A New Start

Scene 1. The journey through life can be a wild ride sometimes.

We have our ups and downs.

The fun times.

The great memories.

The times we would rather forget.

And the times when we think all has been lost but somehow it turns out all right.

That is the journey that the apostle Peter experienced as he journeyed those three years with Jesus.

Peter experienced the highs and lows.

His amazing confession that Jesus is the Christ, Lord of all creation and saviour.

His habit of putting his foot in it and speaking before he thinks and making a fool of himself.

His complete and utter failure as he denied he even knew Jesus

And the utter devastation that he experienced.

Today we are going to see that even though Peter had been on an emotional journey. A journey from the highest high to the lowest low, only one thing really mattered.

Scene 2. In John 21:1 onwards Jesus meets His disciples on the beach where He had already prepared breakfast for them.

Only a few days before Jesus had been crucified.

He had died, been buried and then three days later risen from the dead.

Jesus had already appeared several times to his disciples. (3 times to all 5 times minimum in total so far).

It had been an amazing journey of discovery as Jesus’ appearances in his heavenly form firstly terrified and then confirmed for the disciples all that he had taught them about his reasons for coming to earth.

On this particular occasion Peter and the disciples were fishing.

We don’t know why, perhaps they weren’t sure what to do so they returned to what they knew.

Perhaps they needed to earn some money so they returned to the family business.

But either way we find they fishing.

Jesus turns up.

In John 21:4 we read that Jesus performs a miracle so that they catch some fish.

And calls them in to have breakfast on the beach.

This entire scene must have stirred Peter’s memory and touched his conscience.

Surely he was recalling that first miraculous catch of fish recorded in Luke 5 and perhaps even the feeding of the 5,000 with bread and fish recorded in John 6.

He knew that it was at that miracle that he had first declared that Jesus is the Christ.

And as Peter looked into the small fire that Jesus had made on the beach it would have reminded him of the fire he had sat near as he denied Jesus just a few days before.

This would have been a time of very mixed emotions for Peter.

Jesus took the time though to meet Peter’s physical needs before he dealt with the spiritual situation.

Peter had been in the water, he was wet.

He was hungry as they had been up all night and caught nothing.

Only when Peter is warm, dry and fed does Jesus move onto the spiritual need.

This is a good example for us to follow as we care for God’s people.

Certainly the spiritual is more important than the physical, but caring for the physical can prepare the way for spiritual ministry.

Luke chapter 24 verse 34 and 1 Corinthians 15:5 tell us that Jesus had already appeared privately to Peter.

So it is likely that Jesus had already dealt with the matter of Peter’s denial and offered him forgiveness.

Scene 3. But now he deals with Peter’s public standing with the other disciples

No doubt they had their doubts about Peter.

He had made dramatic claims that he would stand with Jesus no matter what.

Jesus had given Peter a significant role.

But Peter had failed, in a very public way.

He had denied he even knew Jesus.

Sin should be dealt with to the extent that it is known.

Private sins should be confessed in private, public sins in public.

Three times the Lord asked Peter if he loved Him.

Much has been made over the years about the words for love Jesus used in his question.

And the fact that the word for love that Peter used in reply is different.

The reality is that in John’s gospel these words are often used interchangeably.

Peter & Jesus had this conversation in Aramaic.

John records it in Greek.

And John used these two different Greek words for love interchangeably.

In John 3:16, God’s love for man is agape love; but in John 16:27, it is phileo love.

The Father’s love for His Son is agape love in John 3:35 but phileo love in John 5:20.

Christians are supposed to love one another.

In John 13:34, this love is agape love; but in John 15:19, it is phileo love

When Peter acknowledged that he loved the Lord, he was given a specific task.

Feeding His lambs and taking care of His sheep.

Peter was the leader of the early church.

His role was one of being the shepherd.

Now he had two tasks.

Being a fisher of men.

An evangelist, one who spreads the message and sees people respond.

And a shepherd, one who feeds the flock, cares for them, protects them.

All of this took place so that Jesus could demonstrate His complete forgiveness of Peter.

And so that the other disciples would see Peter was holding a position of leadership in the ongoing ministry of the gospel.

But verses 18 & 19 are a clear instruction to Peter that loving Christ and accepting his commission to lead the church are going to have a cost.

Peter will give his life for Christ and the church.

It is almost certain that Peter was crucified in Rome around AD 64.

There is strong evidence that Peter was in Rome at the apostle Paul’s request to sort out some problems in the church and that whilst he was there the persecution under Nero broke out and both Peter and Paul were executed at about the same time.[1]

Scene 4. The key point of Jesus’ questions are about love.

Peter do you love me?

That is the key question that Jesus has for us.

As we have seen Peter got it wrong.

But Jesus restored him.

Jesus knew Peter’s weaknesses and he knows ours.

But the question remains.

Do you love me?

This is the key issue in every Christian’s life.

As Jesus followed the Father’s will, so His disciples should follow their Lord whether the path leads to a cross or to some other difficult experience.

Wiersbe, W. W. 1996, c1989. The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. Victor Books: Wheaton, Ill.

Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. 1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary: An exposition of the scriptures. Victor Books: Wheaton, IL

Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. 1993. The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament. InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, Ill.

Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. 1999. Nelson's new illustrated Bible commentary. T. Nelson Publishers: Nashville

[1] New Bible Dictionary P 907