“Lovest thou me?”: how Jesus restored Peter by the Sea of Tiberias

Peter had promised to follow Jesus to prison and death. Hours later, beside a charcoal fire, he denied three times that he even knew him. John 21 tells the story of how Jesus met Peter again beside another charcoal fire and gave him a second chance.

Denials and fishing

On the night of Jesus’s arrest, Peter followed into the courtyard of the high priest. Warming himself at a fire of coals, he was asked three times if he was one of Jesus’s disciples. Three times he said no. Then the rooster crowed. After the resurrection, seven disciples were by the Sea of Tiberias, another name for the Sea of Galilee. Peter said, “I go a fishing.” The others went with him. That night they caught nothing.

At dawn, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not recognise him. He called, “Children, have ye any meat?” They answered no.

It is the Lord

He told them to cast the net on the right side of the ship. They did, and they could not draw it in because of the number of fish. The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” Peter wrapped his fisher’s coat around himself and jumped into the sea to reach Jesus first. The others followed in the boat, dragging the net.

The net held 153 great fish, John records, “and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.” Readers have long wondered why such an exact number was noted.

Breakfast and questions

On shore, the disciples saw “a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.” Jesus said, “Come and dine,” and served them bread and fish. After breakfast, Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” Peter answered, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

He asked a second time, and Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” He asked a third time, and Peter was grieved. “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” Jesus said again, “Feed my sheep.”

Follow me

Many readers see the three questions as matching Peter’s three denials. The setting also echoes that night: both scenes happen around a fire of coals. Jesus then spoke of how Peter would one day die, which John explains as signifying “by what death he should glorify God.” Then Jesus said to him, “Follow me,” the same words he had used when he first called Peter.

Grace after failure

The restored Peter became a bold leader in the early church. In Acts 2, he preached at Pentecost, and about three thousand people were added to the church that day. Many believers find hope in Peter’s story. His failure was public and painful, but Jesus did not discard him. Instead, he gave him work to do.

The phrase “Feed my sheep” is often read at ordinations and pastoral inductions in Ghana and Nigeria. It reminds church leaders that their calling began with love for Christ, and with forgiveness freely given.