Restoration

Raised to our feet after failure

From the beginning there was no doubt who was the leader.

Among the band of His followers, one took charge early and spoke for the group to the Master.

Courageous, risk taking, bold to the point of impulsiveness, he made firm declarations of faith, but also one impetuous assertion to which he could not live up and which would bring him crushing shame when he failed. Yet, the One he betrayed would restore him gently, show him his purpose and set him back into leadership.

Stepping out

The Apostle Peter ran a fishing business and no doubt commanded a small crew of helpers in his boat each day on the Sea of Galilee. Accustomed to leading and directing men, when Jesus called him to become one of His disciples, Peter naturally stepped into a roll of service to the Master and leadership among the followers.

His words and actions were bold. He stepped out of the boat onto the stormy sea at Jesus’s admonishment. When Jesus asked the group who did others say that He was, it was Peter who forthrightly declared Him “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

On the night Jesus was betrayed, just before Judas led the mob to arrest Him, Peter’s boldness got the better of him. When Peter declared he would never betray the Lord, Jesus countered that Peter would in fact deny three times that he even knew Jesus.

Just hours later, as Jesus bore the escalating horrors against Him, Peter fulfilled Jesus’s words, denying the Lord three times when questioned. Crushed by what he had done, he wept bitterly.

“I’m going fishing.”

In the gospel narratives after Jesus was resurrected and appeared to the disciples, there are specific descriptions of His conversation with the two unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus and His restoring the faith of Thomas. The other verses tell of Him addressing the group. There is no record of His interacting with Peter until shortly before He ascended to heaven. When He and Peter talk, it is a beautiful account of Jesus healing and restoring Peter.

In John’s gospel, chapter 21, Peter abruptly tells the disciples, “I’m going fishing.” I believe this gives us a clue into his heart at that time. It is possible that the Lord had not yet addressed him about his three denials. Peter possibly believes he has failed so spectacularly that he has disqualified himself as a leader of the disciples and for any ministry. Returning to fishing may be his recourse for the future: I will return to my work before I met Jesus. It’s all I have left.

While the men are out in the boat, the resurrected Jesus appears on the shore with a breakfast of fish cooking on the fire. (And who doesn’t like fried fish for breakfast? But I digress.) Jesus tells them where to drop the net and they haul in an enormous catch. Peter exclaims, “It is the Lord!” and plunges into the water, swimming for shore. The rest of the men row to shore for breakfast with the Lord.

It is then that Jesus initiates the conversation with Peter that beautifully restores him and returns him to leadership of the disciples.

Contrasting loves

It is important to remember that the New Testament Koine Greek language has different words for “love”. One of those, phileo, is brotherly love as one would have for a close friend and companion. The highest form is agape, which is the most mature, a love that is unconditional and totally devoted.

Now watch what Jesus does to restore Peter starting in verse 15 of John 21. It is a marvel.

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, “Feed my lambs.”

He said to him 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, “Tend 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 everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (ESV)—John 21:15-19

Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him, matching the three times that Peter denied Jesus in His hour of persecution. On the surface, it could be misconstrued that Jesus is drilling into Peter, chastising him for his failure. But we know that is not Jesus’s way. And because of this limitation in the English language of only having one word for love, we miss an amazing turn of phrases that reveals what Jesus is really doing. He is healing Peter’s deeply painful, self inflicted wound.

For Peter to have never denied the Lord would have required unconditional, totally devoted agape love.

In this exchange Jesus first asks Peter, “do you love me” using the form agape, essentially asking Peter, do you have agape, mature, unconditionally devoted love for Me?

Painfully chastened by his failed declaration that he would never deny the Lord, Peter replies with the lesser form of love, phileo. “Yes Lord, you know that I have phileo, brotherly love for you.” Certainly, a noble form of love, but Peter cannot bring himself to declare that he has agape, totally devoted love for Jesus.

Yet Jesus’s reply is to restore him: Feed my lambs.

Jesus asks Peter a second time, do you have totally devoted, unconditional agape love for me? And Peter’s reply is the same, lesser form of love: yes, Lord, you know that I have phileo, brotherly love for you.

Again, Jesus restores Peter: Tend my sheep.

Finally, Jesus asks Peter a third time, “do you love me”. But this time, Jesus uses phileo, asking Peter, “do you have brotherly love for me?”

Peter begins to weep, but not because Jesus is grilling him.

Peter weeps because on this third time, Jesus patiently, lovingly reaches down to his level and instead of asking if Peter had unconditional agape love for Him, He asks Peter to love Him with what he has, what he can muster at that time, which is the noble, but second tier level phileo, brotherly love. The day will come when Peter has agape love, but for now, Jesus accepts Peter where he is with a view to growing him.

Jesus modeled for Peter at that very moment the mature, unconditional love to which He calls Peter to grow.

Peter weeps because he is grieved that Jesus had to kneel down to his level, yet he is overwhelmed by the patient, gentle forgiveness and restoration from his Savior.

What about us today?

Jesus extended a hand to lift Peter up, restored him to leadership and grew him to the level of mature, agape love he would need to lead the fledgling Body of Christ.

Jesus did not reject Peter as a failure, disqualified from service to Him.

Jesus did not dismiss Peter and replace him with another disciple.

Jesus saw Peter’s broken humility, the willingness to admit his own failings and He restored Peter.

He loved Peter where he was, but did not leave him where he was.

Jesus raised Peter up to greatness.

He does the same for anyone who would live for him. If we humble ourselves and are willing to face our sin, our flaws and shortcomings and give ourselves to Him to change us and mold us into His image, He will do the same in our lives.

We should also have that same, mature, agape love that sees beyond the weakness of others to the great things God would have for them, then speaks life to them, encouraging toward growth in their walk with Christ. When others fail, even when they fail us, we should, remember the words of the Apostle Paul:

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.—2 Timothy 2:24-25

Next time: the greatest of these—how mature agape love behaves.