Peter carried a heavy weight of guilt. Three times, He’d denied Jesus. Three times, he allowed fear to rule his heart. Three times He’d refused to acknowledge Christ’s Lordship and friendship. When the rooster sounded, Peter’s heart was pierced with guilt and shame.
Even after seeing the Resurrected One, seeing His nail-scared hands and feet, and recognizing Him as alive, Peter felt ashamed. Dirty. Useless. So, Peter did what fishermen do. He went fishing.
After fishing through the night, they had nothing to show for their efforts. They’d been skunked. They hadn’t caught a single minnow (John 21:3).
As the first rays of sunlight were peeking through the dark, a Stranger stood on the shore.
“Friends … you don’t have any fish, do you?” “No,” they answered. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat … and you’ll find some” (John 21:5-6). The Stranger wasn’t a stranger. It was Jesus. When they cast their nets on the right side, they caught so many fish that they were unable to haul them in (John 21:6).
John was the first to understand. He turned to Peter and declared, I know who the Man on the shore is… “It is the Lord!”(John 21:7).
After sharing breakfast together, Jesus took Peter aside. Jesus knew the heaviness of Peter’s heart. He knew his shame, humiliation, and guilt. He knew that Peter had denied Him three times, so Jesus made three inquires. “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15). “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:16). “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:17)
With Peter’s affirmative answer to each question, Jesus responded, “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15), “Shepherd my sheep”(John 21:16), and again, “Feed my lambs” (John 21:17). In other words, “Get busy doing the work that I commissioned you to do!”
Jesus didn’t condemn Peter. He restored him!
“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).
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