Peter, Do You Love Me?

May 4, 2025, First Lutheran Church of Throggs Neck, Bronx, N.Y.

Amid the hundreds of memes posted last week about the late Pope Francis, there is a video of the Pontiff preaching to a crowd in the Philippines.

Reading from the same Gospel we’ve read this morning, the Pope quoted Jesus’ query of Peter:

“Do you love me?”

He paused and the crowd to shouted in unison, “Yes!”

Realizing the crowd meant him, the Pope laughed and said, “Thank you very much.”

It’s also interesting that the Pope chose a passage from John that challenges Peter to renew his devotion to Jesus and his commitment to a life that will lead inevitably to the cross.

Just a few passages earlier, Peter had declared his complete allegiance to Jesus, and insisted he would be with him to the death.

Then came Jesus’ arrest in the Garden, and Peter cowered from the danger. Three times he had a chance to stand by his Lord, and three times Peter denied even knowing him.

It was a humiliating moment for the swaggering disciple who Jesus dubbed “the Rock” and gave the keys to his kingdom. It looked like Peter was on a stellar path in the apostle business.

Then Peter’s cocky crowing was stifled by the crowing of the cock.

When the seven disciples gathered on the shore of Lake Tiberias, Peter was probably still stinging from his loss of prestige. Whether by design or chance, the resurrected Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, not the bearer of the kingdom’s keys. Was that intended as a message to Peter or was it because Mary was an earlier riser?

Whatever the reason, Peter’s lofty position among the apostles was gone, and the dramatic change in all the apostle’s lives made them wonder what the future might hold. 

This, of course, happens to all of us in times of sudden change. The loss of a job, the loss of a loved one, the loss of our health, all may mark a time when our lives have changed and we don’t know what to do next, we don’t know what the rest of our lives will be like. 

The seven disciples on the shore may be struggling with that uncertainty. It may be that Peter was looking for something from his old life before he met Jesus, something familiar, something he knew he was good at.

“I am going fishing,” he announced. And the other six jumped at the idea. “We will go with you.”

But if they expected to find comfort in the old habits, they were disappointed. These old hands at the fishing nets bobbled in the boat all night and caught nothing.

By daybreak when they pulled ashore, a man stood on the beach to welcome them. 

“Children, you have no fish, have you?” I have to believe that the man was smiling in amusement.

The disciples didn’t recognize the man, although his next suggestion must have rung some bells.

“Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”

And they did find some, of course, so many fish they couldn’t haul in the net.

That was enough to clear the mental fog for John, the disciple Jesus loved. “It is the Lord!” he exclaimed to Peter. And Peter’s reaction was to jump into the sea. 

When Peter had hauled the heavy net ashore, Jesus said, “Come and have breakfast.”

On the shore was a charcoal fire cooking fish and bread.

It’s unclear to me whether Jesus prepared the fire and food himself, or whether he took advantage of an existing fire on the beach. I like to think Jesus was the pitmaster because it’s so consistent with his role of humble servitude. We do know that “Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, did the same with the fish.”

By this time all the disciples realized it was Jesus who hosted this little breakfast. This, according to John, was the third time Jesus had appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When breakfast was over, it was to Peter that Jesus went.

The ensuing conversation was brutal.

“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.” [Jn 21:15-18]

Professor Jennifer Garcia Bashaw, of Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, believes Jesus had a reason for asking Peter three times if he loves him.

“This frame of the scene ties up several narrative threads,” she writes. “First, we have a reversal of Peter’s denial and shame as Jesus prompts a triple confession of Peter’s love set at a charcoal fire like the first. The words for “love” in this passage alternate between agapao and phileo, but the current consensus in scholarship says that these words are not speaking to different types or qualities of love but are, rather, interchangeable. John seems to favor alternating words for variety in this passage because he does the same with the words for sheep and lambs.”

Also, Professor Bashaw writes, “The Good Shepherd discourse from chapter 10 finds new life in Jesus’ words to Peter. Now, instead of Jesus being the shepherd who loves the sheep, Peter is being asked about loving the shepherd and then is given the task of tending to, or grazing, the sheep. Just as Jesus’ love for his sheep led to him giving up his life, Peter’s path will also lead to death as he follows Jesus and cares for his sheep.”

We may breathe a sigh of relief for Peter that his proper place of leadership among the apostles has been restored. It’s also sobering because we know Peter’s discipleship will lead to his own crucifixion, traditionally upside down on a cross in Rome.

Years ago, when Pope Francis preached this passage from John to a congregation of Filipinos, I think he was reminding all Christians of the potential costs of declaring our love for Jesus.

Jesus is reminding us we are all shepherds, and we are all called to express our love by feeding his sheep.

By assuring that the structures of society and government protect the poor and feed the hungry.

By assuring that the structures of society and government see the importance of all residents, that all are valuable and essential human beings, regardless of their race, religion, age, citizenship, sexuality, or physical or mental disability.

By assuring that the structures of society and government provide the due process and legal protections for residents who are not citizens.

By assuring that the structures of society and government provide safety, justice, and equal opportunity for all residents to pursue the happiness to which they are entitled.

These are the sheep Jesus expects us to protect as an expression of our love for him. There may be a cost to this discipleship. But when Jesus asks, “Do you love me,” what else can our answer be but, “Lord, you know that I love you.”

Amen.