John 21:17, commentary and pictures

By the Sea of Galilee just before His ascension Jesus three times asks Peter whether he loves Him, answering his three denials and restoring him to his place among the twelve with the commission to care for His followers. Grieved by the repeated probing, Peter makes no boast or claim above his brethren but appeals to Jesus who knows all hearts as witness that he loves Him, showing his self-confidence broken and his repentance sincere. Love for Christ is the essential and abiding qualification for discipleship and service, without which all other gifts of knowledge, eloquence, zeal and kindness profit nothing. To feed His sheep and lambs is to shepherd both mature believers and those young in faith with spiritual nourishment from the Scriptures, seeking the lost and straying, guarding from danger, healing the wounded, and laboring personally beyond mere preaching. Thus humbled, converted and prepared by his own fall and forgiveness, Peter is to deal with the weak and erring as tenderly as Christ dealt with him, a charge that belongs to every minister and worker to love those for whom Christ died and lead them to holiness.

Setting in Galilee

The words belong to the meeting He had appointed with His disciples in Galilee. They remained in Jerusalem until the Passover week ended, since leaving during the feast could have been taken as disaffection and heresy, and afterward they went to Galilee to meet Him. It was spoken near the Sea of Galilee where much of His ministry had been spent, when the disciples were gathered in a secluded place not likely to be disturbed. The place was surrounded by reminders of Him and His mighty works, with their minds full of His words and deeds.

It was the same sea where He had walked on the waves to rescue them in terror in the fierce storm and hushed the tempest by His word, within sight of the beach where He had fed more than ten thousand from a few small loaves and fishes, and not far from Capernaum with its many miracles. The charge to feed the lambs and feed the sheep was given just before His ascension.

Threefold Question and Answer

For the third time Jesus asks Simon son of Jonas whether he loves Him, and this time as the time before He no longer asks whether Peter loves Him more than his brethren. The three questions answer Peter's three open denials, drawing from him three assurances of love and loyalty and recalling his fall. Peter was grieved because He said it the third time, the pointed repeated question pressing like a barbed arrow into his wounded heart. He thinks the repetition means Jesus doubts his answer and does not believe him.

He answers with an aching heart, knowing the Lord had cause to distrust him. He makes no boast, no extravagant assurance, no self-confident comparison with or exaltation above the other disciples. He appeals to Jesus who knows all things, reads the heart and all motives, as witness to judge the sincerity of his love, that the Lord knows that he loves Him.

Jesus asked before the assembled disciples to bring out the depth of Peter's penitence and show how thoroughly humbled the once-boasting disciple was. The close, testing question calls out no forward, self-sufficient reply. Peter gives evidence of sincere repentance.

The probing reaches the root of Peter's failure and breaks his self-confidence and self-trust, after his self-confidence and boastful claims had been broken. Peter no longer trusts his own confidence but rests on Christ's knowledge of all things. When self does not rise up hurt and abused under such testing, the soul is dead to self and alive to God.

Peter Restored and Converted

Jesus forgives Peter's denial and apostasy, receives him again into divine confidence and affection, restores him to his place among the twelve, and appoints him again to serve with the commission to feed the sheep. The testing with the same question three times draws from him confession of love and trust in the all-knowing judgment of his heart, and the charge to care for flock and lambs with direction to follow on completes the personal commission. His experience of sin, suffering, and repentance prepared him for this work, and having sincerely repented though unable to forgive himself, he was to serve in self-distrust and reliance on Christ, shepherding believers as well as seeking those outside the fold.

The restoration is strong proof that Peter is accepted and trusted again, and the trust itself is evidence that his restoration is genuine. Before the assembled disciples the depth of his penitence is brought out to show how thoroughly the once-boasting disciple is humbled, so that he gives evidence of sincere repentance, regains the entire confidence of his brethren, and resumes his apostolic work. He is given a broader and more delicate work than before: to share the Word of life and shepherd those for whom Christ gave His life, caring for the people at the cost of self-denial and self-sacrifice.

The exchange completes Peter's conversion, and transforming grace takes possession of his heart. He becomes a converted man in a different spirit from his boastful assurances before the crucifixion, with the close testing question calling out no forward, self-sufficient reply but a humbled appeal. Because of this humiliation and repentance he is better prepared than ever before to act as shepherd to the flock, and the time has come when, being converted, he should strengthen his brethren. Only a converted man can fulfill the charge to feed lambs and sheep, and his sincere sorrow with broken and contrite heart being accepted, he is fitted to sympathize with the weak and tempted and to care also for young converts.

His experience of suffering and repentance prepared him for work he had before been unfitted for and unable even to understand in its importance, demanding great care and tenderness with much patience and perseverance. Having learned his weakness, he serves in self-distrust and reliance on Christ, no longer impetuous, self-confident and self-exalted but calm, self-possessed, teachable, meek and lowly in heart. He keeps his former fervor, but with zeal regulated by grace, subdued and contrite, following on through self-denial and self-sacrifice to share in suffering and ultimately glory.

After reinstatement he is firm as a rock and never again wavers from allegiance, though called to severe trials and to prison and to death for Christ's sake. After restoration he faces danger with courage and is not intimidated, bravely preaching the crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour and going on to a life of service and sacrifice through preaching and teaching the Word. Despite his faults and repeated reproofs he bears witness to the power of grace, his sin forgiven, becoming a faithful minister who helps build the church, honored with divine light and power.

He never forgets his humiliation and knows only Christ's grace could overcome the weakness of character that caused his fall, finding nothing in himself to boast of. Though charged to feed the sheep and lambs, he continues to grieve over his sin, and his conversion leads to a life of repentance and humility. He later accepts suffering for his faith, feeling unworthy to die in the same manner as Christ and asking to be crucified upside down.

Even a person with great knowledge, influence, and experience cannot safely rely on himself, and Christ's grace is needed each day to keep him from falling. Peter's ardor and zeal still need the mild caution of John's patient forbearance and devotion, and their complementary strengths of boldness and energy with forbearance and devotion help advance the cause.

The commission brings Peter honor, authority, influence, and veneration in the church as one of Christ's closest daily followers in life, placing him in a position of trust to care for the flock patiently and tenderly. His standing comes from favor in being forgiven, from being entrusted with feeding the flock, and from remaining near in daily life, yet it does not give him supremacy over his fellow believers or make him supreme over his brethren. Peter faithfully carries out the responsibility afterward by caring for the flock entrusted to him and preparing believers for service.

Love Required for Service

Love for Christ is the essential qualification for discipleship and service, the one condition laid down by the repeated question, and feeding His sheep depends on that love, so that without the love of Jesus in the heart the Christian minister's work will fail. Peter's claim that he loved Jesus did not make other qualities unnecessary, yet they could not make him a faithful shepherd without Christ's love in his heart. The exchange brings his repentance and humility into view after his three denials, restoring him to responsibility for the flock and showing that love is essential to faithfully shepherding it.

Knowledge, kindness, eloquence, benevolence, gratitude, and zeal help in the good work, but they cannot make ministry faithful or make it succeed without that love. Love must be the abiding principle, for wherever there is union with Christ there is love, and whatever other qualifications are possessed profit nothing without it. This love is not a passing feeling but a lasting, abiding power in the heart, shown in a shepherd's character and conduct as he lives out the truth he teaches. Christ's approval rests on such service, and shepherd and flock are united by their shared hope in Him.

If Jesus is loved, His brethren will most assuredly be loved, with a wish for them to be more holy and more righteous and earnest endeavor to make them so, to uplift, to ennoble, to elevate. Love for Jesus is shown by loving the people for whom He died, leading to honest, trustworthy conduct and willingness to deny self to benefit others. Trials and afflictions test whether a person loves God, for difficulties on the path are questions from God calling for faithfulness.

Peter's answer is the answer every believer can give when others speak against him or judge him. To declare that Jesus knows one's love for Him is to hold fast under sneers and scorn without anger or discouragement, valuing eternal life above human approval. That love is grounded in Jesus giving His life and is proved by faithful service, and faithful service brings cleansing from every stain of sin because Christ abides in the heart. The words express personal devotion to the Savior, loved as Redeemer for giving His life to save.

They can be made into a prayer and a fitting confession for one who seeks to follow Jesus: Lord, Thou knowest all things and knowest whether I love Thee; Lord Jesus, Thou knowest that I love Thee. Love for Christ is shown by cheerful, genuine obedience to His commandments and by following His example, and by faithful service. Christ's love is shown in giving His life, bearing human sin, and offering His righteousness to those who receive it by faith. His presence in the heart purifies from sin, and His complete knowledge gives confidence that He will direct the path.

Meaning of Feed My Sheep

"Feed my sheep" entrusts Peter with caring for Christ's followers as a shepherd cares for sheep, pictured as sheep and lambs, tending and feeding them as a shepherd's work. That charge was laid not on Peter alone but on those who work with Him. It was given as proof that his denial was forgiven and he was received again into confidence, for he had sincerely repented though he could not forgive himself.

Feeding is giving spiritual nourishment and instruction, teaching the ignorant, opening the Scriptures to them, and training them for usefulness in Christ's service. It is presenting the gospel simply so that it becomes the power of God unto salvation and leads people to Christ and wins them to Him. It is giving present truth as meat in due season, feeding with pure provender and healthful food, requiring fruit-bearing branches rather than mere profession to meet the needs of the world and fulfill God's will, with provision made that the saving power of the gospel shall be represented in all places. Peter had before been unfitted for this work and unable even to understand its importance, but his experience of suffering and repentance prepared him for it, so that converted he kept his former fervor with zeal regulated by grace, no longer impetuous, self-confident and self-exalted but calm, self-possessed, teachable, meek and lowly, and so was able to feed the lambs as well as the sheep.

Feeding hungry, starving, perishing sheep means giving pure wheat thoroughly winnowed from all chaff, manna from heaven, the truth as it is in Jesus in its simplicity. It is done by dwelling decidedly on a few important vital points in short discourses that come right to the point, not by long discourses or wandering to bring in unimportant, foreign ideas that weaken solid argument and detract from force and interest. It is done with a constant sense of the Divine Watcher, as speaking not only to an unenlightened assembly but to God, as though heaven were before the speaker, with the Holy Spirit speaking through yielded lips and bearing witness that God speaks through the teacher. That feeding is done by speeding messengers on their way with truth, which requires God's people to cut loose from love of the world and attachment to possessions and to sacrifice earthly goods and give means liberally so the sheep are fed and not left to die, for the time is urgent and destruction comes like a mighty whirlwind.

No one can do this work without first feeling the converting power of God, becoming imbued with His Spirit, and drinking deeply of the water of life himself, first receiving fresh manna from the Lord's storehouse and then communicating the bread of life to others. It requires studying the Saviour's life and example and His manner of teaching, meeting people just where they are and helping them just where they are with a great heart of love touched by human woe. Even those with strong prejudices can be reached by this feeding, but it demands zealous effort and the vitalizing influence of the Spirit to overcome a slow, tame manner of work.

"Feed the sheep" and "feed the lambs" together charge care for both the mature and those young in the faith. The lambs are children, youth, young converts, and new believers, tender and vulnerable, who need patient, tender instruction, protection, and food they can receive, telling them of Jesus' love whenever suitable and including them in preaching. Feeding the sheep may mean teaching the mature, while feeding the lambs is the harder, more difficult task requiring special care, great care and tenderness with much patience and perseverance to give suitable teaching, open the Scriptures, and educate new believers for usefulness and duty. No Christian life is complete without learning this work, and without it believers will have a dwarfed experience and be exposed to temptation and deception.

The charge expresses God's great love for every soul for whom Christ died, His watchful care over the flock day and night, and His desire that none be lost and not even one little one perish. Feeding therefore includes tending the members of the flock, seeking those who are lost or straying and bringing them back to the fold, and guarding them, especially the young, from dangers that could lead them astray. It means caring for those straying or in fault and helping bring them back with kindness, love, and desire to restore them, rather than criticizing or pushing them away or abandoning them. It means tending the spiritually sick, wounded, and discouraged, healing broken hearts and binding up hurts, seeking them out to help them and not harming them with suspicion, criticism, or faultfinding, for unfaithful care poisons the flock, damages the church, and makes its work harder.

Feeding is more than preaching: it requires personal labor, visiting members in their families, watching for souls as those who must give an account, attending to their spiritual needs, and building up and keeping churches in prosperous condition. Ministers must personally visit and care for the people entrusted to them, not leave that work to others or replace it with preaching alone, and neglecting the flock makes a shepherd unfaithful and brings rebuke. Personal care binds the messenger to the flock, and timely words strengthen the weak so they become established in the faith. Ministers should balance preaching with personal ministry and preserve their strength so they can continue to serve well and give the flock fresh spiritual food. Men who can only sermonize and excuse themselves from visiting do not fulfill the charge and should not be given credentials or sent into foreign fields as missionaries until they educate themselves to do a shepherd's work and give full proof of ministry, for one thorough faithful shepherd who cares for the flock is better than twenty sermonizers, and work that leaves personal care undone is only half the ministry.

Christ's own example defines the work: He left the royal courts, His honor, glory, and high command, humbled Himself to become one with humanity, and came not to unfallen worlds but to this world scarred and marred with the curse because its people needed Him most, reaching to the very depths of human woe to rescue them. Feeding His sheep and lambs therefore means copying Him by leaving convenient places to spread the knowledge of the truth in localities where it is not known. It means doing practical good more than preaching sermons, meeting people where they are, and not putting truth too high for weak ones to reach so they receive food they can take in and gain a deeper knowledge of Him. To feed with poison instead of healthful food is a terrible thing, and poison is creating dissension and strife and working in a spirit of suspicion that others are drawn to sympathize with.

Shepherd Manner and Example

Even while Peter was denying his Lord, the love Jesus bore him never faltered. His patient, sympathetic, forgiving treatment after the denial is the model for caring for others, especially the tempted and erring, with patience, sympathy, tenderness, and forgiving love. Remembering his own weakness and failure, Peter was to deal with his flock as tenderly as Christ had dealt with him.

Having himself fallen, repented, and been restored, he could sympathize with weak and tempted people and strengthen his fellow believers. Repentance and conversion humbled him and fitted him to go to the most tempted and tried disciple and know how to help him. The way Jesus dealt with Peter in his fall and restoration is a lesson for Peter and for the other disciples on how to deal with a transgressor and with those who sin. The lesson taught by the Sea of Galilee stayed with Peter for life, and he later passed it on in his charge to the elders to feed the flock of God willingly and by example for a crown of glory when the Chief Shepherd appears.

Overseers appointed by the Holy Ghost must take heed to themselves and to all the flock and feed the church of God. They are to take the oversight willingly and not by constraint, not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind, not as lords over God's heritage but as ensamples to the flock. A shepherd must seek out those who are spiritually sick and help them, not harm them with suspicion, criticism, or faultfinding. Unfaithful care poisons the flock, damages the church, and makes its work harder. When a shepherd withdraws his labor and interest or neglects the work, the sheep and lambs suffer, lack spiritual food, and may die spiritually or perish.

Faithful ministers must take their shepherding duties seriously and live in a manner worthy of the trust of caring for the flock. One who neglects that care and treats the work lightly is not fit to be entrusted with the sheep and lambs until converted, for a minister must be fit to care for Christ's sheep and lambs, not merely bear a message. A combative debating spirit unfits men for that pastoral work. Those who reject the Lord's plain counsel and guidance and resist the Holy Spirit's warnings and reproof should not be given that responsibility. Love to God requires feeding both the sheep and the lambs by looking carefully after the sheep of His pasture, showing personal interest in the oppressed, caring for people especially neglected young people, and feeding the hungry with food and clothing where there is real want.

Shepherds are God's agents for this work, laboring with busy hands, sensitive hearts, and ready speech to win the unconcerned and unbelieving and to inspire fellow believers with a missionary spirit. They lead by example saying come on rather than go on, working by active, personal encouragement and inviting others to join in rather than merely telling them to go. Neglect of known need brings God's requital and no blessing, while this personal labor for the poor deepens love to God.

Charge to Church Workers

The same charge to tend the flock by giving spiritual instruction rests on gospel ministers as undershepherds, on physicians and evangelists as shepherds, on pastors, on teachers of salvation, and on Bible teachers. They are to feed with pure, clear truth from the Word, to seek the lost sheep, and to labor personally to bring the unconverted to conviction and conversion. The call looks for fruitful lives and ministries that represent the saving power of the gospel in every place, not mere profession of righteousness. Christ's voice repeats the charge again and again to nearly every minister who has charge of the flock.

The commission belongs to every minister and worker and to the whole church, not to ministers alone. Churches are to gather sheep and lambs into the fold, to train members to use their gifts in carrying truth to others and establishing new churches, and to tend newly converted people with sound instruction and training for service. Members must not from selfishness or indolence hold the shepherds to ministering only to the flock while thousands remain unconvicted, unconverted and lost, but must arouse, search for those outside, labor and pray for them, and open the Scriptures to them. Doing this keeps their own hearts warm with love, brings blessing upon them, and increases their light as they diffuse what they have received.

No Christian life is complete without learning to feed the lambs, those young in the faith, as well as the sheep, and without this work believers have a dwarfed experience and are exposed to temptation and deception. The work begins with the lambs and means teaching the ignorant, opening the Scriptures, and educating new believers for usefulness and duty in service. It demands great care and tenderness with much patience and perseverance.

Caring for the lambs calls all servants to care for children and youth as lambs of the flock. They are to tell children of Jesus' love whenever suitable, include them in preaching, make instruction accessible to little ones, and give them patient, tender, sympathetic and loving teaching with encouragement. Such care guards them amid inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil and Satan's efforts to lead them astray, and Sabbath-school teachers who love them can lead more of them to Christ. Feeding in this way is the solemn work of saving the youth through education and religious training by personal labor, encouragement and help, and neglect through indifference is failure in duty for which members as well as ministers must settle with the Master.

Parents must not neglect the Lord's lambs entrusted to them. They are to regard their children as younger members of God's family, guide them in holiness, lead them to God, and teach them by both example and teaching, by words as well as by life. By responding themselves to the Holy Spirit's work they prepare the way for the Spirit to work in their children. A tender, loving spirit softens character and helps nurture Christ's people.

The charge was laid on Brother Baker to care for spiritually starving people and strengthen them rather than give his teaching to those portrayed as dogs. The repeated call to feed the sheep emphasized the work God had for him to do. He was not to give up but to do God's work by ministering to the hungry.

Feeding hungry sheep perishing for want of spiritual food, which is present truth, is done by speeding messengers on their way with truth. God's people must cut loose from love of the world and attachment to possessions, sacrifice earthly goods, and give means liberally so the sheep are fed and not left to die. The time is urgent, with destruction coming like a mighty whirlwind.

The command lays solemn duties on a specific frontier, to feed poor, hungry, starving sheep and lambs on the islands of the sea with Bible truth as meat in due season and as it is in Jesus. It requires coming with a sanctified heart, surmounting obstacles long obstructing the way, surrendering all to God, and making an offering of self to do the Lord's work and follow His will and way. Whoever so surrenders receives strength and grace and power, a tongue as the pen of a ready writer, and understanding of the Spirit's inspiration to bear the needed testimony.

The duty to feed remains even when the servant is physically weak. It means speaking spiritual food to poor, hungry souls even when sick, weak, and unable to eat or sleep under soul burden, and crying to the Lord for strength with intercession brings His blessing so the worker is strengthened, sustained without weariness, and the enemy's power is broken. Feeding means first receiving fresh manna from the Lord's storehouse and drinking deeply for oneself, then communicating the bread of life to others. Those responsible must teach people to prepare for Christ's coming and to share truth with vital piety and practical godliness, tend flocks in destitute fields with practical support for workers there, and reach even strongly prejudiced people by zealous effort and the Spirit's vitalizing influence rather than a slow, tame manner of work.

Christ's lambs are put in ministers' care to feed and keep them, not to corrupt them. Leading them into wicked, defiling practices breaks that charge, destroys souls for whom Christ died to give everlasting life, insults Christ who gave His life that they should not perish but have everlasting life, and ruins the minister's own soul while it may ruin forever those for whom Christ died. James was described as feeding hungry sheep, reflecting the charge to care for and nourish God's people through spiritual ministry.