John 21:15–25

God’s Guiding Word: Hope

Introduction

John 21:15–25: Jesus speaks to Simon Peter, and three times he calls upon Peter to care for Jesus’s lambs and sheep (verses 15–17). Scholars have connected the three questions about Peter’s love for Jesus with Peter’s three earlier denials of Jesus (see John 18:17, 25–27 and also Mark 14:66–72 from the March 28 reading). It is an opportunity for restoration and a call to new work.

Today’s Key Verse: John 21:16b

Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.”

Reading

¹⁵ After they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Take care of my lambs.” ¹⁶ A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” ¹⁷ A third time Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter became sad because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” and so he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!”

Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep. ¹⁸ I am telling you the truth: when you were young, you used to get ready and go anywhere you wanted to; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you up and take you where you don’t want to go.” ¹⁹ (In saying this, Jesus was indicating the way in which Peter would die and bring glory to God.) Then Jesus said to him, “Follow me!”

²⁰ Peter turned around and saw behind him that other disciple, whom Jesus loved—the one who had leaned close to Jesus at the meal and had asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” ²¹ When Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”

²² Jesus answered him, “If I want him to live until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!”

²³ So a report spread among the followers of Jesus that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say he would not die; he said, “If I want him to live until I come, what is that to you?”

²⁴ He is the disciple who spoke of these things, the one who also wrote them down; and we know that what he said is true.

²⁵ Now, there are many other things that Jesus did. If they were all written down one by one, I suppose that the whole world could not hold the books that would be written.

Reflect

What commands did Jesus give to Peter? What did that mean for Peter? What does it mean for Jesus’s followers today? Who might the lambs be? In what ways does your community of faith care for Jesus’s lambs and sheep?

Pray

Lord Jesus, you call us to be your disciples and to care for one another. Open my eyes to the “lambs” and “sheep” I encounter today and teach me to share with them your message of love and salvation. Amen.

Tomorrow’s Reading

Jude 1–25: The writer gives warnings and instructions to believers.