John 21 - What God Won't Forgive?

Have you ever done something really bad? Like broke you mom’s favourite vase and blamed it on your brother? Well, if you were here last week, you’ll know that Peter did some pretty bad things in his life too. Instead of sticking with Jesus like he had promised, Peter pretended he didn’t know Jesus and abandoned Jesus after He got arrested! And Peter called himself Jesus’ friend!

We saw last week how that whole incident messed Peter up pretty badly. Peter was scared, angry, but most of all, Peter was embarrassed and shocked that he didn’t want to have anything to do with Jesus that night. What did that say about him?

Well, if you thought things were bad when Peter was sitting around the fire that night, they only got worse. The next morning, Jesus was sentenced to be killed. And by the end of the day, the Romans had put Jesus up on a cross and crucified Him!

Just like that, Jesus was dead! Now imagine how Peter would’ve felt! Before this, he might have thought he could visit Jesus in jail. Or maybe even break Him out! But now Jesus was dead, and Peter never even had the chance to tell Jesus that he was sorry.

Thankfully, everything changed a few days later! See, Jesus didn’t stay dead. Three days after He was crucified, Jesus came back to life!

Now I’m sure lots of people were super excited about that. Not only was Jesus alive, but because He had come back from the dead, then they knew that everything Jesus had ever told them must be true! Jesus really was God, and by dying and coming back to life, He fixed our broken relationships with God!

But Peter… I’m not really sure what Peter would have felt. I’m sure part of him was happy and excited too. He was starting to realize that Jesus really was the Saviour of the world! But Peter was also still super embarrassed about how he had acted when Jesus was arrested. So much so that he had a hard time meeting Jesus’ eye any time He would visit the disciples.

But this all changed one day. Even though Jesus was back, He wasn’t doing all the stuff He used to do before. There was no more travelling across the countryside with the disciples and preaching to people. At least, not right away. Actually, a lot of the disciples didn’t really know what to do with themselves anymore. So some of them went back to their old jobs. Including Peter.

That’s right. Peter had teamed up with a few of the other fishermen disciples and went back out on the Sea of Galilee to fish again. But things weren’t going too well. Again. They had been out all night, but they hadn’t caught a single fish. (Sound familiar?)

Anyways, Jesus was on the nearby shore the next morning, but the disciples didn’t recognize Him. He called out to them and told them to put their nets on the other side of the boat. And when they did, they caught so many fish that they could barely get them in the boat.

That’s when Peter started thinking to himself, This has happened before! And right then, Peter realized that it was Jesus who was standing on the shore. Without thinking he jumped out of the boat and waded through the water to get to Jesus. The rest of the disciples, a little annoyed that Peter had left them to do all the work, rowed back to shore too.

When they all got there, they saw that Jesus had prepared a fire for them. Then they ate breakfast together and celebrated with Jesus. But things were still a little awkward, especially for Peter. He still hadn’t apologized, and he still felt terrible for denying Jesus those three times. And it only got worse when Jesus pulled Peter aside so that they could talk.

Peter’s heart was racing. It felt like his heart was going to pop right out of his chest, that’s how hard his heart was pumping. But Jesus just kept walking along quietly. What’s He going to say to me? Does He hate me? What am I going to do if He never wants to see me again!

Finally, Jesus stopped, turned to Peter, and said, “Peter, do you love me more than these others do?” (John 21:15, NIrV).

Peter stared at Jesus. What? Peter thought. That’s not what I expected Him to ask! But then Peter looked down at his feet. Deep down, he knew there was more going on here. Before Jesus had been arrested, Peter had said that he was willing to go to prison and to die with Jesus. Not only that, but he’d said that even if all the other disciples left, he – Peter – would stay! But Peter didn’t stay. None of the disciples had. And now Jesus was calling Peter out on his boast.

“Lord, you know that I love you,” Peter said back, probably a little nervously.

“Feed my lambs,” was all that Jesus said back as He started to walk again.

Feed my lambs? Peter wondered, What’s that about? Did Jesus become a shepherd since He came back?

After a minute or so, Jesus stopped again and said, “Peter, do you love me?”

Peter swallowed. This is not how he expected this conversation to go. Peter knew this would be awkward, but he had hoped that Jesus would at least give him the chance to apologize. But at the same time, Peter didn’t even know how to apologize! What he had done was pretty bad. But now Jesus was standing there, asking for the second time whether Peter loved Him or not!

Of course I love you, Jesus! Peter thought to himself. I know I abandoned you that night, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you! But Peter’s thoughts never made their way to his mouth. Instead, all Peter could say again was, “Lord, you know that I love you,”

And again, Jesus responded, “Then take care of my sheep.”

Again with the sheep! What sheep? There’s only people here! But before Peter could think that through more, Jesus asked a third time, “Peter, do you love me?”

Now I don’t know exactly what happened next, but I imagine that Peter broke down and cried. In that moment, everything that Peter had done came rushing back to him. All the shame, all the embarrassment, all his pride. And in that moment, Peter was truly sorry.

He still didn’t know exactly what to say or how to apologize properly. But Peter knew that Jesus was more loving and more forgiving that he could possibly imagine.

So Peter, still with tears in his eyes, simply looked at Jesus and said, “Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you” (John 21:17). He wasn’t just saying here that Jesus knew Peter loved Him. Peter was saying that Jesus knew how sorry Peter really was. How deeply embarrassed Peter was and how desperately Peter wanted Jesus to forgive him.

I like to think that Jesus simply smiled, nodded, and said back, “Good, then feed my sheep.” And that’s when it clicked for Peter. Jesus wasn’t talking about actually sheep – He was talking about people. Jesus once called Himself “the Great Shepherd” (John 10:11), and all of us are His sheep. Jesus was asking Peter to take care of all those people out there who didn’t know Jesus yet – to help them to get to know Jesus and the forgiveness He offers! The same forgiveness that Jesus had just shown to Peter!

Then Jesus went on to tell Peter some stuff about his future. He told Peter that, one day, Peter would die for following Jesus. And yet, somehow, Peter knew after all of this that he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He wasn’t afraid to follow Jesus anymore. He had experienced God’s forgiveness, and he knew that following Jesus was the most important thing he could ever do. He wouldn’t turn his back on Jesus again.

Now Peter wasn’t perfect after this. He made mistakes, just like we all do. But Peter learned a super important lesson that day – one that I think we could all do well to learn. You might think you’ve done some bad stuff in your life, just like Peter thought, but there’s no sin too big that God can’t or won’t forgive it.

Because Jesus died on the cross, all of our sins – all the bad stuff we’ve ever done – could be wiped away forever! That’s the end of that cliffhanger story from last week – and that’s what Peter experienced that day! And you can experience that too! All you need to do is believe that Jesus did all these things – that He died and rose again to forgive us. You don’t have to worry about what you’ve done in life. There’s nothing you can do that God won’t forgive!

God loves you and wants to forgive you! He wants to have a relationship with you, and all it takes to have that is to believe in Jesus. So I really hope you’ll think about that. We’ve seen with Peter that following Jesus isn’t always easy, but it’s also the greatest thing out there. He always stays with us, always teaches us, and lets us be part of some incredible things. All we have to do is trust Him! And I hope you’ll do just that!

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That's all for now! We'll be leaving Peter behind next week and jumping back into the Old Testament. But also make sure you look out for Part 2 of our media-focused Second Sunday Switch-Ups coming this Sunday. See you all then!

~Brentagious