In John 21:15, Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” The question is simple but ambiguous—at least for us, though perhaps not for Peter. What does Jesus refer to when he says “these”? Is Jesus asking if Peter loves him more than the other disciples love him? “Do you love me more than these disciples love me?” That is possible. In another account of the gospel, we have a conversation Jesus had with his disciples the night before his death. Jesus told his disciples that they would all stumble because of him, but Peter boldly responded, “Even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble” (Matt 26:33 NKJV). To this, Jesus answered that Peter would deny him three times. But again, Peter confidently replied, “Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you!” (26:35). Though the others all said the same thing, Peter seems to be the most confident of his steadfastness.
It is grammatically possible that Jesus is asking whether Peter loves Jesus more than the other disciples love Jesus. But such a question would be pointless because Jesus would not ask a question pitting his disciples against each other. That leaves a third option which the context strongly points to: “Do you love me more than you love these fish?” Why would Jesus ask such a question?
The story in John 21 began when Peter led six other disciples (Thomas, Nathaniel, the sons of Zebedee, and two others) to go fishing (21:2–3). We don’t know whether Thomas, Nathaniel, and the others had been fisherman before Jesus called them to be his disciples. However, we know John and James (the “sons of Zebedee”) and Peter worked together in a fishing business (Lk 5:10) that was successful enough to require servant help (Mk 1:19), and John was likely known by the high priest (Jn 18:15–16), presumably through the fishing business,1 The high priest’s family might have been regular customers, for the priests were reputed to be fish lovers.
Jesus first called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow him after a failed night of fishing and blessed them with a great catch at dawn (Lk 5:1–11; cf. Jn 21:3–4). About three years later, Jesus instructed weary fishermen to cast their net out again at dawn, and again they were rewarded with a superabundant catch (Lk 5:5–7; cf. Jn 21:6). John was the first to recognize that it was the Lord who had spoken to them, but Peter characteristically was the first one to take action (Jn 21:7), jumping into the sea and hurrying to meet Jesus. When all the disciples arrived on shore, however, Jesus already had fish and bread prepared for them (21:9, 13). He told them to bring some of the fish they caught, and Peter dragged the entire 153 fish to Jesus. But those fish were not for breakfast because 21:13 speaks of the food Jesus prepared in verse 9, to the fish and the bread.
So what was the point of the extraordinary catch of fish? It was a renewal of their calling. It was a reminder to all the disciples, though especially to Peter, that Jesus’ first calling began with a similar catch of fish and a command: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt 4:19). Peter and the others had known Jesus from the time of John the Baptizer’s ministry and believed him to be the Messiah (Jn 1:35–42); however, it was not until Jesus visited their fishing business and confronted them with an inexplicable catch that he called them to change their profession. Only Luke tells us the story. Jesus told the weary fishermen to let down their nets and try again even though they spent the entire night working without success (Lk 5:4–11). To their utter surprise, they caught so many fish that the boat could not contain them; even when a second boat came to assist, they were overwhelmed. Peter’s immediate response was, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” But Jesus responded, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” Peter and the others forsook all and followed Jesus.
About three years later, Jesus sent Peter and the others to Galilee where he first called them in order to orchestrate this renewal of their calling. Once again, they experienced a night with no catch. Once again, Jesus told them to lower their nets and try. Once again, they beheld an impossibly remarkable catch. This kind of thing does not happen twice in anyone’s life. Anyone, that is, except for Peter, James, and John.
But we must back up just a bit. Why did Peter even go fishing? Some see in this a repudiation of his call to the ministry, that Peter forsook his call to serve Christ. Others think the disciples were just hungry. But that really does not work well. If they were just hungry, they could have gone home to their families or seen their friends from their former lives, asking for a simple meal to get them through the next day.
For Peter and the others to go fishing meant getting a boat and fishing gear, by itself a cumbersome task. There is more than just a desire for food. So, what is it? Perhaps Peter was discouraged that he denied Christ three times. Maybe after failing so miserably to faithfully confess Christ, he had doubts about himself, about his sins, about his fitness for ministry. As at the first miraculous draught of fish, Peter may have been thinking again: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Lk 5:8). And the other disciples with him forsook Christ in their own way; three years together, and now their whole lives had been turned upside-down.
But Jesus did not leave them in their desperation. He came to Peter and said, “Do you love me more than these?”
When Jesus asked Peter if he loved him more than the fish, he reminded Peter of his calling to be a fisher of men, no longer a fisherman. Jesus asked Peter directly, “Do you love me more than these?” to renew Peter’s mission while also putting it in a new form: “Feed my lambs” (Jn 21:15). The threefold question, “Do you love me?” reinstated Peter by cancelling the threefold denial on the night Jesus was arrested. Three times Peter now said, “I love you!” Jesus then gave him a threefold command: “Feed my lambs”; “tend my sheep”; “feed my sheep.”
Jesus then spoke cryptically about Peter’s death. Peter had said that he was willing to die for Christ, and now Christ told him that he would eventually keep that promise (21:18–19). When Jesus tells Peter to follow him, he asks about John, but Jesus does not answer about John. He simply repeats, “You, follow me” (21:22).
Whatever our life situation, that is still Jesus’ call for us: “You, follow me!”
Ralph Smith is a pastor of Mitaka Evangelical Church.
- We know that the high priest likely knew John, and almost certainly that his servants did. It’s unlikely, given the status of fishermen, especially from Galilee, that John would know the high priest from a different context unless John was a member of a prominent fishing family which had regular business with the priestly caste. ↩︎