Restored and Recommissioned

Restored and Recommissioned

Peter had denied Jesus three times around a fire. The Gospel of John records a post-resurrection scene that mirrors the denial in almost every detail: another fire, another nighttime setting, another threefold question. 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Three times — once for each denial. Scholars have long noted the use of two different Greek words for love in this passage (agapao and phileo) and the possible significance. But what strikes most readers is simpler: Jesus does not lecture Peter on his failure, does not review the denial, does not extract a promise of better future behavior. He asks one question, receives one answer, and gives one commission. The restoration is complete and forward-looking: feed my sheep.

Peter's rehabilitation is accomplished not through confession of sin (though repentance is implied in his grief at the threefold question) but through a threefold affirmation of love. Jesus' pastoral genius is visible: the very number of the questions heals the wound of the denials. The triple 'do you love me?' invites three statements of love to stand where three denials stood. And each answer is met with a commission: feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. The restoration is not sentimental — it is vocational. You still have a job to do. Your failure was real. The reinstatement is also real. Whatever denials, failures, or betrayals mark your history, the question Jesus is asking today is the same: Do you love me? And the commission that follows is the same: Then feed my sheep.