Jesus then reinstates Peter. The key question is whether or not Peter loves Jesus. Prior to his denial of Jesus Peter had declared his commitment to the Lord, but this proved to be extremely fragile. Jesus first asks if Peter loves Him "more than these". It is not absolutely clear what "these" refer to. It could mean does he love Jesus more than his fishing career, but the more likely meaning is that Jesus is asking him if he loves Him more than the other disciples do.
Peter no longer claims to have a greater commitment than the others, but does declare that he loves the Lord. Jesus tells him to take care of the "lambs", presumably young believers. Again He asks Peter if he loves Him. Peter gives the same reply, then Jesus commands him to look after the sheep, presumably believers in general.
Jesus then asks a third time, and Peter is hurt. The third time the word used for love is different from the previous two times. However, in John's gospel the two terms are used pretty interchangeably, so it is probably unwise to put too much emphasis on this.
Jesus then tells Peter the type of death he would suffer. Peter would indeed give his life for Jesus. Peter then asked about John. Jesus tells him that it is no concern of his. A note is also added in the gospel making it clear that Jesus was not guaranteeing that John would live until Jesus' return.
It is futile to worry about how God is dealing with someone else, trying to work out if they are being more blessed than us, or if we are being given a harder time than others. We need simply to follow the Lord, we can be absolutely confident that His plans are the best possible plans for our life.
Peter no longer claims to have a greater commitment than the others, but does declare that he loves the Lord. Jesus tells him to take care of the "lambs", presumably young believers. Again He asks Peter if he loves Him. Peter gives the same reply, then Jesus commands him to look after the sheep, presumably believers in general.
Jesus then asks a third time, and Peter is hurt. The third time the word used for love is different from the previous two times. However, in John's gospel the two terms are used pretty interchangeably, so it is probably unwise to put too much emphasis on this.
Jesus then tells Peter the type of death he would suffer. Peter would indeed give his life for Jesus. Peter then asked about John. Jesus tells him that it is no concern of his. A note is also added in the gospel making it clear that Jesus was not guaranteeing that John would live until Jesus' return.
It is futile to worry about how God is dealing with someone else, trying to work out if they are being more blessed than us, or if we are being given a harder time than others. We need simply to follow the Lord, we can be absolutely confident that His plans are the best possible plans for our life.
No comments:
Post a Comment