during the 40 days before His final appearance on earth - - but He didn't hang out with them all the time, as He had before. It seems He was giving them a little time to adapt to the truth of His resurrection without being totally present to walk them through how they would process....but He had already given them the Holy Spirit, so He was with them, just not always physically present. It was a new way of knowing Him.
In the midst of the changes, we find them going back to what was familiar.... Seven of the eleven disciples were together by the Sea of Galilee (aka Tiberias, Genessaret, Kinneret). Peter, who was a doer, not a sitter, needed something to do, so he impulsively announced, "I am going fishing." The others volunteered to go along. They fished all night, but caught nothing - and just as dawn was breaking, they came toward shore, tired and empty-handed. A man on the shore called out to them, "Do you have any fish?" After they answered 'No' the man told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat and they would find some.
Amazingly, without argument, they obeyed. I would have thought it a ludicrous command. Some complete stranger standing on the beach tells them to throw the net on the other side of the boat - - only a matter of 10 or 12 feet difference - - and they did it.... And now, after fishing all night, in just one cast only 100 yards from shore, they get 153 large fish.... And in spite of the large catch, the net was not torn.
On this third occasion of appearing to His disciples following His resurrection, He invited them to a breakfast He had cooked. After breakfast He took Peter aside, but John followed closely enough to hear what was said.
And so unfolds another of my absolutely favorite Bible accounts.... It is a story that loses something in translation, because there are many words for 'love' in the original language - and we get all of them funneled to just that one word: love. Knowing that matters in this story!
Another thing to note is that Jesus calls Peter by his given name while talking to him....
"Simon, son of John, do you love (agape) me more than these?" Jesus asked.
"Yes, Lord, You know that I love (phileo) you." Peter responded.
"Feed my lambs." Jesus instructed.
And again Jesus inquired, "Simon, do you love (agape) me?"
To which Peter replied, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love (phileo) you."
This time Jesus told him, "Tend my sheep."
A third time Jesus asked His question, but this time He changed the word to the one Peter had responded with: "Simon, son of John, do you love (phileo) me?"
And Peter affirmed, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love (phileo) you."
Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."
Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. Peter was commissioned!
Jesus also let Peter know that the path wasn't going to be smooth - and then ended his conversation with Peter by commanding, "Follow me."
John's observation was that Peter was grieved because Jesus asked him three times if he loved Him - but I see it very differently.
This was a pivotal touchstone moment for Peter.
He had denied even knowing Jesus during the night Jesus was betrayed and illegally tried. Jesus forewarned while they were in the garden before Judas Iscariot brought the guards, that before the rooster crowed in the morning of that fateful Friday, Peter would deny Jesus three times - - and he did. Now, Jesus gives Peter His redemption. He had denied Jesus three times, now he affirms his love for Him three times - but in the intervening period Peter has learned something crucial - that he is not capable of agape love. That love is left alone to God, and though sometimes displayed in brief moments through God's infusion of love through man, the best that we are capable of is phileo love - - better known as brotherly love.
So, when Jesus asked Peter, Do you agape me? Peter knew better than to attest something he knew he was not capable of, so he answered each time with, "I phileo you."
God's agape love hung between heaven and earth on a cruel cross. His agape love made Jesus, God's only birthed offspring suffer and die the cruelest kind of criminal's death. Even though He was without sin, He bore all of our sins in His body on that tree so we could be forgiven and free. Forsaken. Rejected. Alone. That was agape love.
It's imperative to know our limitations - and recognize when God infuses us with His Spirit for purposes beyond our capacity. He does. But He is the one who deserves the glory - not us! Peter figured that out.
Peter was going to be mightily used by God. He did follow. He definitely faltered back in the courtyard when he denied Jesus after so pridefully purporting he would even go die with Him....but Jesus let him know in advance He would fail - then gave Peter a second chance.... It was all part of his growth and development.
Each of the disciples had a purpose to fulfill. So do we.
Lord, grant me wisdom for how to cast the seeds so those whose hearts are hungry can and will hear....
................
Just a little postscript on John: In John's writing of his gospel account, he repeatedly refers to himself as 'the disciple Jesus loved.' I suspect Jesus had a way of making each disciple feel that he was the most loved.... And we know He loved others conspicuously as well....
John ends his gospel with the following statement: Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
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