Our Three Loves John 21: 15-19
Last week we looked at the first part of John chapter 21. We saw how Jesus tells us he is always with us, how he is always responsive to our prayers, but how it is just as likely he will respond with a gentle nudge in a direction or by sending someone into our lives to help with our need. He told us we may not always recognize the answer to our prayers and therefore we should be aware of the people and things that come in and out of our lives. We should always be looking for Jesus work in our lives.
The first part of John 21 tells us how Jesus loves us and how he responds to us. The second part starts out the same way but then it changes direction to show us how we are to respond to the love of Christ. And then it ends with a realistic view of what our love and devotion to Christ may cost us.
We discussed last week the number three. How it points to Jesus, how it points to the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit and how it tells us that what is being discussed is of major importance. John’s entire Gospel is written to show the divinity of Jesus so John uses three a lot. He uses it to point out to the world that Jesus is God. Last week we saw John use the number three to direct us to the divinity of the resurrected Jesus. Today he uses the number three to direct us to see the relationship between ourselves and the divine God.
We need to begin the study of our verses by first looking back to the events in John 18. In this chapter we have Jesus being arrested and in John 18:17 we have a servant girl addressing Peter, “’You are one of this man’s disciples too,’ she asked Peter. He replied ‘I am not.” Peter’s first denial of Jesus. Then in verse 25 a small crowd addresses him again, “’Aren’t you one of his disciples? He denied it saying ‘I am not’” Then in verses 26 and 27, “One of the High Priest’s servants…challenged him, ‘Didn’t I see you in the olive grove with Jesus?’ Again Peter denied it.” Peter denied Jesus three times.
Today on that beach, after breakfast Jesus addresses Peter, verse 15, “Peter do you love me?” verse 16, “Peter do you love me?” and again in verse 17, “Peter, do you love me?” Three times Jesus asks this question of Peter.
I don’t think there is any doubt that Peter is well aware of his denials of Jesus nor can he forget the shame he felt when after his denials, Jesus who was among his captors turned and looked at him. I don’t think it was lost on Peter that Jesus repeats his question three times. So now as always, we need to ask ourselves why, what is the spiritual undercurrent of this scene on the beach?
No matter how many times one sins, that’s the exact number of times Jesus offers you redemption through faith. In your lifetime you can never make one too many mistakes and cause Christ to withhold salvation if you profess your love for him.
Please understand the gravity of this. Too many people think they are too far gone to approach Jesus. Please know and believe, one of the absolute truths of God is that no one, no matter what you did or how many times you do it, is beyond the power of the cross and the salvation of Jesus when you welcome him into your heart and life.
This is a powerful message and it relates to another similar and powerful message. In Mark’s Gospel after Jesus resurrection, when Mary the mother of James, Mary Magdalene and Salome went to the tomb an angel told them “Go, tell his disciples and Peter.”
Peter was one of Jesus followers and as such his transgressions, his denials didn’t cause Jesus to despise him, it caused Jesus to single him out as a recipient of his attention. So we see another absolute truth of God. As one in Christ, even when we sin, Christ is reaching out to ease our shame. As a believer even when I sin Jesus is reaching out his hand to me and never will he turn his back to me. What powerful and glorious truths God’s word gives us.
Now I want to look at this from a different angle. If we look at these verses in the original Greek the first two times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him he uses the word agape which means unconditional love. The third time Jesus uses the word phileo which refers to a brotherly love. As I thought about this I came to see how this is a reference to Jesus and the three loves in each of our lives.
Peter, do you agape me? Peter, do you love me above others? One thing that I’ve found to hold truth in our lives, it’s hard to love Jesus if you don’t love yourself. In fact I’ve met people who’ve said that they hated themselves for what they did in life but when they turned to Christ, even if it’s out of desperation; they start to see the goodness within themselves and they start to love themselves.
Psalm139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The Hebrew word translated as fearfully means with heartfelt interest. We are made because God is intimately interested in our being and we are made to be a wonder in the world. How can we not love ourselves when we understand why God made us?
Ephesians 5:29 “…feed and care for (your) body just as Christ does the church.” Christ loved mankind enough to put us above himself. We should love ourselves enough to take great care in the life God gave us.
And Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it.” If you hate yourself bitterness is what you will be known for. You cannot love others if you do not love yourself first.
Peter, do you agape me? The second of our three loves is family. How I treat my spouse, how we treat our children, how we treat our parents are all seen by the world. They are a reflection of our love of God and the precursor to how we interact with the world. God tells us this in the commandments he gives us, Exodus 20:12, “Honor your father and your mother…” Paul tells us this in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Ephesians 5:22 “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord,” and Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy…” If we cannot love our family with the agape love of Christ, we cannot love our greater Christian family of believers in the manner Christ tells us to.
Peter, do you phileo me? The third love in our lives. We are followers of Jesus and he tells us in Luke 10 with the parable of the Good Samaritan we are to be concerned, empathetic and helpful in a meaningful way to whomever needs the help. 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;” How we think of and treat others is a mirror image of how we are with ourselves.
Jesus tells us in John 15:12, “My command is this; love each other as I have loved you.” Love each other with the total devotion Jesus does, do you think you can do this? Do I think I can do this? Probably not, but I think this is why Jesus uses phileo. Maybe I can’t love everyone with total devotion but I can reach out to anyone with a brotherly concern, with empathy and a desire to help as I can. Note I said “help as I can.” The Good Samaritan didn’t stay with the injured man 24/7, he found him a safe place and had someone watch him and help him. You don’t have to do everything yourself, to help is sometimes just getting someone to the point where they can help themselves, or helping them find the right resource they need.
If we go back and look at the conversation between Peter and Jesus you will note that after each question Jesus tells Peter to feed my sheep. Each of these three loves we have are manifested in how we respond to those in need around us, how we feed Jesus sheep.
And then after all this Jesus describes in a way, the death Peter will endure for his work. I’m not saying we will all face a hard death by following Jesus although there are those who have and those who will. Love and service are what we as Christians are called to but Jesus is totally honest with us. Being this way, being the Good Samaritan, loving and serving others for Christ does not automatically mean we will be blessed with enormous good fortune or wealth. We can be the ones who suffer for it. And that is what makes us different from the world, that is the test of our faith. Philippians 1:29, “For you have been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf.”
Today we have a short and simple conversation between Peter and Jesus but like with most things in the Bible, there is a lot just under the surface. This exchange shows us that as many times as we sin Jesus offers us that many times to turn to him. We are shown that when we do turn to Christ and accept him as savior, even when we fall we are loved and cherished by him.
We are shown by the questions Jesus asks that when we are God’s children, loved by the creator of the universe, Almighty God, then we can love ourselves, we can love and cherish and support our families, and we can reach out in brotherly love to the world around us. Yes this may not always be easy but it is Godly. And this is why after showing us that his way can be hard on us Jesus then says with no hesitation or regret “Follow me.”
You are believers and followers of Christ, 1 John 3:1, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called Children of God.”
You are children of God, may the peace and love of our Lord Jesus always be with you,
Amen.