Daily Scripture Reading John 21:9-25
Humans are competitive. We want to have more money, power, fame, and recognition than the people around us. Any person who has more problems, worse health, or fewer possessions than his friends and acquaintances complains that life is not fair.
A natural extension of this competitiveness is for Christians to resist sacrificing for Jesus unless other Christians are making the same sacrifice. Even though we Christians love our fellow believers, we still want life to be fair.
The final chapter of the Gospel of John reveals that Peter wanted life to be fair. He wanted another disciple to have the same ending in life that he was going to have. However, Jesus taught Peter to have a different outlook. We should also have the same attitude that Jesus told Peter to adopt.
After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to the disciples multiple times. The third occasion happened at the Sea of Tiberius. Several of the disciples had gone fishing. They caught nothing. Jesus appeared on the shore and told them to cast their net. They did so and caught a huge number of fish. At that point the disciples knew the man on shore was Jesus.
John 21:9 ¶ So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire in place and fish placed on it, and bread.
John 21:10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.”
John 21:11 Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, 153; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.
John 21:12 ¶ Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared to question Him, “Who are You?” knowing that it was the Lord.
John 21:13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise.
John 21:14 This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.
The first time was the evening of resurrection day, recorded in John 20:19. The second was eight days later when Thomas was convinced, recorded in John 20:26.
John 21:15 ¶ So 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, “Tend My lambs.”
The word “love” appears twice in this verse, but they are not translations of the same Greek word. When Jesus asked His question, he used the Greek word “agape” which means a complete, self-sacrificial, willing to die for you love. When Peter responded, he used the Greek word “phileo” which means friend, the love people have for a brother or friend.
In the English language, if a man asks his wife if she loves him, and she responds by saying she likes him, the man would be a little alarmed because the words love and like mean different things. The same is true in Greek. “Agape” and “phileo” mean different things. Jesus asked Peter, “Do you agape me?” and Peter said, “I phileo you.”
John 21:16 He said to him again 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, “Shepherd My sheep.”
The same thing happened the second time. Jesus used the Greek word “agape” while Peter used the Greek word “phileo”.
John 21:17 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 all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.
This time Jesus used the Greek word “phileo”. Peter was grieved at the third question, but then Peter responded by using the Greek word “phileo”.
Why was Peter grieved? Was he grieved because Jesus used the word “phileo” instead of “agape”, or was he grieved because Jesus asked His question even though Peter had already said to Jesus two times, “I phileo you”?
I am not sure why Peter was grieved. Regardless of the reason, Peter had denied Jesus three times. It was fair for Jesus to ask Peter if he truly loved Jesus.
John 21:18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.”
John 21:19 Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!”
Verse 18 is a description of how Peter would die. Extra-Biblical sources tell us Peter was crucified, which fits the description in verse 18 that Peter would stretch out his hands and be brought where he did not wish to go.
Notice the phrase “glorify God”. Peter was crucified for his belief in Jesus; thus, his death glorified God.
John 21:20 ¶ Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”
John 21:21 So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?”
Peter understood that Jesus had just predicted that Peter would be crucified. This meant Peter would die before Jesus returned. Peter wanted to know if the other disciple would also die before Jesus returned.
It is human nature to be competitive. We naturally want life to be fair. In this case, fairness meant that if Peter died before Jesus returned, then the other disciple should also die before Jesus returned.
John 21:22 Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”
Jesus did not answer Peter’s question. Instead, He told Peter not to worry about whether life was going to be fair. Jesus told Peter to focus on what Peter needed to do.
This is advice you and I should follow. As we live our lives as Christians, we should not get hung up on whether or not life is fair. Some of our Christian friends and relatives will have more money, better health, greater recognition, and fewer problems than us. Instead of being despondent and bitter about the injustices of life, we should focus on doing what we need to do as servants of Jesus.
If Jesus wants us to suffer persecution, then we should be willing to endure it. We should not complain that life is not fair and that other Christians are not also suffering oppression.
John 21:23 Therefore this saying went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”
This verse illustrates how easy it is for people to misunderstand and make false assumptions. Jesus spoke a hypothetical and the disciples assumed Jesus had made a prediction.
We know in hindsight that all the disciples died before Jesus returned. However, Peter did not know that. When Peter was crucified, he may not have known that John would also die before Jesus returned.
John 21:24 ¶ This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true.
The author of the Gospel of John is the disciple whom Jesus loved. John was the one who leaned back and asked Jesus which disciple would betray Him.
John 21:25 ¶ And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
This last verse of the Gospel of John reminds us that Jesus did many more things than are recorded in the Bible.
It is natural for Christians to resist sacrificing for Jesus unless other Christians are making the same sacrifice. Even though we Christians love our fellow believers, we still want life to be fair. However, just as Jesus told Peter not to concern himself with whether or how John would die, so too we should not concern ourselves with how much other Christians are suffering as Christians. Instead, we need to do what Jesus expects us to do.
What are some of the disadvantages, trials, and tribulations you suffer that the believers around you do not have to endure?
In what ways are you bitter and angry about those injustices?
In what ways does your lot in life bring glory to God?
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. If you have already joined my email list, thank you and please tell others about Bible Mountain. If you have not joined my email list yet, please do so now. In order to join, go to Bible Mountain dotcom, click on subscribe, and that will take you to a page where you can sign up. Your email address will not be sold nor given away. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”