#10 Question: What’s with Peter being asked 3 times about loving Jesus?

Sometimes, we are asked to explain our mistakes more than once, like the time your mom asked you to explain why you got so dirty playing. You answered, “We played in the mud.” She frowned and said, “You know you shouldn’t be doing that!” But that was not the end of the matter. She asked twice more. Why did she? This was her way of stressing the lesson of staying out of the mud.

Jesus, after his resurrection, had a repetitive question for Peter, John 21:15:

“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.”

Then Jesus asked Peter twice more, John 21:16-17:

“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.”

Jesus had something important to command to Peter.

This conversation occurred the seventh time Jesus revealed himself after His resurrection, and the third time He revealed Himself to a group of His disciples. The day before, Peter had been with six disciples and had announced that he was going fishing. The others had gone with him. But even though they fished all night, they caught nothing. In the morning, they saw someone on the shore who bid them cast their net on the right side of the boat. When they obeyed, they caught many—later revealed to be 153 fish. On shore, they found Jesus with a fire on which were fish cooking and bread.  After breakfast, Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him “more than these.”

The exact meaning of the expression, “more than these” is not clear. It could be that Jesus is asking Peter if he loved Jesus more than he loved the fish and the financial gain of fishing. Or he could be asking whether Peter loved Him, Jesus, more than Peter loved the other disciples, or more than the other disciples loved Jesus. Regardless of the exact meaning, Jesus asked Peter three times about loving Him.

Remember, this is the disciple that had denied Jesus three times during Jesus’ trial. Now Peter is asked three times if he loves Jesus. Perhaps, there is significance in the number being three on both occasions. Peter could have been discouraged about the three denials and was concerned about how Jesus felt toward him. The three-fold question of loving Jesus may have been designed to build up Peter for the future work of preaching the gospel and stressing the importance of tending and feeding the flock.

What seems evident is that Jesus is triply charging Peter with the tasks of tending and feeding His disciples. Matters that are repeated in the Bible and especially by Jesus serve as extra emphasis in their importance. For example, there are four gospels. This number emphasizes the importance of the public life of Jesus.

In the book of Acts we learn much about how Peter fed and tended Jesus’ lambs and sheep.

Peter also wrote two New Testament books that further show his work as a shepherd of the flock. In one of them, he recognizes his role as an elder of the church, 1 Peter 5:1-3:

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you,”

Peter relates his work of tending and feeding the church.

What do we learn from the three questions Jesus asked Peter in John 21?

  1. Jesus cares for Peter and assigns him important work in caring for and tending the flock of Jesus.
  2. Since God uses repeated incidents in the Bible to stress important points, Peter being told to tend and feed the disciples three times shows the importance of this work of the apostles.
  3. The triple questions to Peter about loving Jesus stresses how important loving Jesus is.

We need to be supportive of the elders work in caring and tending the church today.

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