Eastertide

May 1, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 21:1-19

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.’ 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.’ 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. 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.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ –John 21:15-19

The dialogue between Peter is one we all must have with Jesus Christ. The first time Jesus asked Peter the question do you love me Jesus is using the Greek word, agapas, which is translated here as the English word love. Peter responds with the Greek word, philō, which is also translated in English as love. Jesus then commands Peter to feed Jesus’s lambs.  The same translations are recorded the second time Jesus asked the question, and Jesus commands Peter to Shepherd Jesus’s sheep. The third time Jesus asked the question using the word, phileis, which is a derivative of philō, but expresses something closer to Do you dearly love me, perhaps suggesting what we often imply about philō* the love of siblings.

I am not a Greek translator of any sort, but I do not think the varied use of the Greek words for love was not an accident. Jesus asked as the son of God for Peter to love all God’s children if they love the Lamb of God who died on the cross. That love carries over to assuming the assignment of Shepherding God’s children, taking on Jesus’s work in our world today.  As we serve in the name of Jesus Christ, in answering his call to be one and love all, we are likened as a sibling to him.

You may read it with another emphasis, but I think the questions were asked to all of Jesus’s disciples Including us. Please note, that all the instructions involved active caring for one another, all one another(s).

Prayer: Lord, help us demonstrate with our lives our love for you. Guide our service. Amen.

See https://biblehub.com/interlinear/john/21-17.htm for the source of all Greek words quoted.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.