35Epilogue—Part 2: How to Be a Committed Christian  (John 21:15–25)

So 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.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, 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, “Tend My sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!” Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written. (21:15–25)

The true gospel call to follow Jesus Christ is a call to self-denial. It is not a man-centered call to self-fulfillment; there is no “Christianity lite.” The gospel calls sinners to submit fully to Jesus Christ, to find their lives by losing them, to gain their lives by abandoning them, to live life to the fullest by emptying themselves. Our Lord’s message, frankly, was not user friendly; it was not so much comforting as threatening. He did not make salvation easy, but hard; Christ’s preaching, while motivated by love and compassion, filled with grace and mercy, and offering forgiveness, peace, and joy now and forever, was still demanding in the extreme. Jesus was never guilty of making things easy for sinners, and thereby contributing to a false confidence, a false assurance of salvation. “No one,” He declared, “after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). He warned that those who would follow Him must be willing to die to themselves, and He stressed the importance of counting the cost of commitment to Him:

In Matthew 7:13–14 the Lord exhorted, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Jesus does not offer sinners a superficial makeover to satisfy their desire for self-improvement; He calls them to submit to a complete takeover of their lives for His glory—with eternal benefits.

As noted in the previous chapter of this volume, chapter 21 forms an appendix or epilogue to John’s gospel, bringing closure to it by resolving some questions left unanswered at the end of chapter 20. The first fourteen verses dealt with the disciples’ question of whether Jesus would still provide for them now that He was ascending to the Father. He would still meet their needs, as He illustrated with the incident of the fish, and by providing them breakfast. That settles a huge concern—divine care. The remainder of the chapter focuses mainly on another concern— Jesus’ restoration of Peter, the leader of the apostles so critical to the gospel ministry after Christ’s ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit. He was God’s choice to be the most significant voice for the gospel to the Jews in the beginning days of the church. As such, he is the main figure in the opening chapters of Acts (2–12), and the other apostles needed to continue to follow his leadership. In the process of tying things up with Peter, believers can see an example of the essential means to being a committed Christian: by loving Christ more than everything else, by being willing to sacrifice everything for Christ, and by following Christ.

COMMITTED CHRISTIANS LOVE CHRIST MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE

So 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.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, 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, “Tend My sheep.” (21:15–17)

The primary mark of the redeemed has always been love for God. The Shema, the great Old Testament confession of faith, declares, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5). Later in Deuteronomy Moses exhorted Israel to manifest that love by obeying God’s commandments (10:12–13; 11:1). When Daniel poured out his heart in prayer for his people, he addressed God as “the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Dan. 9:4). After the exile Nehemiah echoed Daniel’s prayer: “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Neh. 1:5). The theme of loving God was also on the heart of David, who wrote, “I love You, O Lord, my strength” (Ps. 18:1).

The New Testament also teaches that love is the mark of a true believer. When asked to name the greatest commandment of the law, Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). In 1 Corinthians 8:3 Paul wrote, “If anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” On the other hand the apostle warned, “If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed” (1 Cor. 16:22). Only those who love God receive eternal life (James 1:12) and inherit the kingdom (James 2:5). Peter wrote in his first epistle, “Though you have not seen Him [Christ], you love Him” (1 Peter 1:8). Love is also the driving, compelling force that motivates Christian service (2 Cor. 5:14).

Peter learned the hard way what it means to love Jesus Christ. He had vociferously declared his unfailing devotion to Him more than once. At the Last Supper, “Simon Peter said to [Jesus], ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You’” (John 13:36–37). A short while later he boldly proclaimed, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away” (Matt. 26:33). Yet when the chips were down, Peter’s self-confessed love failed and he openly denied three times that he even knew Jesus. His vaunted courage proved to be nothing but empty talk when facing a threatening situation.

Peter’s failure highlights the biblical truth that obedience is the essential evidence of genuine love. In John 14:15 Jesus put it plainly: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” In verse 21 He added, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me” (cf. 15:10). In 1 John 5:3 John echoed the Lord’s teaching: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome,” while in his second epistle he added, “And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it” (2 John 6).

Jesus knew that if Peter was to play the crucial role in the early church that He had chosen him for, he would need to be restored. Peter needed to understand that although he had forsaken Christ, Christ had not forsaken him (cf. Rom. 8:31–39). The Lord had evidently already appeared to Peter privately (Luke 24:34; cf. 1 Cor. 15:5), but Scripture does not record any details of that meeting. Whatever may have happened in Peter’s personal encounter with the risen Lord, since his denials were public knowledge, he needed to be publicly restored. The other disciples needed to hear Peter’s reaffirmation of his love for Christ and Christ’s recommissioning of him, so they would be willing to loyally support his leadership.

As soon as they had finished breakfast (cf. 21:12–13), Jesus initiated the restoration by confronting Peter. That He addressed him as “Simon, son of John” suggests that what followed was a rebuke. Jesus had given Simon the nickname “Peter” (John 1:42), but sometimes referred to him as “Simon” when Peter did something that needed rebuke or correction (e.g., Matt. 17:25; Mark 14:37; Luke 22:31). It was as if our Lord called him by his former name when he was acting like his former self. The Lord’s pointed question, “Do you love Me more than these (i.e., the boat, nets, and other fishing paraphernalia)?” went right to the heart of the issue. As noted in the previous chapter of this volume, Peter, impatient at Jesus’ delay in meeting the disciples and beleaguered by his own failures, had impulsively decided to return to being a fisherman (21:3). That he was sure he could do well—or so he had thought. But Jesus confronted Peter and called him to follow Him and be the fisher of men he was first called to be (Matt. 4:19). “No servant can serve [be a slave to] two masters,” He had previously told them, “for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Luke 16:13). Jesus challenged Peter to permanently abandon his former life and be exclusively devoted to following Him, based on his love.

Peter replied to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” There is an interesting wordplay in the Greek text. The word Jesus used for love is agapaō, the highest love of the will, love that implies total commitment (cf. 1 Cor. 13:4–8). Peter, painfully aware of his disobedience and failure, felt too guilty to claim that type of love. The brash pronouncements were a thing of the past; broken and humbled and fully aware that his action precluded him from a believable claim to the highest love, Peter answered by using the word phileō, a less lofty term that signifies affection. He also appealed to Jesus’ omniscience, reminding Him, “You know that I love You.”

Accepting Peter’s humble acknowledgement that his love was less than he had claimed and Christ deserved, Jesus still recommissioned him, graciously saying to him, “Tend My lambs.” Tend translates a form of the verb boskō, a term used of herdsmen pasturing and feeding their livestock. The present tense of the verb denotes continuous action. In keeping with the metaphor He introduced in 10:7–16 (cf. Pss. 95:7; 100:3; Ezek. 34:31), Jesus described believers as His lambs, emphasizing not only their immaturity, vulnerability, and need, but also that they are His (cf. Matt. 18:5–10). It is the same responsibility given to every pastor, as Paul pointed out in Acts 20:28 and as Peter himself exhorted in 1 Peter 5:2. Paul instructed the young pastor Timothy that the means to doing this was to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2).

Continuing to reinforce His point on the supremacy of love as the motive to faithfulness, Jesus said to Peter again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Once again He used the verb agapaō, and once again Peter was unwilling to use that word; in his reply, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You,” Peter again used the verb phileō. The Lord then charged him, “Shepherd My sheep.” Jesus chose a different term than the one translated “tend” in verse 15. This word, a form of the verb poimainō, is likely a synonym for the previous verb, both of which are suitable to express the full scope of responsibility that pastoral oversight entails (cf. Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2).

But Jesus still was not through with Peter, so He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” The reason for Peter’s grief was a change in the Lord’s vocabulary. Unlike His two previous questions, this third time Jesus used Peter’s word for love, phileō. He called into question even the less than total devotion Peter thought he was safe in claiming. The implication that his life did not support even that level of love broke Peter’s heart. All he could do was appeal even more strongly to Jesus’ omniscience, saying to Him, “Lord, You know all things (cf. 2:24–25; 16:30); You know that I love You.” For the third time Jesus accepted the apostle’s recognized failure and imperfection (cf. Isa. 6:1–8) and graciously charged Peter to care for His flock, saying to him, “Tend My sheep.” Peter’s restoration was thus complete. As Andreas Köstenberger notes,

Peter remained obedient to the Lord’s commission for the rest of his life.

His ministry from that point forward involved not only proclaiming the gospel (Acts 2:14–40; 3:12–26), but also feeding the flock the Lord had entrusted to him (cf. Acts 2:42). Nearing the end of his ministry many years later, Peter wrote,

COMMITTED CHRISTIANS ARE WILLING TO SACRIFICE EVERYTHING FOR CHRIST

“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. (21:18–19a)

Jesus’ prophecy of Peter’s martyrdom underscores the truth that commitment to Him may require paying the ultimate price. “He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me,” Jesus had told the disciples when He commissioned them. Then He warned, “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 10:38–39; cf. 16:24–26; Rom. 14:8; Phil. 1:21).

As it does throughout John’s gospel, the solemn phrase truly, truly introduces a significant truth (1:51;3:3, 5, 11; 5:19, 24, 25;6:26, 32, 47, 53; 8:34, 51, 58; 10:1, 7; 12:24; 13:16, 20, 21, 38; 14:12; 16:20, 23). When he was younger, Peter used to gird himself and walk wherever he wished; in other words, he was in control of his actions. “But,” Jesus told him, “when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” There would come a time, Jesus warned, when others would seize Peter, bind him, and lead him away to be executed. Peter’s death, as the phrase stretch out your hands implies, would be by crucifixion. John’s footnote, Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God, makes that clear.

Peter spent the last three decades of his life serving the Lord and anticipating his martyrdom. Yet he faced that prospect with confidence, comforted by the knowledge that he would not deny the Lord again, but instead would glorify Him in his death (cf. 1 Peter 4:14–16). According to tradition, Peter was crucified, but requested to be crucified upside down, because he felt unworthy to be crucified like his Lord (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History III. 1).

COMMITTED CHRISTIANS FOCUS ON FOLLOWING CHRIST’S LEADING

And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!” Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written. (21:19b–25)

Following Jesus Christ is the sine qua non of the Christian life. In John 12:26 Jesus put it simply: “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me.” It is the mark of His sheep that they follow Him (John 10:27; cf. 8:12), no matter what the cost (Matt. 16:24; 19:27; Luke 5:11, 27–28; 9:23–25; 18:28). To follow Jesus means not only to be willing to sacrifice everything in submission to His will, but also to obey His commands (Matt. 7:21; Luke 6:46) and to imitate Him (1 Thess. 1:6; 1 John 2:6; cf. 1 Cor. 11:1).

After Jesus had spoken His prophecy of Peter’s death, He said to him, “Follow Me!” Evidently they had stood up and were walking (possibly along the shore of the lake) when Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Throughout his gospel, John never names himself, preferring to refer to himself in other ways. That he further identified that person as the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You? leaves no question that the beloved disciple and the one who leaned on Jesus was John (cf. John 13:23). Obviously, as that reference indicates, he was one of the inner circle of Jesus’ followers. Yet he cannot have been Peter, since the two are distinguished in this text and others. Nor can he have been James, who was martyred too early (Acts 12:2) to have written the gospel of John. By process of elimination, the beloved disciple had to have been the apostle John (see the discussion of the beloved disciple’s identity in John 1–11, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2006], 6–7).

Evidently Christ’s prediction of Peter’s martyrdom prompted concern about what would happen to his intimate friend, John. Therefore he asked Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” Jesus’ abrupt and censuring reply, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” was not an answer, but it was a rebuke that made it clear to Peter that what was to happen to John was none of his business. If John lived until the second coming, it had no bearing on his responsibility. Reiterating His command from verse 19, Jesus said emphatically, “You follow Me!” Peter’s attention was not to be on anyone else, but on his own devotion and duty to Jesus Christ. All believers will do well to embrace this truth that the Lord has a unique plan for each of His followers.

John finished the inspired gospel by answering a few final questions that bring closure to his account. The Lord’s hypothetical response to Peter caused a rumor to go out among the brethren that that disciple would not die. John was quick to debunk that rumor, lest his death cause some to believe the Lord made a false prediction: Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”

John reminded his readers that he is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we (either the apostles, or more likely an editorial device referring only to John) know that his testimony is true. John was an eyewitness to the events recorded in his gospel, and his testimony concerning them is true (cf. MNTC John 1–11, 5–6). But while what he wrote was true, it was by no means exhaustive. There are, the apostle noted, also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John had selectively chosen his material in keeping with his stated purpose of presenting Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Son of God (20:30–31). His statement that Jesus did more works than the world’s books could hold is evidence that even in the four Gospels there is given only a very limited and selective record of events. This makes the point stronger regarding how great Israel’s unbelief and subsequent culpability truly was, since she denied her Messiah in the face of such a massive display of divine power. In light of the vast evidence of His deity, Israel’s rejection of the Lord Jesus renders her subject to the severest judgment. This was especially true of the leaders, to whom the Lord said,

This was symbolized in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70:

Jesus had challenged Peter to love Him above all else. Faced with the prospect of sacrificing everything for Christ, from here on Peter did not back down. He learned the lesson that following Jesus was to be the singularly supreme objective of his love. Peter and his fellow apostles, empowered by the Holy Spirit, turned the world upside down through their fearless witness to Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 17:6) and in almost every case died as martyrs for the love of Christ and the truth of the gospel.