Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 07 April 2013,
Presented to Nipawin Corps, 21 February 2009,
Presented to Weston Corps, May 2006.
By Captain Michael Ramsay
This is the originally published text; to view the Toronto version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2017/02/john-2113-23-welcome-back-feed-my-sheep.html
Have you ever walked into a room and known that you are in trouble right away. You come home: “honey, I’m home….” and there is no answer. You walk into the livingroom and there she is just sitting on the couch, arms crossed, looking straight into your eyes and she starts asking questions…Not me…
I can remember one Friday night when I am sixteen, I need to borrow my parents car and I am allowed on one condition – that I bring my along little sister, Lorinda – she is fifteen. If I can be trusted with the car then I can take my sister with me. This is bad enough but what makes this even worse is that she has a curfew, which I don’t, so I have to stop whatever I am doing and bring her home by 10:00.
I take her down to the local hangout where I meet all my friends and tell her to just to find something to do and not bother me until it is time to go. This works well because, believe it or not, she didn’t really want to spend all Friday night with her big brother either – go figure- so this thing might just work out after all. Now as the evening progresses, things are turning out rather nicely for me actually. You see, tonight my friends and I meet some new friends… We start to get know each other. There is a party later that night that the group of us are planning to attend – there is just one problem – we have to get my sister home by 10. Now as my friends and I are behind the building my sister shows up and says, “it’s time to go” and - she is not alone. She has gone off and found herself a boyfriend! And this boyfriend is actually a friend of mine – so I have an idea…
He can bring Lorinda home! There are, however, a couple of hmmm…details to overcome: 1) my sister isn’t really allowed to date just yet and 2) this boy, Tony, will be bringing her home on his motorcycle (actually I think it was probably more like a motorized scooter!). These won’t go over so well with my mom, so I come up with a plan: I tell Tony that he can take her home but to make sure that he parks around the corner from our house so my that mom won’t see them when she looks out the window and I tell Lorinda to tell mom that she got a ride home from Melody – a nice girl from the church group – which was, um, actually where we were both supposed to be tonight, now that I think about it; so…
Tony gets her home all right but rather than around the corner like I told him to he parks down the street, in plain view, and under a streetlight and he decides to give her a good night kiss. And then Lorinda has a cigarette as she walks the rest of the way home where my mom is watching this whole scene from the window. Lorinda walks in the door and mom asks, “How did you get home?”
“Melody…” up oh…
Fast forward a couple of hours - I come home. All the lights are on and mom, who is usually in bed by now, is waiting for me at the front door… “How did Lorinda get home? How did Lorinda home? Who took Lorinda home?” I hear her question - I just don’t answer. I am caught. I know it. I can tell. I betrayed my mom’s trust and now I am being asked these questions over and over again.
‘Do you love me?’ is the question the newly resurrected Jesus asks Peter over and over again. Looking back at our text, John 21:15-23, Peter must feel just about the same way that I did. “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” As is recorded in John 18, Peter, himself, had not a totally dissimilar experience to mine. Jesus trusted him. Peter said he would stand by Jesus and he did not and now he is in need of restoration. He betrayed His confidence.
Peter had a special relationship with Jesus; he was even one of the three that Jesus invited up the mountain with him for his last night in town. Jesus told Peter everything that would happen then Peter still denied even knowing Jesus 3 times in the High Priest’s courtyard… and then they led Jesus out to be crucified.
Now Jesus, who died, is sitting right here; Jesus, who was killed, has appeared to the disciples more than once; Jesus, who was denied by Peter, has just finished eating with them. Jesus, who, initially to Peter’s surprise came back to life, is sitting right in front of him asking him whether or not he actually loves him. No wonder, as it says is verse 17, Peter feels hurt. Who wouldn’t feel a little convicted, a little ashamed, a little embarrassed? You make a promise to stand by someone. He even calls you on it – “Peter, before the rooster crows YOU will deny me three times.”
“No, not me” says Peter “No, not me”…. well, three rooster crows later then Jesus is denied, crucified, died and now he is back from the dead staring Peter straight in the face and asking, “do you love me?” “Do you love me?”
Can you imagine? You just deny someone. He knows it. He’s killed. Then he comes back from the dead and is staring you right in the face and asking you, “do you love me?”
There is even more to it than that. Peter is the ‘Rock’ upon which Jesus is going to build His church (Matt. 16:18); he is one of the inner circle of apostles; He is sent out to proclaim the good news; he is supposed to be a leader. Now he has fallen. How can he be even a follower, if he doesn’t follow; led alone a leader, if he doesn’t lead. Peter is in need of restoration.
So then with all this probably racing around in Peter’s mind and more, Jesus not only asks him, “Do you love me?” Peter also might hear, in effect, “Prove it – feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep;” “Prove it - take care of my followers – prove it, actually feed people -prove it.” Peter hears, “Do you love me? Do you love me?”
Peter, we can imagine, is so saddened that he does not answer, “Yes, I love you and I’ll do it.” Instead Jesus’ ‘Do you love me?’ only elicits “I like you…” Can you imagine?
“Do you love me?”
“I’m fond of you.”
“Do you love me?”
“I like you…I like you a lot.”
“But do you love me? Then feed my sheep…”
This is actually important. In the Greek it is recorded that Jesus is really asking Peter if he (agape) loves him but Peter at first is only answering “I (phillia) like you,” “or I’m fond of you.” This was probably not Peter saying in effect, I don’t love you, rather it is more like him responding, “I’m unworthy of loving you.”[1]
“Do you love me?” a runaway child asks her mom, in our world today, from a phone booth. She wants to come home. She needs to be restored to her place as a loved and cared for daughter.
“Do you love me?” the little boy asks his big brother coming back from fighting in a war. He needs his brother back.
“Do you love me?” a now grown child who suffered abuse in the residential schools, asks the churches? The church needs its family back; it needs to be restored.
“Do you love me?” the sister asks her brother who left her and their mom to live with his biological father. He needs to be restored as big brother.[2]
“Do you love me?” the six year-old asks her 15 year-old sister who has just returned from six months of Drug rehab[3]. The sister needs to be restored as big sister.
“Do you love me?” the estranged wife asks her recovering alcoholic husband as she returns to him. He needs to be restored as a husband.
“Do you love me?” Jesus is asking us. We are in need of restoration in our relationship.
Let me tell you a story about Alan, a friend of mine. He grows up in the church. He is almost always involved something up there. He reads his Bible all the time – everyday for years. He always prays. He never doubts that God has what is best in store for him. When others surrender, he perseveres. Even when his parents don’t want to get up to go to church, he gets himself up, gets dressed and walks all the way there by himself. He rises every morning at 6 am just to spend some time with God. He always has a Bible tucked away in his pocket somewhere so that he can read it or argue some point or another with his Christian and pre-Christian friends. God loves him and he loves God. Then Alan meets a girl.
She is a nice girl. He falls in love but…she is not quite on the same page as he is. As they grow more and more intimate, Alan drifts farther and farther apart from God. He slowly stops reading his Bible. First he just misses a day here or there, then a whole week, then –he moves in with her- he stops getting up early and talking to God; he stops listening to God. Then he stops hearing God; it is silent; it is silent. He is in need of restoration. But…“do you love me?” Jesus is still asking him.
Any parts of this story strike a chord with us? Is there anything separating us from God? We are in need of restoration. “Do you love me?” Jesus is still asking us. What have we done to remove ourselves from the will or presence of God? We are in need of restoration. “Do you love me?” Jesus is still asking us.
Jesus is still asking Peter, back in our text, ‘do you love me?’– and more. There is an important progression here. It is not only Peter whose answers develop – remember the answers of “I’m fond of you” and “I like you” when Jesus asks him if he loves Him and it is only on the third time that he actually responds “I love you.” Well, Jesus’ questioning also develops. He starts out with, “do you love me then…. feed my lambs.” Next, do you love me, then…. take care of my sheep; then, “feed my sheep.” This is an important progression, it apparently moves from concentrating on a subset of the flock, to overseeing all the flock, to actually feeding the whole flock. The responsibility grows.[4] His responsibility grows.
At first Jesus also asks Peter if he loves him more than these – more than the other disciples[5]. This brings one’s mind back to his boast of a couple of chapters earlier in John 13:37 - as verified in Matthew 26:33 - where he claims that he will never leave Jesus. The threefold questioning recalls the criteria for a legal declaration[6]. Three times stated and then something is legal. This is not about apostolic succession,[7] however, Peter is not forsaken he is forgiven.
Jesus is restoring Peter; He does so in such a way as to leave no doubt. While, as we have looked at, the questions are not exactly the same, he is asked three times to confess Christ at his restoration like he denied Christ three times to put him in need of this restoration and later in Acts 10, actually, when he is told through a dream to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, he is told also three times. The triune God is building on the significance of threes.
This is exciting and Peter gets it. Finally, he understands. Peter is restored. After he confesses, (v. 17) “Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus lets him know about what is in store for the future. In verses 18 and 19 “Jesus [says], "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." 19 Jesus [says] this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he [says] to him, ‘Follow me!’”
The death. Peter gets to die for Jesus. He gets his martyrs’ crown. Now, while this may not necessarily sound so good to us– the person whom you denied and was killed comes back from the grave and tells you, you are going to die… And tradition has it that Peter was actually crucified on a cross, just as Jesus was, except that he was hanged upside down. To Peter, however, this is good news. It means he is back. He is back! Peter has been restored. His sin is forgiven, Jesus trusts him. He accepts the responsibility to ‘feed his sheep’ and this responsibility is actually clearly offered to us all.[8] As Peter himself exhorts us in 2 Peter 5:2-4, “Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”
“Follow me!” He is back. “Follow me”, Jesus says to Peter. He is back and he is excited. So much so that Peter starts asking about others around, such as John, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved,’ who was right there and also sat next to Jesus at the last supper, Peter asks (v. 21) “what about him?” Jesus answers, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me’ (v. 22). Peter is forgiven. “Follow me.” That’s what is important for Peter now – that he must follow Jesus. Jesus has provided a way for him to be forgiven, reinstated and Peter is restored.
“Follow me,” Jesus says, and “welcome back.” Welcome home. Welcome home, in our world today, to the girl who ran away from her mom. Jesus loves you and you are restored. Welcome home to the big brother who has returned. He is restored. Welcome back to the alienated denominations who ran the residential schools, you can be restored. Welcome back to the big sister who went on the drug binge. You are back. You are forgiven and you are restored to your responsibilities of big sister. Welcome back to the repentant, recovering alcoholic dad. Welcome back. You are forgiven; you are restored to your position as husband and dad. Welcome back! Jesus has restored you. Welcome back. All of us can be restored.
I, after not being allowed to use the car for a month or so, was eventually to be restored to being trusted again. My mom trusted me later even though I had lied to her and denied my responsibilities. She forgave me and I was restored.
Alan, my friend, the silence for him must have been as painful as the denial was for the disciple Peter. The girl he was involved with is now a follower of Jesus – and now she is his wife. They are married. They repented of their collective sins. Alan is reinstated and Alan is restored. He is restored to getting up early and meeting with people and telling everyone that he knows about Jesus – not to annoy anyone and I don’t think he does necessarily – but just because he loves Jesus. He doesn’t deny him or hide Jesus anymore and other people come to love Jesus through Alan AND his wife. Jesus loves them. God is faithful. They are restored and they are feeding his sheep.
Jesus loves us. Whatever we have done. He is here and he has forgiven us. We just need to accept that forgiveness and be restored and feed his sheep. There is lots of opportunity to live out our restoration: physically speaking, in our world, one in four children is in need of feeding - 5.6 million children under five die every year[9]. And as one Bloc MP said, in this county, ‘The problem of poverty is not God’s fault; it's man's, the resources are here. The economy is here. We just need to share what there already is.’[10] How do we feed these sheep? And as far as the all important spiritual feeding is concerned…everyday 150 000 people die. How many are well fed Christians? How many are going to see God on good terms? The Chief Shepherd has given each of us oversight of part of his flock. How many people in our flock are well fed?
We are invited to accept forgiveness. We are invited to feed Jesus sheep. We are invited to be restored. We are invited to show the way, the truth and the light. We are invited to accept that forgiveness as well. Jesus died on that cross for us and he is sitting, in effect, on the beach with you and me. He knows our hearts. He knows your heart. He knows and forgiveness is offered. We just need to accept that forgiveness, that restoration and that reconciliation and ‘feed his sheep.’ Feed his sheep. Look after the hungry. Feed his sheep. Look after the spiritually hungry. Feed his sheep. Take care of those in need. Feed his sheep. Don’t lose any of the flock of which he has given you oversight. Feed his sheep.
Let us pray: “dear God, we thank you for your example of the restoration of Peter. We thank you that restoration is available to us all. We confess the times that we have denied and not followed you. We confess that there are times that we have not fed your sheep. We love you and we pray that, as you enable, like Peter claimed, we will always follow you. Amen.”
Let us quieten our hearts and minds let us reflect on our own personal restoration. If we are still in a situation where you need to be reconciled to God and / or another believer; if our relationship is in need of repair; if we are in need of restoration, we can pray quietly where we are. Maybe you’ve never been restored. Maybe you have and are in need again. Maybe your flock needs to be fed. Maybe there are sheep with which the Lord has entrusted you, who are still in need of feeding. Maybe there are others in your life who need that restoration and your prayer. Jesus is here. He is offering to restore you to your right and future place with him. Jesus is here. Come and accept your restoration.
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
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[1] R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel. (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 1420
[2] “Statistics Canada indicates that ten percent of families with children are stepfamilies, and about a third of them include children from different unions. In the United States, it's estimated that stepfamilies may outnumber biological families by the year 2010.” Reader’s Digest Canada, “What do you think is the lasting impact for children of divorce?” n.p. [cited 25 03 2006]. On-line: http://www.readersdigest.ca/debate.html?a=v&di=116
[3] 28.6% of 15-17 year-old girls in Canada have reported illicit drug use. Michael Tjepkema, “Use of Cannabis and Other Illicit Drugs,” Statistics Canada Health Reports 15, no. 4. (2004): 47
[4] R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel. (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 1421.
[5] George R. Beasley-Murray, John. (WBC 36: Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), 405.
[6] George R. Beasley-Murray, p. 404.
[7] Gail R. O’day, John. (TNIB 9: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1996), 861.
[8] Gail R. O’day, p. 861.
[9] Unicef. “Progress for Children: a Report Card on Nutrition” Unite for Children, no. 4 (May, 2006)
[10] Christianweek.org. Cited 25 April 2006. No Pages. On-line: http://www.christianweek.org/stories/vol20/no02/record.htm
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Further Reading.
Beasley-Murray, George R. Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 36. Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987.
Earle, Ralf, Harvey J.S. Blaney and Charles S. Carter. The Wesleyan Bible Commentary: Matthew –Acts. Vol. 4. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1979.
Christianweek.org. Cited 25 April 2006. No Pages. On-line: http://www.christianweek.org/stories/vol20/no02/record.htm
Lenski, R.C.H. The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961.
O’Day, Gail R. The New Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. 9. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1995.
Reader’s Digest Canada, “What do you think is the lasting impact for children of divorce?” Cited 25 April 2006. No pages. On-line: http://www.readersdigest.ca/debate.html?a=v&di=116
Tjepkema, Michael. “Use of Cannabis and Other Illicit Drugs,” Statistics Canada Health Report 15, no. 4. (2004): 43-47 Unicef. “Progress for Children: a Report Card on Nutrition” Unite for Children, no. 4 (May, 2006)
World Socialist Movement, ‘How Could We Feed the World.” Cited 15 Mar. 2006. No Pages. On-line: http://www.worldsocialism.org/wsm-pages/food.html
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