“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” John 21:15-25
Chapter 20, the first resurrection narratives, ends with the declaration:
“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” John 20:30-31
Now, that sounds to me like a wrap up, the end, fini. But then like without skipping a beat, the Beloved Disciple includes one more resurrection narrative and it is one that you will find no where else and it is especially focused on Peter and the Beloved Disciples himself. Is that a special relation between them? Remember their foot race to the empty tomb? Recall the Beloved Disciples report that he did out run Peter, but he also waited for Peter to enter the tomb first. And here they are together again by the sea of Tiberias with five other Apostles — seven in total and Peter declared that he was going fishing. The other six said they were following him and they went off and fished all night without catching any fish to speak of. But this is not all that innocence. They are they, all except John, who had betrayed Christ and in a manner even he has been taken in. They have not merely gone fishing, they have returned to their former vocation of fishing. One betrayed Jesus to his death, Peter had denied him to his enemies, and they all ran from him in the garden. Yes, they had by this time seen the risen Lord two times, but to what effect? Here are seven Apostles who at Peter’s suggestion return to their old way of life — this is a scene of complete apostasy. Jesus had prophesied that they would scatter and return to their own, but now, with their return to their commerce, the scattering and the betrayal of Jesus is perfected. After all they had to make a living.
The morning light was breaking when they saw that someone was standing on the beach and he called out to see how they were doing and then he told them to cast on the other side and they caught a net load of fish. John and Peter were the first to realize that it was Jesus and Peter, right in character, cast himself into the sea and swam ashore. The remaining six brought in the boat and the fish. Gradually they realized that it was Jesus but they dare not speak. There was a charcoal fire going with some fish and bread cooking and Jesus said, “Come and have breakfast.” Jesus came to them gave them bread and fish. They ate breakfast together apparently without saying much. It is a very solemn occasion, not merely a meal, but, based on how Jesus provided the bread and the fish, and how he handed it to them, it has a eucharistic feel, a worshipful ambience. Having lived with Jesus and the Kingdom of God for three years, after the healings, the miracles, the triumphs over the devil, and then having seen what the world did to Jesus, and even after seeing him raised bodily from the dead — they returned to a practical way of life. And we are no different are we? We have been with them for nearly three years as we have lived in the Gospel and we have by the grace of God seen the world through their eyes and Jesus’ eyes. And it is fair to ask ourselves just what difference it has made in our own lives. There is an apostasy that draws no attentions to itself because it is so practical. There is an apostasy that is nearly invisible because it hides out in the open spaces of a man’s or woman’s life. Jesus had promised to make them fishers of men and they, after all this, settled for their old way of life. Is that all there is to it? The destiny of all mankind, of all creation, is in the hands of these few men and what is their posture toward the Pearl of Great Price. Here is an apostasy that so practical, so obviously essential to life, so self-evident and necessary that it will go unnoticed except when it is brought into the presence Christ and his searching, all-demanding claim upon your life just as it was experienced on the beach that morning as seven Apostles ate breakfast with Jesus. Such is the searching, all-demanding eucharistic presence of Christ that comes to us in worship and in perfect judgment.
There is no doubt that Jesus regards Peter as the leader of this little band of
Apostles, but he associates the Beloved Disciple in this same leadership as well and this is magnified in the next narrative. After breakfast Jesus spoke directly to Peter three times:
“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”
It would be natural and correct to associate the charcoal fire and the three questions with Peter’s three denials and to see here a restoration of Peter. However don’t forget that our Lord has already appeared to his disciples on two occasions and Peter was present for each one of them. I do not doubt that that there is an element of restoration here, but even more Jesus is presenting to Peter an existential moment when he and only he is called upon to affirm his trust, his faith, his loyalty to Jesus, as well as Jesus’ all-demanding claim, his right to possession, his true and real freehold upon his life. It is imperative. This is the moment of truth, the moment of a man’s or a woman’s authenticity. No one can do this for you. It is a radical, personal, intentional affirmation of true and exclusive loyalty to Jesus.
“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?”
Peter do you love me more than these? I do not for a moment think there is any reason, textually or morally, to think that Jesus was asking Peter whether or not he, Peter, loved him, Jesus, more than any of the other disciples loved him. Not at all. I think our Lord may well have gestured toward the practical gear and hardware of their practical life: their fishing boats, the ropes, the well-tied nets, the gear and tackle, the fresh fire-coal, the strange, speckled, dappled trout? Do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than the practical? Do you love me more than what others say is feasible, to what they say is real life — do you love me more than this ready made, ready-at-hand way of getting through? Do you love me more than your life?
“Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”
And who cannot see plain as day that all that Jesus spoke to Peter was taken to heart by the Apostles standing there on the beach? And who cannot see plain as day that we ought to take it to heart as well? And that is the way our Lord meant it to be. The whole future of humanity, indeed all of creation, has been vested as a pure gift to these men. It is that simple and that concrete. Jesus speaks each of them and lays upon them the necessity to feed his sheep. Do you love me? And we speaks to each of us and says: “Follow thou me.”
Then he told Peter what following him would mean for the rest of his life:
“When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.”
There is an apostasy that so practical, so obviously essential to life, so self-evident and necessary that it will go unnoticed except when it is brought into the presence Christ and his all-searching, all-demanding claim upon your life. “Almighty God unto all hearts are open!” All our hearts are open books to Jesus — he is all-searching and his demand on our life is unlimited and you cannot escape it. Do you love Jesus more than life?
And of course Peter, being Peter, looks at the youthful John and he wonders:
“Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following… said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?”
Our Lord simply repeats his all-demanding claim upon Peter’s life. The destiny of the Beloved Disciple’s life, Peter’s life, and the destiny of the life of every child of God is in the hand’s of Jesus. The history of the first generation Apostolic Church is tightly packed into Our Lord’s prophecy concerning the deaths of Peter and the Beloved Disciple. And then comes the very last verses of the Fourth Gospel in which the Beloved Disciple notarized, with witnesses, the truthfulness of his narrative:
“This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”
The Beloved Disciple thus ends the Gospel by certifying that it is he who has written the text and what he has written is reality. He goes on to certify the accuracy and truthfulness of the narrative and he does so by invoking other witnesses, the ones named at the very beginning of the last chapter: Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, James and John, as well as two other unnamed disciples. These are they who loved the Pearl of Great Price above their own lives and struck out to the furtherest parts of the world to bring the Messiah to the people of God.