Day 48: Feed My Sheep (John 21:15–17)

“He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” … He said to him, “Feed My sheep.”
John 21:17 (NASB)

After breakfast, Jesus turns to Peter and asks: ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ The question is asked three times, mirroring exactly Peter’s three denials. The repetition is not accident or cruelty — it is surgical restoration. Each denial is covered by an affirmation; each affirmation receives a commission. The triple question is also the triple commission: ‘Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.’ Pastoral ministry — the ministry of the overseer — is assigned to the restored denier.

The famous debate about agape (αγαπεο) versus phileo (θιλεω) — whether Jesus uses ‘divine love’ and Peter responds with only ‘brotherly love’ — is almost certainly a false trail. John uses both verbs interchangeably throughout the Gospel (the Father ‘loves’ the Son in both 3:35 and 5:20; John uses αγαπεο to describe Demas who ‘loved’ the present age in 2 Timothy 4:10). The original conversation would have been in Aramaic, making the Greek word choice John’s own compositional decision rather than a precise transcript. The passage is about restoration and vocation, not linguistic subtlety.

Jesus says ‘my sheep’ — not ‘your sheep.’ The minister never owns the flock; he tends it on behalf of the Good Shepherd. The ministry of pastoral care consists of verbs, not titles: feed, tend, shepherd. Peter will later write to elders: ‘Shepherd the flock of God that is among you’ (1 Peter 5:2) — the same word Jesus uses here. He learned the lesson at the charcoal fire by the sea, with the smell of bread and fish and the sound of his own name said three times in love.

For Reflection

Jesus restored Peter by asking him to do the very thing he had failed — declare his love. Where has Jesus restored you through returning to a point of failure?
The pastoral call is to feed and tend, not to build a personal following. How does the recognition that ‘they are His sheep’ change how you serve others?

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