Jn 21:16 – He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
This was quite a day for the followers of Jesus. Seven of them had made it back to their old stomping grounds in Galilee to try and catch some fish to feed themselves and their families. As Yogi Berra famously said, “this was Déjà vu all over again”. They spent the night fishing and caught nothing, sound familiar? Again Jesus shows up on the shore and a giant haul of fish was the result. The beauty of this passage was Jesus’ relentless pursuit of His disciples and His call to follow Him was declared once again. The first encounter was still an echo in their ears, “Follow Me and I will make you a fisher of men”. This was His plan. As the purpose of this meeting unfolded Jesus began to be specific about what following Him meant. He was calling Peter to tend His sheep. This was clearly God’s plan for Peter and really for all of us. Check out how Barclay described this.
“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 honor, 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.”
Following Jesus is always about fish and sheep. The fishing part is often the most fun, who doesn’t like to catch a boatload of fish? The sheep part can get a little more complicated, “Tend My sheep”, Jesus said. “Take care of all of those hurting sheep that belong to Me, this is how you follow Me”. So none of us are a Paul, a John or even a Peter but all of us can follow Him. Fishing and tending sheep is what following Jesus is all about.
