John 21

CHAPTER 21THEME: EpilogueGlorification; the resurrected Jesus is still God; Lord of our willsDirects our service; Lord of our heartsMotive for service; Lord of our mindsLack of knowledge no excuse from serviceChapter 21 is an epilogue. I believe that after John had written his Gospel, he added the prologue and the epilogue. There are three incidents in this chapter. There is the fishing experience on the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias). It shows the Lord Jesus as the Lord of our wills, and He directs our service. The second incident is the breakfast on the seashore. This shows the Lord Jesus as the Lord of our hearts and presents our love for Him as the motive for service. The third incident is Jesus announcing the death of Simon Peter. It shows the Lord Jesus as the Lord of our minds and teaches that lack of knowledge or variation of circumstance is no excuse from service. The entire chapter reveals to us that the resurrected Jesus is still God.

John 21:1

LORD OF OUR WILLSDIRECTS OUR SERVICEThis little Sea of Galilee is so much connected with the ministry of our Lord both before and after His resurrection. It is a familiar spot for these men. He had asked them to go up into Galilee and there He would meet them. They have gone there, and they are waiting for Him. This is an amazing group here. I like to call this the convention of the problem children. Here is Simon Peter, fervent but failing, warm-hearted, yet walking afar off; he is impulsive and impetuous and affectionate. Then here is Thomas, that magnificent skeptic, who has a question mark for a brain; Nathanael, the wisecracker, who was also a doubter at the beginning; the sons of thunder, James and John; and two others who are not named. Perhaps, since this is a crowd of problem children, they represent you and me. Many worthy commentators condemn these men for going fishing. Well, the Lord did not rebuke them when He appeared to them. They were at Galilee by His commandment. It was springtime, the Passover season. Warm zephyrs from the south made ripples near the shore and whitecaps out on the sea. The surrounding hills were green, and there were wild flowers in profusion. I saw it like that a few days after Easter several years ago, and I imagine it was even more beautiful nineteen hundred years ago. They may have waited and waited for the Lord Jesus to come. Peter would be the one to become impatient, and after pacing back and forth and after looking up and down the shore, would be the one to say, “I go a-fishing.” And six others joined him. They fished all night and caught nothing. This may be the only true fish story that has been told! Dr. Scotts calls it the failure of the experts. Now these men fished all night, and they caught nothing. They had been restless before, and now they are restless and frustrated. It’s easy to fish when you catch fish and frustrating when you don’t. They knew how to fishthat’s the way they made their livingbut that night of failure was in the plan and purpose of God for them. Then morning dawned, and it must have been a glorious morning on the Sea of Galilee. On the morning I was there, I just felt like shouting when I thought of this incident.

John 21:4

I think this was a normal experience. He was in His glorified body and He could be recognized; yet they would have been a distance out on the lake, and in the early morning it would be difficult to identify people on the shore.

John 21:5

The word for children is almost like saying, “Sirs.” It is not a term of endearment like “Little children” in 1 John. Their answer is a short “No.” It’s amazing how emphatic one can be and how little one likes to talk about failure. They answer Him, but they don’t want to talk about it. If they had caught any fish, they all would have been showing Him how long they were. This is a question He is bound to ask every one of us someday: “Did you catch anything? What did you do for men down there on earth?” I hope your answer will not be the same as theirs, “No, we haven’t caught a thing.”

John 21:6

The whole thought here is that He directs the lives of His own. He gives the instructions, and they are to be obeyed. When they fish according to His instruction, the net fills. Notice the net does not break even though it is full. The net is strongas strong as the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, of which they are witnesses.

John 21:7

John has a spiritual perception that Simon Peter doesn’t have. Three years before, Jesus had called them at perhaps the same spot. They had gone back to fishing and the Lord had called them again to fish for the souls of men. Peter may not have the discernment of John, but have you noticed that at every opportunity he gets close to the Lord? The other men sit in the boat and wait until they get to shore. Not Simon Peter. He can’t wait. He wants to be close to his Lord. This man is a wonderful man.

John 21:8

This is the last recorded miracle of our Lord, and the only miracle recorded after His resurrection. This is most important because you and I are concerned about the ministry of Christ after His resurrection. Paul says, “…yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more” (2Co_5:16). We are not joined to the baby in Bethlehem but to a resurrected, living, glorified Christ at God’s right hand. This is why His ministry after His resurrection is so vital for us. There are several things I would like to call to your attention here. Have you noticed that the Lord uses what people have as the basis for His miracles? The disciples are fishing and catch nothing. The Lord Jesus gives them a harvest of fish. At Cana the water pots were empty. The Lord has the pots filled with water and then changes the water to wine.

He asks Moses what he has in his hand. Moses says it is a rod, and with that rod, God performs His miracles for Israel. David is faithful as a shepherd with his shepherd’s crook, and God gives him a sceptre to hold in his hand. It is interesting that whatever is in your hand, God can use. So many people wish they were somewhere else or in some other circumstances. My friend, if God can’t use you right where you are, I don’t think He can use you somewhere else. Besides, have you ever noticed that what God does He does in abundance? The water pots were full of wine. There were baskets of food left over after the 5,000 had been fed. The nets were filled with fish. Also, notice that although Jesus had fish laid on a bed of coals for their breakfast on the shore of Galilee, He also asks for some of the fish which they had caught. He accepts their service. When they had fished at His command, He accepts what they bring. What blessed fellowship there is in this kind of service! There was another time when Peter caught a miraculous number of fish, recorded by Luke. It was in the early days of Jesus’ ministry, and He was calling Peter to be a fisher of men. That time the net broke. I think Peter was to see that many would follow Jesus, but they would not all be believers. The net would break and many fish would swim away. This time the net did not break but was drawn to land, “full of great fishes.” Peter is being called to feed the sheep and feed the lambs. With what? With the Word of God. With the gospel of a risen, glorified Christ. The gospel will not only save, but it will hold. Even in their failures, believers are kept by the power of God through faith. We see in this incident that Jesus Christ has a purpose for His own. He wants to direct our lives. If we obey, He will bless and have wonderful fellowship with us. He is the Lord of our wills.

John 21:12

LORD OF OUR HEARTSMOTIVE FOR SERVICE"Come and dine"what an invitation! Jesus did say, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (see Mar_16:15), but He would rather you would come and have breakfast with Him before you go. The lovely part is that the resurrected Lord, God Himself, feeds them. If only we would sit today and let Him feed us! He wants to feed His own. Now we come to the special interview that He had with Simon Peter.

John 21:15

Our Lord takes Simon Peter and calls this faltering, failing, fumbling disciple to service. We learn one all-important lesson from this interview. Love for the Savior is the prerequisite for service. Three times our Lord interrogates Simon Peter, and three times he responds. Then we find that three times the Lord Jesus Christ gives him his commission. Why three times? Dr. Godet suggests that the reason lies in the fact that Simon Peter denied Christ three times, and now He makes him affirm his devotion three times. No doubt that is part of the reason, but there is more. It is quite interesting to note that Simon Peter, with the other disciples, had been called to the ministryactually had been called into the apostleshipafter a miraculous catch of fish. If you will recall the account of this fishing experience back in the Gospels of Mark and Luke you will refresh your mind in the fact that it was after our Lord took over the directing of their fishing that the nets brokeand after that He made them apostles. Then you will further recall that Simon Peter lost his commission around a little fire of coals that had been built in the courtyard of the palace of the high priest the night Jesus was arrested. Simon Peter went blundering in there to warm his hands and made the fatal mistake of his life. It was there he denied the Lord three times. He should not have gone there, but he did; and when he did, he committed this base denial. Is it not an interesting thing that now by the Sea of Galilee, around coals of fire, after a miraculous catch of fish, the Lord Jesus restores his commission to him? Here the Lord puts Simon Peter back into service. What a picture of spiritual beauty! When our Lord asked Peter the question three times, it looks like repetition, but it is not. While there is a similarity in the questions, no two are identical. The first interrogation: “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter [would that we could read this as our Lord said it that morning!], Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” There are many who express the desire to have had the privilege of being present at certain great occasions in the life of our Lordwhen He performed miracles, etc. Candidly, I am not sure that I would want to go back to that day. However, if I could go back and hear Him speak to Simon Peter by the Sea of Galilee, I would go back gladly. To begin with, He called him Simon. That is interesting"Simon, son of Jonas." Why did He call him Simon? You will recall when the Lord Jesus first met this manAndrew brought him to Jesus. When Jesus beheld him, He said (in effect), “Thou art Simon, son of Jonas, thou shalt be called Cephas, which by interpretation is a stone.” Cephas is the Aramaic word for “rock man”; in Greek it is Petros. And that name clung to him. We find that over in Caesarea Philippi, when he gave that marvelous testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and said, “Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (Joh_6:69), the Lord Jesus said in effect, “Blessed art thou, Simon [He goes back to his old name], you will be called Peter because you are going to be a rock man from here on. You will be a man who will stand for something, but right now there is still a question.” And so the Lord reminds him of his old name. There are three words in the Greek language that are translated into the English by the one word love. Perhaps, my friend, you are not aware of the fact that the English language is a beggar for words. We have the one word love and that is about all. You cannot think of another word. Hollywood, today, would give a million dollars for another word. The best they have done is sex and that is pretty low. But the Greek language is a language that is versatile; it is flexible. They have three words for this thing called love. The first word they have is the word eros. In the use of this word they degraded the meaning of love. The Greeks degraded the word in this use for they personified it. The fact of the matter is they have made “Eros” a god and put together in combination the names Aphrodite and Eros. Today we know these names better as Venus and Cupid. The latter are the Roman names but they are the same, as the Greeks are the ones who started this idea with Aphrodite and Eros. Eros is a word of sensuality and we do believe that the Hollywood word sex, that has really been put into high gear today, would best express what the Greeks had in mind. But this word eros is never used in the Word of God. There is another Greek wordit is phileo, and it means “friendship.” It has to do with the affections and the emotions in human relations at its very best usage. We get our word philanthropic from it, and philadelphia comes from itPhiladelphia, the city of “brotherly love.” And that is a word that is used in Scripture. But there is yet another word for love. It is agapao. Agapao is actually the highest and noblest word for love. Dr. Vincent in his Word Studies calls it a word of dignity. It is also a divine word, in that it is a word used to speak of the love of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, in His choice of language, passed over the words eros and phileo and used the word agapao when He was speaking to Simon Peter. He said, “Do you, Simon Peter, love me with all your heart?” It is wonderful to have the right doctrine and the right creed, but salvation is a love affair. If you do not love Him, there is no affair. “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” Love is the supreme word. Candidly, if it had been left to me I would have chosen faith as the supreme word of Christianity. In fact, I would consider faith as the supreme word of any religion. But, of course, Scripture answers that right away: “And now abideth faith, hope, charity [love], these three; but the greatest of these is charity [love]” (1Co_13:13). But I’ll tell you why I would choose faithit is a greater compliment to be trusted than to be loved. You see, there is many an old rascal today who is being loved by some wonderful girl. Yes, there is.

Sometimes it is the other way around also. But, you see, the minute the object proves unworthy, he is no longer trusted. Will you think closely with me for a minute? Simon Peter had failed the Lord. Actually, the Lord could no longer have confidence in him, but He loved him. Oh, how He loved him! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Joh_15:13). While Simon Peter was denying the Lord, the Lord Jesus was on His way to the Cross to die for him! Later, Peter wrote in his first epistle, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1Pe_2:24). Now notice that our Lord’s first question to Peter is, “Lovest thou me more than these?” What He is saying is: “Do you love Me more than these men love me?” You will recall that the Lord Jesus said, the last time they were in the Upper Room, “One of you will deny Me"Simon doubtless thought, “Yes, I haven’t trusted this crowd either. But there is one fellow here upon whom you can dependyou can depend on me.” The Lord Jesus said, “Simon, son of Jonas, are you prepared now to say that you love me more than these other disciples love Me?” That is what He is saying. Now listen to Simon Peter, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” Here Simon came down and would not use the word agapao; he used the word phileo. He says, “You know that I have an affection for You.” Why did not Simon Peter use the word our Lord uses? If you want my opinion, this man is through boasting. Never again will he brag of what he will do. Never again will you hear him saying, I am going to do something big for the Lord. For here on he is going to do something big, but he is not going to say anything about it. He comes to the low plain: “I have an affection for You.” Now will you notice the exhortation. Our Lord responds, “Feed my lambs.” Let me give you a better translation: “Be grazing my baby lambs"the word for lambs is diminutive, which means little baby lambs. “Simon Peter, if you love Me I want you to go and graze the little baby lambs; I want you to feed them.” Many Christians seem to think He said, “Be criticizing My little lambs.” But He has not given you that commission, friend. He says feed them. The second interrogation: Will you notice verse Joh_21:16, “He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.” This time our Lord leaves off “more than these.” The reason I think He does it is that He is saying, “Maybe, Simon Peter, you cannot boast anymore and say that you love Me more than do the other disciples, but can you not now say that you do love Me?” In this He is helping this man, trying to lift him up to a higher plane. But Simon Peter just cannot. And somehow we admire him for it. We are glad that he is not boasting anymore.

Instead he is willing to take a lower position. Listen to his affirmation: “Yes, Lord; thou knowest that I have an affection for thee.” But he does not attempt to rise higherhe does not dare to do this, for he is afraid to make such a gesture. The second exhortation: Will you notice this second exhortation, which, incidentally, is ours also. “Feed my sheep.” Actually it is not that at all, but rather, “Shepherd the sheep"that is the word that is used. We want you to notice something, and this is interesting: He says, “feed” the little baby lambs but “shepherd or discipline” the sheep. In our day we have this truth in reverse; we want to discipline the youngthat is our method, and we feel as if we should “teach” the old folk. My friend, that is not His method. We are to feed the lambs and shepherd or discipline the older sheep. Do you know why? It is because the little lambs follow the sheep, hence the older sheep must be disciplined. The third interrogation: “He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” Christ now adopts the word of Simon Peter when He asks, “Simon Peter, do you really have an affection for Me?” Our translation does not show it, but our Lord comes down to the statement of Simon Peter here, and Peter is grieved now. In the third affirmation"Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” Let us get at the real meaning of this conversation between our Lord and Simon Peter. Peter was grieved, not because the Lord had asked him the question three times, but he was grieved in his heart because the Lord had to come down and stoop to his level in using his word. But Simon Peter is still not prepared to climb up. He as much as says that the best thing he can do is to say to the Lord that he has an affection for Him and that the Lord knows he has this affection. He is not bragging now for he realizes that the Lord knows his heartthat he has a real affection in his heart for Him. The third exhortation is “Feed my sheep"here it has the meaning “be grazing my sheep.” You see, the sheep need feeding also. Milton suffered the loss of a friend, a young minister, who was drowned in the Irish Channel, in crossing; and Milton wrote a poem entitled “Lycidas,” in which he made this statement: “The hungry sheep look up and are not fed.” In this line he was referring to the pulpit in his dayhe might well have been writing of a future day which is ours. Let me impress it upon your heart that the acid test of any man today, either in pulpit or pew, is “Lovest thou me?”

John 21:18

LORD OF OUR MINDSLACK OF KNOWLEDGE NO EXCUSE FROM SERVICEJesus is telling Peter that he is to become a martyr. Peter had said he would lay down his life for the Lord Jesus. Well, that is what he will do.

John 21:19

Isn’t this just like this fellow, Simon Peter? He says, “Now you have told me what I am going to do; tell me what John is going to do.”

John 21:22

Our Lord is saying, “Look, Simon Peter, you are going to die for me. What John does is none of your business. Even if he lives until I return, that does not affect what you are to do. You follow Me!”

John 21:23

Here is something interesting. Ignorance, or lack of knowledge, is no excuse for not serving the Lord. Some people say they will not serve the Lord if they cannot get all their questions answered. My friend, there are a lot of things that you won’t know. There are many things that you don’t need to know. There are things that are not your business to know. The important thing is to follow Him. Jesus did not reveal what would happen to John. He simply said that if it were His will for John not to die, that did not affect Peter’s service or Peter’s obligation to follow Jesus. That is all important for us to see. Peter wrote in 2Pe_1:14: “Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.” Tradition says that he was crucified, but that he asked to be crucified with his head down because he was not worthy to be crucified with his head up, as his Lord had been crucified. My friend, the Lord Jesus Christ must be the Lord of your mind, the Lord of your heart, and the Lord of your will. If He is not the Lord of all, then He cannot be the Lord of your life.

John 21:25

John is not exaggerating when he says the whole world could not hold the books about Him if it all could be written. The Lord Jesus is the One who died on the Cross and rose again from the dead. He is the eternal God, our Savior.