After Jesus had risen, He appeared to the disciples several times before ascending to Heaven. One of these times, the disciples had been fishing during the night and upon nearing the shore they discovered Jesus waiting for them. Simon Peter was so excited that he jumped out of the boat and swam to shore to reach Jesus more quickly!
Onshore Jesus made the disciples breakfast, what a breakfast that would have been. It’s the last recorded meal that they shared with Him. The Bible says,
‘so when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”’
I can imagine Peter looking down at the sand drawing squiggles with his finger awkwardly. Finally, he plucks up the courage to say something and the Bible continues,
‘He said to Him, “yes, Lord, You know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”’
Silence falls upon them for a moment, Thomas and Nathanael exchange glances. Why was Jesus singling Peter out this way? Jesus breaks the silence,
‘He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah do you love Me?”’
Peter looks at the others for a hint of their thoughts but gets nothing. Peter had denied Christ not long before this. But he did ‘love’ Jesus; surely, He knew that? Peter had just made a mistake. This time Peter is more emphatic.
‘He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”’
The disciples are getting agitated. They know what’s going on here.
‘He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, 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, “Feed My sheep…”’
I always thought that Jesus was being a little hard on Peter. Asking him three times in front of the others whether he loved Him! Of course, Peter loved Him! He followed Jesus around for three and a half years! He stepped out in faith by using Jesus’s name to heal people and cast out demons! He cut off that soldier’s ear in the garden just the other day! Sure, he’d made some mistakes, most notably, denying Jesus, but he was scared, and he regretted it! Of course, Peter loved Jesus!
But then I heard a sermon that changed my view on this story. There are many different types of love, the love for your spouse is different from your love for your brother and the love for your child is different from the love for your friend. The New Testament was originally written in Greek. In Greek, there are multiple words for love.
Two words which the Greek use for love are Philia and Agape. Philia is a love of deep friendship whereas Agape is unconditional, selfless love for everyone. Twice, Jesus asked Peter ‘Do you agape me’, twice Peter replied, ‘I philia you’. Finally, Jesus came down to Peter’s level and asked ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you philia Me?’ and Peter could honestly reply with a yes. The heading for this passage in my Bible reads Jesus Restores Peter.
When Peter was honest with himself, he didn’t have an unconditional, selfless love for Jesus. Jesus knew that and accepted that and didn’t regret dying for Peter. Jeremiah 31:3 says,
‘The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with loving kindness, I have drawn you.’
God loves (agape) us. He loves us selflessly and unconditionally (despite our rejection of Him), and His actions show it! He created us and immediately fell in love. Adam and Eve rejected Him, but he didn’t smite them, He gave them a place to live. The human race became so degenerate that ‘every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time’. But God crafted a plan to save our species through Noah. He gave a son to Abraham so that He could have His own people to love but those people rejected Him again and again. So, God gave them judges and prophets to tell them of His love.
Eventually, after giving them chance after chance, God gave up. These people couldn’t keep their end of the bargain, so God would have to do it for them. He took on the form of a human and entered our world in the humblest of ways, as an infant. Jesus grew into a child and experienced friendships as well as mean children, but He loved them beyond any human understanding. He went through puberty. He became a man and began his ministry. He was tempted in the desert, but he loved us too much to give in now. He healed the sick and every time he saw someone hurting, He felt their hurt. He taught our feeble minds in the only way that we could understand.
He prayed in Gethsemane knowing that He was to be killed, knowing that He could escape but the love for us overwhelmed any love for His own life. He invested in twelve humans, one of them betrayed Him, one of them denied Him and all but one of them abandoned Him. He was beaten, whipped, humiliated and spat at. He allowed Himself to be crucified by the very people he was dying to save. As they nailed Him to the cross, He only felt love for them in His heart.
Satan tried to break Jesus. The Devil never intended for Him to die, he wanted Jesus to suffer to the point of giving up, to the point where Jesus would come down from the cross and God’s plan of salvation would fail. We would be lost. Then the words escaped from his lips ‘It is finished’. Probably the most bittersweet words in the Bible. The saviour of the universe was dead for us. Satan watched on shocked, he really didn’t think that Jesus would go through with it. But perfect love does not give up. ‘It is finished’; the saviour of the universe was dead for us. At that moment, every human in history gained access to salvation. Forgiveness for every evil deed was granted to those who asked.
God loves (agape) us. So much meaning has been lost in translation. God loves Peter, God loves all of humanity and God loves you. So, will you accept His unconditional, selfless sacrifice?
AUTHOR: Alexandra Tiller, attends Park Ridge Church QLD.