Articles
A Question for the Heart
Have you ever been asked a question that impacted you deeply and forced you to think about your life? In John 21: 1-19, Jesus appeared before His apostles by the Sea of Tiberius and asked the apostle Peter three times, “Do you love me?” By the third time Jesus asked this question, Peter’s heart was grieving because he began to deeply examine his heart and his past actions toward the Messiah.[1]
In John 21:15, Jesus begins by asking Peter, “Do you love me more than these[2]?” The love that Jesus is referring to in this question is the unconditional form of love, known as agape in Greek. Peter responds by saying, “ Yes Lord; You know that I love you.” In Greek, the apostle is using the word phileo, which is a brotherly affection or close friendship type of love. Essentially, Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him unconditionally and more than anything else. Peter replies by explaining that he loves Jesus as a brother. No one truly knows why the apostle responds to Jesus using the phileo description of love instead of the agape. The reasons could be due to his guilt over past actions, as well as, developing humility in his heart. Meaning, he came to realize that he couldn’t tell Jesus that He loved him unconditionally because his past actions reflected as much.
The third time Jesus asked Peter His question is unique, because Jesus uses the Greek word phileo like Peter did. When Peter responds with, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you”, Jesus once again commands the apostle to feed His sheep. Even though Jesus’ specific questions change, the edict He presses upon Peter never does. Jesus recognized the limitations of the apostle’s heart, then He chose to embrace him and entrust him despite them. This is why Jesus is the human embodiment of Godly love. Just like Peter, we all have fallen short and have our own sets of limitations. Yet, God places the same amount of trust and love in each of us. In our youth we all like to go forge our own path, but in the end, every path (but one) will end in death. Jesus is telling us to follow Him on the path that ends in eternal life. Ultimately, Peter accepted the responsibility Jesus placed on His shoulders and turned His heart to God. Jesus isn’t asking us to be perfect, He is asking us to do our best to love Him unconditionally. The question is, “Do we?”
[1] Earlier in the book of John, Peter denies knowing Jesus because he was afraid of losing His life (John 18:16-18), even after exclaiming, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” (Matthew 26:33,35).
[2] Only Jesus knows the, “these” He is referring to in His question to Peter. Mankind’s two best theories are that He is referring to the other apostles (because of his tendency to boast as shown above), or fishing (since this was Peter’s original occupation, thus, it would have been very important and a big source of comfort to Peter).
