15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”
John 21:1-19 have the theme of the risen Lord appearing to disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
John 21:1-14 have the theme of the risen Lord appearing to disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
I would like to cover a few technical or scholarly issues first.
Some scholars have argued that a different author added John 21 after the publication and dissemination of the gospel, in much the same way as a few spurious endings to the gospel of Mark made their way into ancient manuscripts. However, two factors suggest that John 21 was not a spurious later addition. First and most important, we possess no ancient manuscripts of the Fourth Gospel in which this chapter is absent. Second, the language and style of the last chapter are consistent with the rest of the gospel. However, there is another possibility that one might consider. In addition to the gospel of John, we have in the New Testament the epistles of John (i.e., 1, 2 and 3 John). These texts are similar in thought and vocabulary to the gospel of John. Yet, many scholars consider that they are by different authors, even though they are part of the same community. Scholars thus refer to the existence in early Christianity of a “Johannine school,” meaning that there was a group of Christians among whom the memory of the apostle John was particularly venerated and who constituted a distinct theological and ecclesiastical community. Most scholars believe that it is someone from the “Johannine School” who added the 21st chapter to the Fourth Gospel. This explanation is attractive because it accounts for the similarity between John 21 and John 1-20 (the authors had close theological affinities). In addition, the author would have left the conclusion found in John 20:30-31, creating a conspicuous seam; presumably, the author of John 21 would have found it disrespectful to tamper with the work of his colleague (or teacher) who had authored John 1-20. The vocabulary and grammatical constructions in this chapter are unique in the fourth gospel.
The 21st chapter of the gospel of John represents a bit of a puzzle for its readers. The reason for this stems from the fact that the verses immediately preceding it, John 20:30-31, look like an ending. It is startling to find the seven disciples named here, suddenly out of Jerusalem and back in Galilee, calmly going about their old business of fishing. It seems odd that the disciples would return to fishing following the powerful stories of chapter 20, including the gift of the Spirit and the conclusion offered in 20:30-31; rather, one would expect them to be witnessing to others. While the "disciple whom Jesus loved" first identifies Jesus, Peter is again the active leader in the response. At Jesus' request, Peter returns to the boat he had so eagerly abandoned and now single-handedly pulls the filled net ashore. Peter is the one who coordinates the efforts of all the other disciples. This author uses distinctly Eucharistic language; Jesus took the bread and gave it to them. In the act of eating together, they recognize Jesus as being with his disciples. It is a resurrection appearance and a meal (like that of Luke 24:13-35), combined with a miraculous catch of fish (like that of Luke 5:1-11).
John 21 has several familiar Christian symbols: catching fish, bread, sheep, following Jesus, obeying Jesus, martyrdom and witnessing. While we can detect an emphasis upon mission and sending here, the focus of the text is that the disciples need to learn to follow Jesus.
John 21:1-14 presents a story of the risen Lord appearing to seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. It presents a peaceful, rustic scene on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Here we have Jesus appearing to the disciples at breakfast.
1After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. The group of seven disciples tries their hand at fishing. They are unsuccessful, even though they were out all night.
4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” Therefore, they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. Thus, at dawn, a stranger appears on the shore, inquires about their luck, and instructs them to cast their nets into the lake on the right side of their boat. Remarkably, these professional anglers accede to the request of this unknown figure on the beach. They go to the considerable trouble of casting their nets on the "right side of the boat." Instantly, their nets are full of teeming fish. After this, they caught a haul of fish so large it nearly sinks their boat. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” At this point the beloved disciple recognizes the stranger as Jesus, and relates this to Peter.When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. Peter jumps into the water and swims to shore. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. The other disciples manage to get the boat and the fish to the shore.
9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” Food was on Jesus' mind when he broke out a fish omelet in Galilee shortly after his resurrection. Jesus could have put on a show, but he did not. He could have showed them that he was the death-defeating king of the world. Instead, he took another tack. He fed them. In the next scene, he will ask Peter to do the same. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. When the others arrive, they discover that Jesus had fish after all, for it was cooking on a charcoal fire. Bread was nearby. Breakfast was ready! However, Jesus suggested that they bring some of the fresh fish that they had just caught. This they did, counting out 153 fish brought in a net that, despite the heavy weight of the fish, was not torn.12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. The disciples seem a little unsure of themselves in the presence of Jesus. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. Nevertheless, they share a meal prepared by his hands. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
One should not overlook two important pieces of symbolism.
First, fishing was a common metaphor for the commission of the disciples to spread the gospel; this theme appears most prominently in the call of the disciples (Mark 1:16-20; Matthew 4:18-22; note the similarity between Luke 5:1-11 and the story related here in John 21:1-14).
Second, the meal here in which risen Jesus distributes bread and fish to the disciples strongly recalls the feeding of the five thousand in John 6, which has strong Eucharistic overtones. Thus, it is crucial to notice the ecclesiastical overtones of John 21:1-14. Yet, we must also note that the case is quite different. It is breakfast. Few of our meals are more ordinary than breakfast. Most of us eat the same thing for breakfast every morning, without fail. If we stagger down to breakfast and find the box of corn flakes empty, we are not right for the rest of the day. Few of our meals are more ritualized, more predictable, and more humdrum than breakfast. Breakfast is not the meal where we look for creativity. Rather, what we look for is routine, something to help us get up and get going in the morning. On this morning, Jesus, the risen Christ meets with seven of his disciples on a beach in Galilee, two weeks after Easter. The risen Christ had met with his disciples on two successive Sundays. Nevertheless, this morning they are back to work in Galilee. Back at work in Galilee? Can you believe these disciples? They have gone home and gone back to work. The risen Lord wants to come to us. Yet, it may not be during worship. It may be while you are on your daily tasks. As much as the emotionally high moments of life enrich us, we cannot stay there. We cannot live in the Easter Sunday service throughout the year. When the risen Lord truly meets us, however, we need to be aware that he will come with a calling or mission.
It is easier to deal with a crucifixion than a resurrection.[1] Most of us think of resurrection as something that happens to us after we die, when God takes us to another world. The resurrection of Jesus did not happen in the distant future, did not occur in some other world, it was here, and it was now. When the risen Christ encountered his disciples, they were not up in heaven; they were out in Galilee. They were not strumming on harps of gold; they were pulling in their nets. Therefore, the trouble that the disciples had with resurrection was not simply that God brought someone back from the dead. The problem was that the resurrection had moved from the future tense to the present tense. Here was Jesus, here, now. You can feel the shock that this had on the disciples. Resurrection might happen somewhere and someday, but how do you deal with resurrection when resurrection is here and now? That is why we find the disciples back in Galilee fishing. They need to reinforce their grip on everyday reality – the country they grew up in, the work they feel at home in, the sea and fishing boat, the fishing nets. They had experienced a great shock. You know how it is when you have experienced some trauma. Helpful friends urge you to get back to work as soon as possible, to lose yourself in the habitual, the routine, and the predictable. That is what these disciples are doing. However, they were not trying to get over the trauma of death; they were trying to deal with the trauma of life, eternal life, resurrection among them, Jesus, standing before them risen.
The scene is so ordinary, so every day, with these seven anglers squatting around in a circle, and Jesus offering them breakfast. Yet that is his peculiar glory. It is not simply that God raised Jesus from the dead. Rather, the risen Lord appears to us, here and now. He feeds us. There, in ordinary Galilee, during an ordinary workday, he shares an ordinary meal with his disciples. This is where we meet the risen Christ, or more to the point of the story, where he meets us.
John 21:15-19 contains two stories of the risen Lord speaking to Peter. Thus, the narrative of the appearance of the risen Lord along the Sea moves on to an exchange between Peter and Jesus. Except for Jesus ordering Peter to put away his sword when Jesus is arrested (18:11), the questions and answers in verses 15-19 comprise the first direct exchange between Jesus and Peter since Peter swore to lay down his life for Jesus (13:37). The reader of this gospel knows how well that turned out for Peter. The primary goal of this exchange is the rehabilitation of Peter, who had denied Jesus (18:17, 25, 27). This understanding strengthens the view that the text is more about following Jesus than about the sending of the disciples. As Peter denied Jesus three times, so also Jesus gives him three opportunities to state his love for Jesus (21:18-19). Peter is receiving a second chance. Jesus is clearly giving Peter a shot at redemption. Forgiveness emerges from Jesus’ willingness to assign Peter the task of shepherding, despite Peter’s earlier betrayal and present failure to love as profoundly as Jesus can love. The good news for Peter and us is that Jesus summons disciples and works with them, even in their imperfection. The passage has been part of the support the Roman Catholic Church regarding the papacy and its authority over the entire church. Its basis is the direct institution of the apostle Peter as visible head of the church by Jesus. Yet, theological exegesis of the New Testament, including Roman Catholic exegesis, has reached widespread consent that these New Testament sayings about Peter, no matter how else we might assess them, refer only to Peter, not to any successors in his office.[2]
I am going to pay some attention to the choice of Greek words here. However, I grant the possibility that this may be reading too much into the text. While it has been a favorite pastime of exegetes to discuss the different words used here for "love" and for "sheep" there may be less than meets the eye. John uses agape and phileo interchangeably and in Hebrew and Aramaic (Jesus and Peter were certainly not speaking Greek) there is only one primary word to express varieties of love.
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love (ἀγαπᾷς) me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love (φιλῶ) you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” The verb "to feed" here means to provide pasture, forage and nourishment recalling Peter's own words in his letter when he refers to "newborn infants [who] long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation ..." (I Peter 2:2). Shepherding is not easy. It requires the shepherd to focus upon the needs of the sheep for nourishment from the land. It requires awareness that sometimes you lose due to the weather or disease. It even requires the shepherd to turn aside from complaining, for it will do no good.[3]
The pastor
of grief and dreams
guides his flock towards
the next field
with all his care.
He has heard
the bell tolling
but the sheep
are hungry and need
the grass ...[4]
16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love (ἀγαπᾷς) me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love (φιλῶ) you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” In the second exchange, Jesus entrusts the sheep, as well as the lambs, to Peter. Whereas the young and immature in the faith require pasture and careful guidance, the mature ones need the strong presence of the shepherd. 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love (φιλεῖς) me?” Peter, on the edge of exasperation, felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love (φιλεῖς) me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love (φιλῶ) you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Jesus reminds Peter that even the mature sheep of the flock need the tender pasturing and care that shepherds offer to the lambs. Jesus asks Peter three times if he “loves” him, and Peter replies three times that he of course does love Jesus. In each case, Jesus instructs Peter to “feed” or “tend” his sheep. Notice that in his responses, Peter is unusually humble, even demure. While once he gladly boasted of his loyalty to Jesus, even to the point of his own death, Peter now calls on Jesus himself to verify the love that he feels, "You know that I love you." Jesus is bestowing upon Peter a leadership role, that of a shepherd, which does not necessarily include any exalted sense of authority for Peter. Here in John's gospel, where there is no mention of special churchly titles (not even "apostles"), the most exalted position is one of caretaker or shepherd. The implied question for us is that if we love Jesus, will we feed others?
Many of us begin by wondering what we want from life. The mature question to ask is what life wants from us. What problem out there do I see that I am prepared to equip myself to tackle?[5] To love the risen Lord is to engage him in a life-changing conversation that will leave its mark upon how we live. Our understanding of the tasks and responsibilities of our lives shift.[6] Near the end of his life, Steve Jobs’ biographer, Walter Isaacson, asked him about where he discovered meaning. “He said that he’d learned from his guru in India that life is like a river: and at first, you think that if you’re successful, you get to take many things out of the river, products people have made or ideas they’ve come up with. But he said, ‘Eventually in life, you realize that it’s not what you get to take out of the river, it’s what you get to put into the river.’”[7]
My God, I love Thee; not because
I hope for heaven thereby,
Nor yet because who love Thee not
Are lost eternally.
Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me
Upon the cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails, and spear,
And manifold disgrace,
And griefs and torments numberless,
And sweat of agony;
Yea, death itself; and all for me
Who was thine enemy.
Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,
Should I not love Thee well
Not for the sake of winning heaven,
Nor of escaping hell;
Not from the hope of gaining aught,
Not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself hast loved me,
O ever-loving Lord.
So would I love Thee, dearest Lord,
And in Thy praise will sing;
Solely because Thou art my God,
And my most loving King.[8]
I offer a brief prayer.
Lord, you know I love you. I do not say it enough. I love you. I want my actions to demonstrate my love. I want my words to communicate my deep affection for you. I love you because you first loved me. Thank you for showing me what true love is. I want the first desire of my heart to be toward you. I want my life never to stop telling you how much I love you. I ask that you my worship this day as an outpouring of my love. Amen.
Jesus has fed the disciples their breakfast. Jesus challenges Peter to continue his discipleship by feeding the lambs/sheep. If we have two stories with overtones of the Lord’s Supper, then it opens the door for a discussion of what truly nourishes us in life. So much of our culture seems designed to stimulate lust, greed, or envy. Pop culture and political discourse seem oriented to stimulating anxiety and anger. No one can escape it. Much of the dialogue within the churches seems driven by the same sins as we find in culture and politics. However, we can be sure to notice the empty calories that feeding on such thoughts will be for our spiritual lives. We need healthy food with nourishing calories to sustain us each day. In fact, churches need to have this awareness. It may well be that churches need to look at their mission, in part, as offering nourishment to people who are famished after trying what they thought would feed them from other sources.
Here is the danger. We tend to fall into rhythm with each other. In the natural order, out of sync pendulums will eventually fall into sync. We can see the same principle at work among atomic particles and with the tides of the ocean. We pick up each other's rhythms and the accumulated rhythms of the world around us. If most of the rhythms around us are fast, so are ours, automatically. Becoming conscious of this process can help us to take control of our rhythms and get us in sync with an increasingly nourishing rhythm. We need to carefully choose the rhythms that nourish and sustain us.[9] We need to pause and ask ourselves about our spiritual diet. Such a pause may help us see the source the dysfunction that has crept into our personal lives, families, jobs, communities, nation, and world. We need to learn how to get out of rhythm with the culture and in rhythm with something that will nourish and sustain us. Jesus invites us to come and dine as well. Jesus is the bread of life. The mission of the church is to feed. Of course, churches need to be aware they are receiving the nourishing food that they can serve others.
Jesus now speaks cryptically about Peter's future. Peter has grown accustomed to moving around at his will. Such days will end. Jesus goes on to predict to Peter in veiled form the fact that political authorities would martyr him and thus glorify God. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” Peter will experience two forms of fastening or binding. The first is in discipleship to Jesus. The second is in death by crucifixion. John provides the meaning of this unique statement. 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.). Jesus tells Peter that he will die for the sheep. He will die for being a disciple. The non-responsive Peter would eventually give the ultimate response to his Lord by offering up his life in authentic love. It is one thing to be a "witness" to Jesus with our words, and quite another to put those words in action. The call to follow Jesus is a call to self-sacrifice -- to give ourselves on behalf of others. Previously, Peter had bailed out when given the chance to stick with his friend all the way to the cross, despite his bravado in saying to Jesus that he would follow him anywhere, even to the point that "I will lay down my life for you" (13:37). Now, he was getting a second chance to carry through on his commitment. Tradition, supported by Eusebius, has long suggested that Peter not only died a martyr's death, but that it was by crucifixion (the only one of the apostles to die in this manner) and that the apostle specifically requested he be crucified in a downward position because he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. The renaissance painter Carvaggio represents this crucifixion in a powerful way in his "Crucifixion of Peter," a large canvas that now hangs in the church of Santa Maria in Rome. The entire incident has taken place in the company and earshot of the disciples. After this, he abruptly said to him, “Follow me.” Jesus intended Peter to take the command literally. For Peter, following would mean martyrdom. The wider conception of discipleship (cf 12:25ff and Mark 8:34ff) is to deny oneself in complete obedience to Jesus, surrender freedom and share life with others. Following Christ involves surrendering oneself for others.
[1]Eugene Peterson (“Resurrection Breakfast: John 20:1-14,” Easter, 2002, The Journal For Preachers, pp. 13–17, 2002)
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 429.
[3] Rebanks, James. The Shepherd’s Life: A Tale of the Lake District. Penguin Books, 2015.
[4] Denise Levertov, “A Cure of Souls”, in Poems, 1960–1967 (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1983), 92.
[5] —David Brooks, message to the Boston College Class of 2021, May 25, 2021. https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/05/25/david-brooks-boston-college-graduation-commencement-covid-19-240745.
[6] —Karen Chakoian in Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 3, edited by David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Westminster John Knox, 2009), 280.
[7] —Walter Isaacson, “What You Can Learn From History's Greatest Innovators,” Interview with The Knowledge Project, YouTube.com, October 5, 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkAV3UvcNUI.
Retrieved November 25, 2021.
[8] —Francis Xavier (1506-1552), translated by Edward Caswall (1814-1878).
[9] Dr. David Kundtz, Stopping: How to Be Still When You Have to Keep Going (Berkeley: Conari Press, 1998).
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