Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Do You Love Me? (John 21:15-23)


Today's scripture: John 21:15-23

"Do you love Me?" Jesus asks Peter ... three times. Commentators have debated Jesus' purpose in doing so. As I researched the various theories, I found the following:

Jesus used this opportunity to encourage and exhort Peter about his upcoming responsibilities and even prophesies the manner in which Peter will die. By asking Peter “do you love me?” three times, Jesus was emphasizing the importance of Peter’s love and unswerving obedience to his Lord as necessary for his future ministry.

Jesus begins by questioning Peter about His love for Him, and each time Peter answers in the affirmative, Jesus follows up with the command for Peter to feed His sheep. His meaning is that if Peter truly loves his Master, he is to shepherd and care for those who belong to Christ.

It is possible that by His repeated question Jesus is subtly reminding Peter of his three denials ... It wasn’t lost on Peter that Jesus repeated His question to him three times, just as Peter previously denied Him three times.

Whatever the reason for the three-fold “do you love me?” question, Jesus was impressing on Peter how important his new role of tending the flock of Christ’s followers would be. When someone repeats instructions to us over and over, we quickly understand that it’s extremely important for us to heed them. Jesus wanted to make sure Peter understood this vital charge He was tasking him with and the ultimate reason for it, to follow Him and glorify God (John 21:19). (gotquestions.org)
Our greatest takeaway? Jesus asks us the same question, "Do you love Me?" "Do you love Me enough to give up everything and follow Me?"

What's your answer?

No comments: