Do You So Love Him?

John 21:15-25

Jesus Restores Peter

15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?"

He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You."
He said to him, "Feed My lambs."
16 He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?"
He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You."
He said to him, "Tend My sheep."

17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?"

And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You."

Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep. 18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish." 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me."

The Beloved Disciple and His Book

20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?"

22 Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me."

23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?"

24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.

25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.

Do we love Jesus more than any other?  This passage begins with Jesus questioning Peter to help him understand the validity and sincere staying power of preeminent and committed love for his Lord whom he had previously denied three times as Jesus was questioned with Pilate’s interrogation.  John 21:15 is the question of our love’s validity versus artificiality when others are around; do we truly love Him "more than these" (Gal. 1:10)?  In John 21:16 we find seemingly repeating the question of the real staying power of our love through all trials and not mere superficiality (as with Peter standing by the fire before the crucifixion).  Then in John 21:17 is a question of our sincere, real love such as what made up for Peter’s earlier denial (“You know all things”).  This is the commitment made for our sacrificial love.  We recall what the Lord said about the order of importance of our love for Him; we are called to put Him above even our own lives and families (Luke 14:26) as the first commandment makes clear (Matthew 22:36-39) to us.  We may be upset if asked about the level of our preeminent and committed love for our Lord until we remember as Peter did how Jesus suffered and sacrificed Himself for us out of such boundless love (Ephesians 3:18-19) of self sacrifice at the highest cost for each of us whom He has called and chosen (Matthew 20:16, Romans 8:28, 30) to be drawn to Him (John 6:44).  If we truly love Him we will likewise lay down our lives as we live a crucified life nailed to the cross of death to self and live to love others as His ambassadors of the gospel of reconciling grace and saving mercy.  We feed His sheep and tend to His little lambs, caring for the people who are the church of God in Jesus Christ as we protect the flock from the wolves of deceit and loveless acts to lead the drawn ones away from the Lord.  True love cares for the young lambs to nurture with discipleship and the older sheep with compassion as we speak truth in love for the good of the flock and each one in it.   Our message is the same call of “Follow Me” that Jesus spoke then.  Like Peter, we may also suffer and die for His name’s sake in this call, but we know we are safe and secure from all alarms in His loving arms of grace as we point to Him to be honored and glorified in our reciprocal love.  Even if we suffer while others whom He calls do not (at least not to the same extent), we should not concern ourselves with their end or ours, but solely with God’s call for ourselves to walk with Him wherever and how He leads us for His name’s sake.  As we read these accounts of examples and commands of our Savior, we are reminded of the fact that not all He said and did is written down in the scriptures because there are so many things that could not be cap in a book small enough to finish reading in several lifetimes.  He therefore instructed the apostles to record enough that is necessary for us for life and godliness which Peter later wrote about (2 Peter 1:3) as is required to follow the Master to love Him and others (John 13:34-35, 1 John 3:11, 2 John 1:5-6).  Do you so love Him?