Do you love me?

“So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Feed My lambs.’ He said to him again a second time, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Tend My sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?’ Peter was grieved 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, ‘Feed My sheep’” (John 21:15-17).

As we remember, Peter denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:54-62). Now, in John 21:15-17, Jesus gives Peter the chance to confess his love for Him three times. Jesus did not want Peter to feel the guilt of denying Him, rather He wanted Peter to forget and move on. It is the same way in our lives. By our sinful ways, all of us have in a way denied Jesus (Titus 1:16). Even after we have hurt Jesus by our sins, He doesn’t want us to bear the guilt once we have repented. Instead He wishes to give all of us the same chance He gave Peter: a chance to prove our love for Him. Notice that each time Peter said, “Lord you know that I love you,” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” In other words, confessing love in words was not enough. Peter had to show it in his life until the day he died. The same is true for us! “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Jonathan Glaesemann