Jn.21:17 – He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was hurt 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, “Tend My sheep”.
This was probably the last private conversation Jesus had with Peter before the Lord returned to heaven. The words that Jesus left with Peter on the beach that day would keep Peter the rest of his life. We all know the old adage, boys will be boys, and in this case there had been numerous outbreaks of the competitive nature amongst the disciples. Peter had just finished asking the Lord about John’s calling and this is how Jesus responded. Peter, you don’t need to worry about John, you do you. I guess all of us fall into that trap from time to time but at the end of the age all that matters is were we faithful with what He asked us to do. In Peter’s case he may have not been the academic like Paul or the mystic like John, he was more like everybody else. Peter was the average everyday guy that was in the middle of everyday people’s lives. Here is how Barclay describes this precious moment.
“It was not for nothing that John recorded this incident. He recorded it to show Peter as the great shepherd of Christ’s people. It may be, indeed it was inevitable, that people would draw comparisons in the early Church. Some would say that John was the great one, for his flights of thought went higher than those of anyone else. Some would say that Paul was the great one, for he travelled to the ends of the earth for Christ. But this chapter says that Peter, too, had his place. He might not write and think like John; he might not voyage and adventure like Paul; but he had the great honour, and the lovely task, of being the shepherd of the sheep of Christ. And here is where we can follow in the steps of Peter. We may not be able to think like John; we may not be able to go out to the ends of the earth like Paul; but each of us can guard someone else from going astray, and each of us can feed the lambs of Christ with the food of the word of God.”
There is a lot here for all of us to learn. Most of us will never be famous (whatever that means). You may not be a celebrity preacher or a personality on the internet (I think they call them influencers). You may not be wealthy or politically connected, most of us aren’t. But the majority of us are more like Peter, maybe just a fisherman by trade but you are in the middle of people everyday. Jesus was telling Peter that’s what matters, people, His sheep. So let’s learn Peter’s lesson, if you love Jesus love and care for His sheep.
