Feed My Sheep

Homily for Sunday,May 4, 2025
The Third Sunday of Easter
John 21:1-19

Of all the apostles, Peter is the one about whom we know the most.  Peter was from Bethsaida; his father was a fisherman; he had a brother named Andrew; he himself was a fisherman; he was married (Mark 1:30); he spoke with a Galileean accent (Mt 26:73); he was voluble, eager and bold; he had a  violent streak; he sometimes carried a sword(John 18:10); and despite his bravado, he was sometimes fearful.  And we know, too, that he was honest, for after his denial of Jesus, Peter wept with a sincere repentance.  

Peter is also the disciple whose journey to Jesus we see most fully.  Peter went from not believing himself worthy of Jesus and pushing him away – “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8); to following Jesus but without understanding (e.g., Mark); to confessing that, “You are the Christ” (e.g.,Mark 8:29); to denying that he even knew Jesus; to being appointed (in today’s Gospel) to be the one who was to “Feed my lambs” and to “Tend my sheep.”  Tradition holds – and today’s Gospel lesson suggests – that Peter would later develop such faith that he would die for Jesus.

In today’s passage Peter invites the disciples to go fishing, which they do.  When Jesus appeared on the shore, and when the “disciple whom Jesus loved” said to Peter, “It is the Lord,” “Peter put on some clothes… and jumped into the sea” and swam ahead of the others, who remained in the boat dragging the net.  Jesus then invited them to “Come and have breakfast” in front of a charcoal fire on the beach.

A sidebar:  We don’t know why John specifies the exact number of fish that Jesus caught, “a hundred fifty-three,” and that they were “large,” though some have suggested that 153 was the number of persons in John’s community and that they were worthy disciples.

Perhaps what draws our attention most in today’s Gospel lesson is Jesus’ three-fold exchange with Peter toward the end of the passage:  

Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you."Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." A second time he said to him,"Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord;you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep."He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.”

As many have pointed out, Jesus’ three-fold question and Peter’s three-fold answer help to reverse Peter’s three-times denial of Jesus in the courtyard of the high priest at the crucifixion.  But a closer look at the passage suggests that more is going on.  In Greek, the word fileo means love, but fileo is the love of friendship – it is a strong love, but not quite “I love you with my entire being.”  Agapao, on the other hand, means love without reserve, complete and unconditional. The first time Jesus asks Peter, “Simon… do you love me?” Jesus uses agapao– “Do you love me with your entire being, unconditionally and without reserve?”   Peter, perhaps still stinging with shame from his denial of Jesus, responds not with agapao but with fileo:  “Lord, you know that I love you (filo-se).”  Again, Jesus asks Peter, “Simon… do you love me?” using agapao – “Agapas-me?” And again, Peter avoids agapao and responds instead with fileo:  “Lord, you know that I love you (filo-se).”   The third time, Jesus – perhaps sensing that Peter cannot in that moment use agapao– meets Peter where he is and asks, “Simon… do you love me?” using fileo– “Fileis-me?”

Jesus would not press Peter beyond where he could go, but met Peter where he was.  Jesus knew that Peter’s “filo-se” would someday grow into an “agapo-se” – for as John reports, “[Jesus]said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.”  But in that moment on the beach, Jesus accepted Peter for who he was, where he was.

Perhaps we can see in Peter’s journey to Jesus something of our own journey to Jesus.  There are times when we like Peter do not believe ourselves worthy of Jesus and want to push him away.  There are probably times when we follow Jesus but without understanding. Sometimes we might be able to confess Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God; and sometimes we might even deny Jesus.

Nevertheless, Jesus does not give up on us.  Jesus continues ask us, “Do you love me?” using agapao – “Agapas-me?”  And perhaps we – be it out of fear or out of shame or out of a sense of unworthiness – respond like Peter not with “Agapo-se”but with “Filo-se.”  We are not ready to love Jesus unconditionally and with our whole being.  But throughout our lives Jesus will continue to ask us both “Agapas-me?” – for he wants nothing more than for us to love him unconditionally and with our whole being – and also, when he senses we might not be ready to love him wholly and unconditionally and wants to meet us where we are, Jesus will ask us, “Fileis-me?”  “Can you still love me as a friend, strongly and tenderly?”  Jesus will not press us because knows that, though when we were younger maybe we used to “go wherever we wished,” someday we will grow old and stretch out our hands, and in that moment we will be more ready to say, “Agapo-se” – that is, “Yes, Lord, I love you wholly and unconditionally and with my whole self.  For I have come to know that there is no one else to whom I can go, that you alone have the words of eternal life.”

Today’s passage presents in microcosm Peter’s journey from fisherman to apostle to the shepherd of Jesus’ sheep.  Today’s passage is also an invitation to us not only to follow Jesus, not only to confess Jesus, not only to love him, but also to love unconditionally and with our whole self – to truly say to Jesus “Agapo-se.”  Like Peter, we may not be able in every moment to love so fully, but Jesus will continue both to issue us the invitation and also to meet us where we are, trusting that someday we, too,like Peter will stretch out our hands and will offer our entire self to loving him and serving him and manifesting in our lives, even now in this world, the life of Jesus Christ.