Restoration and Purpose John 21:15-25

Restoration and Purpose

Bible Passage: John 21:15–25

Introduction & Welcome

Good morning everyone! It is lovely to see all of you this morning! Hopefully everyone had a great Easter last week. It’s always awesome to celebrate the resurrection together. We are going to be looking at John 21 starting with verse 15 this morning. This is the story of Peter’s restoration. But before we dive into it, let’s pray.

Pray

Reading and Context

So we are in John 21:15-25

John 21:15–25 NIV

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!” 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.

John 21 serves as an epilogue to the gospel. In John 20 we find the story of the empty tomb, Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene, Jesus appearing to his disciples, and Jesus appearing to Thomas. Then the chapter ends with a statement about the gospel being written so that the reader may believe Jesus is the Messiah. Chapter 21 tells us two additional stories that serve to highlight the work and purpose of the church.

The chapter opens with Peter telling some of the other disciples that he is going fishing. They decide to go with him. These guys go out and fish all night and catch nothing. Dawn breaks and they hear a voice from the shore asking if they’ve caught anything. They say no and this person tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. They do and they catch so many fish they can’t haul in the net. John realizes that the man on the shore is Jesus and tells Peter. Peter jumps out of the boat and swims to shore while John and the rest of the disciples haul the fish in. Jesus has made a charcoal fire and made everyone breakfast. He tells them to bring the fish they caught to add to the meal. Then they all sit and eat.

Restoration & Prophecy

In verse 15, we begin the second story, the one we read this morning. John tells us that they have finished eating their breakfast when Jesus turns to Peter and asks a question. Jesus asks Peter if Peter loves him more than these. Now there are a couple things about this that stand out. The first is that Jesus addresses Peter in a very formal way. He calls him Simon son of John. Simon is Peter’s given name but Jesus changed it to Peter and throughout John’s gospel, he is referred to as Peter. Yet here, Jesus reverts to his given name and also identifies his father. The last time Jesus refers to him in this way is when he initially calls Peter to be his disciple. Jesus is seeking to reestablish the relationship he has with Peter by calling him to discipleship once again.

Then Jesus asks him if Peter loves him more than these. It is unclear what this phrase refers to. It could refer to the fish and Peter’s career as a fisherman. It could refer to the other disciples who are present. It could be asking Peter if he loves Jesus more than the other disciples love Jesus. This is unclear. What is likely is that Jesus is calling Peter to consider his love for his Savior and the earlier pledges of faithfulness that Peter has made. He is asking Peter if he loves Jesus the way that Jesus loves him.

Peter responds that he does love Jesus and he does so in a way that is appealing to Jesus’ own knowledge of Peter. Peter isn’t saying, how could you ask me such a ridiculous question as that, of course I love you! He is saying to Jesus you know that I love you because you know me and everything about me. Yes. I love you.

Jesus responds with a commission to feed his lambs. He is saying to Peter if you love me then act and shepherd my people while I’m gone. Jesus knows he will be ascending into heaven shortly. He knows that the Spirit will come and guide his people but he also knows they will need someone to shepherd them. And he is calling Peter to this. He is calling Peter to be a shepherd, not a hired hand. He is saying to Peter, nurture and care for my sheep the way that I would. Love them!

Jesus then asks again, do you love me? Peter again says that he does and Jesus tells him to take care of my sheep. Then a third time, Jesus asks Peter, do you love me? John takes a moment to tell us that Peter is hurt by this. He begins to feel sad. His answer the third time is more forceful. He mentions that Jesus knows all things so he MUST know that Peter loves him. Jesus again calls Peter to feed his sheep.

In this exchange and in the location of it we find a parallel. In chapter 18, we find Peter sitting around a different charcoal fire with a different group of people. We find him making a different claim about Jesus three times. Jesus has made them all breakfast around a charcoal fire and has confirmed Peter’s love three times as he seeks to restore Peter to the faithful witness and strong leader that Jesus is commissioning him to be.

After the third call to shepherd Jesus’ people, Jesus prophesies about Peter. He tells Peter that when he was young he had freedom but that when he is old he will have none. He will be led where he doesn’t want to go and his hands will be stretched out. This phrase about Peter’s hands was a common way to refer to crucifixion. He is telling Peter that he will be martyred for his faith in Jesus and that through this he will glorify God. This prophecy ends with a command for Peter to Follow Jesus just like his three exchanges earlier ended with commands.

Right after Jesus restores Peter and tells Peter to follow him, Peter turns around and sees John following them. There is some ongoing tension between these two men in John’s gospel. In this moment, Peter explicitly calls it out and asks Jesus what about this guy? Peter has just been restored, he’s just been told he’s going to be martyred. He sees John and now he calls out this tension between them and wants to know what Jesus is planning for John. And Jesus very directly rebukes this. He essentially tells Peter that what Jesus is planning for John is none of Peter’s business. What is it to Peter if Jesus wants John to remain alive until he returns? Then he forcefully tells Peter you follow me. Don’t worry about him or what I call him to do. You worry about doing what I’ve called you to do, which is to follow me.

The rest of the chapter ends with the author telling us the John is the Beloved Disciple, that Jesus did not say John WOULD live until he returns but that it doesn’t matter if he does, that the one who wrote this is an eye witness, and that the life of Jesus contained many other occurrences and they cannot be contained within a single book.

Bridge

When we look at the four gospels, what we find is that two of them, Matthew and Luke, end with a focus on the work and mission of the church in the world. In Matthew we find Jesus giving his followers the Great Commission before he ascends into heaven. And in Luke we find Jesus telling his followers they will preach about him to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem. The ending of John here is seeking to focus on the work of the church in the world in its own way. It is echoing the endings of Matthew and Luke.

The way that John does this is with these two stories that paint pictures for us of what he is calling the church to do. In the fist story of this chapter, we find the disciples fishing. They go out and work under their own wisdom and power and have no success. They catch nothing. When Jesus shows up and becomes their coworker and they have enough faith to follow his instruction, there are so many fish the net can hardly contain them. This is an image of evangelism. The work of the church is to reach those that Christ brings to it with the message of the gospel. To harvest the fish Jesus brings.

The second story focuses on the church’s work of shepherding. The church is to care for, nurture, and guide those who have placed their trust in Jesus and become part of the body. This second story also contains the reality that all of Jesus’ followers are called to glorify God through their lives. Peter is to do this through his death and John will do it through his life and his writing. But all of us are called to glorify God in our own way.

Ultimately this chapter is a reminder that the work of the church is the work of Jesus. It is the work of gathering disciples, training them in how to follow Jesus, and then caring for and nurturing them in their faith. This is the work that Christ calls his church to as we wait for his return.

Application

They way that this will work itself out in our lives can be seen through Peter’s experiences in this story. Back in chapter 18, we see Peter make the worst mistake of his life. His Messiah has been arrested and taken to the home of the High Priest to be tried. Peter has followed at a distance to see what’s going to happen. When he arrives in the courtyard there is a charcoal fire. He approaches it and someone recognizes him as Jesus’ disciple. As we all know, Peter denies knowing Jesus three times. This is one of the very few stories that are included in all four gospels. This is likely the lowest moment of Peter’s life and not only is he stuck remembering that he denied his Lord three times, everyone else knows it too. All of the other apostles know. And not only do they know, they think it is important enough to include in their books about Jesus. He is stuck with the worst moment of his life being recorded and retold forever.

This could have had several effects on Peter. He could have really doubled down on his ministry work and become extremely intense about it. He could have become the guy who never thinks anyone is doing enough in their walk with Jesus. So zealous for Jesus that he hounds everyone around him to do more and more for the gospel, no one is ever doing enough. And in the process he would have been overcompensating for his own failure. Or he could have become filled with despair and regret. He could have lived his life from a place of fear that he would disappoint Jesus like that again. He would have been slowly consumed by his own depression, slowly allowing it to destroy him and those around him. Neither of these ways of life would have allowed him to minister with the joyful heart Jesus calls for earlier in the gospel.

But neither of these things happen. Because in Chapter 21 we find that Jesus comes and restores him. Jesus begins the process by calling out to his friends to toss their nets on the other side of the boat, likely recalling the echo of a memory from 3 years before when Jesus tells them to do the same thing in Luke 5. They realize who is calling to them and Peter jumps from the boat and runs to the only one who can help him resolve the horrible mistake he’s made. When he gets to Jesus he finds a charcoal fire and he finds one question three times over. He finds his loving, compassionate God calling him and commissioning him to care for the sheep. He uses this setting that so closely mirrors the one at his crucifixion to show Peter that he is still on Peter’s side. He still loves Peter. And he uses it to restore Peter’s call. And in this we can all see ourselves. We have all done things we regret. We have all run from the Lord. We all have horrible memories of actions we’ve taken that we would desperately love to take back but we can’t. And just like Peter, we find Jesus waiting for us. Waiting to show us that he loves us, that he is for us, that he forgives us, and that he desires us to join him in the work of his Kingdom. He transforms us and empowers us to do the work of the Kingdom. We can see ourselves in the story of Peter.

As the story continues, we see this tension between Peter and John. This competition that just the chapter before showed up in one of the funnier parts of the Bible. Peter and John find out that the tomb is empty from Mary Magdalene. And in John 20:3-4 we find John telling us he and Peter raced to the tomb but John got there first because he was faster. There are other places where this tension arises. And here, we see Peter being told he will glorify God by sacrificing his life and his first question is what about John? Jesus basically says, “What about John? His life is his business and you need to keep you big Peter nose out of it. You follow me and leave him to me.” Peter and John were both strong leaders. Peter was bold and often impulsive. John was thoughtful, insightful, and more introspective. These men ministered together with Jesus and they ministered together after Jesus ascended. What we see in this tension and in the way Jesus rebuked it is that each of us has our own call. Peter was called to use his gifts and personality to live a life that ended in a martyrs death. John was called to use his gifts and personality to lead a long and quiet life in which he wrote 5 books of the New Testament. They each had their own call, just like you and I do. And because of that, we can learn that there is no place in the kingdom for competition or rivalry. The church is called to unity. We are called to be the unified body of Jesus. To be his hands and feet on earth. Rivalry and competition do nothing but break that unity and destroy the church. Sadly, we see so much of that in our world today and we’ve seen much of it across Church history. But the truth we find in this story is that God equips each of us and calls each of us to what he has for us, not to what he has for others. So when we compare ourselves we will inevitably break down the unity of the church.

As the story closes we realize that to love Jesus means we must love the church. And as someone who has spent much of their life in the church, that can sometimes be a difficult task. But what we find here as the story closes is that Peter is called to embrace the Bride of Christ. He is called to love Jesus’ flock and to care for and nurture them. And this same call has been extended to us. We are to go out and gather those Jesus puts in our paths. We are to love them and nurture them as we both grow in our relationship with Jesus. We do this with Jesus as our coworker through the indwelling work of the Spirit in our lives. We come to know Jesus and the Spirit comes to live within us and through the power of the Spirit we can accomplish this work of gathering and nurturing.

In our modern context, this sort of work often gets placed at the feet of pastors. It is often perceived that ministry is for professionals. That ministry is a vocation. And that can be true. It became true for Peter and John as they left fishing behind and entered ministry. I has become true for many others of the last 2,000 years. But the larger reality is that this ministry is for all Christians. We are all called to gather and nurture. We are all called to seek the lost to tell them about Jesus and then to care for them and love them. And as we do that we are called to love the church. The Church is the Bride of Christ. We must love it the way we love the spouses of our closest friends.

This story of Peter’s restoration reminds us that when we love Jesus we love his Bride. It reminds us that when we love Jesus competition and rivalry must end as we seek unity. And it reminds us that the only way any of this can be achieved is by joining Jesus next to a charcoal fire, being transparent with him about our own brokenness, and allowing him to heal and transform us.

If you are here this morning and you have a problem with Jesus or a problem with the Church, I want you to know you’re not alone. Many of us have been in that same place. If you are here this morning and you feel as though your brokenness is too broken, I want you to know you’re not alone. Peter was in that place and many of us have been too. If you’re here this morning and you are consumed by jealousy or contempt because of a rivalry you’ve been nursing, you’re not alone. The reality that I also want you to hear is that Jesus loves you. He desires a relationship with you. He wants to sit by the fire with you, heal you, transform you, and invite you into the work of his Kingdom. There is nothing that is beyond his grace and mercy and forgiveness. There is nothing he can’t heal and there is nothing he can’t restore. Put your faith in him and trust that he will do the same work in your life that we see him doing in Peter’s life here. Let’s pray.