John 21:15-25
Jesus Reinstates Peter
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”)21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
Matthew 24:35
Jesus Word Will Never Pass Away
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said,“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Peter must have had a heavy heart when he gets reinstated by Jesus after he denied Jesus three times...And three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him...Peter tells Jesus that he does loves his LORD...And instead of Jesus giving Peter a word about his love for Him and something specific to the question of love, Jesus answers Him interestingly...Jesus says "Feed My lambs."...The second time He asks Peter if he loves Him, in response to Peter, Jesus says “Take care of my sheep.”...The third time on the question about loving Jesus, and after Peter says, “Lord, you know all things; You know that I love You”, Jesus says "Feed My Sheep."...
Jesus wants Peter to feed His lambs, to take care of His sheep, and to feed His sheep when He is gone...Jesus' lamb and sheep are His followers, not only then, but after He leaves...Jesus wants Peter to be focused on his attention of His word, and how he will spread the word to future believers after He has departed from earth...As Peter was being reinstated and listened to these words, no doubt he would remember these words for the rest of His life...Peter was being appointed to look after Jesus' followers...Peter was to take care of Jesus' followers, to feed His sheep...There were little novelty or fancy words being used by Jesus, other than telling Peter to feed My sheep...
Jesus using the sheep analogy would be familiar for Peter to understand...So believers are Jesus sheep and Peter was instructed to feed us with Jesus' Word...It is good to be one of His sheep...
C. S. Lewis makes an interesting point when we look for new things as followers, new styles, something unique, and fancy, and novelty in following Jesus and going to church...Lewis thought innovation was only a temporary way to relate Jesus to others...Jesus word is what will not pass away...Lewis in a letter to Malcolm said this in summary...Trying to bring novelty and uniqueness and a newness and new style to Jesus' teachings can have only an entertainment value...The perfect church service or article on the LORD would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been very much on God...There is really some excuse for the man who said, ‘I wish they’d remember that the charge to Peter when he was being reinstated was "Feed my sheep"; not try experiments on my rats, or even, teach my performing dogs new tricks...Lewis felt we sometimes move away from the message and the word with new and fancy things...Maybe this draws more attention to new believers and gets the new follower's immediate attention, but have we moved our attention away from our LORD...And this novelty and newness does not last...
The word of Jesus is what it is...He has already given us His most unique and mighty words, the greatest words ever spoken...