To Encourage You

John 21:17 “He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’”

Many years ago, the Bee Gees wrote and recorded the song “How Deep is Your Love?”  It’s about the love of a man and a woman struggling with the answer to this question, since no one can ever really know what’s in another person’s heart and mind. Conversely, one of the proofs of the deity of Jesus Christ is that He does know our hearts and minds.  No one knows what another person is thinking, but Jesus does. So, in light of this, why would Jesus ask Peter three times if Peter loved Him?  Obviously, it wasn’t because Jesus didn’t already know the answer.  Obviously, it wasn’t for Jesus’ benefit.   It was for Peter’s. 

Jesus knew before Peter’s three denials that he would do exactly that, for He had told Peter as much. He also knew that Peter’s faith would not fail, despite such sin (Luke 22:32).  Jesus likewise knew that Peter truly loved Him, although that love was not as strong as it could or should have been.  With His questioning of Peter, Jesus was emphasizing the centrality of love as the motive for Christian service.  He was putting Peter in a position of having to face the question of the nature and depth of his own love for Christ.  Was Peter’s love an exclusive love?  Did he love Jesus more than “these,” which was how Jesus phrased the question the first time He asked it.  By “these” He was likely referring to anything and anyone else in Peter’s life.  Or, by “these,” Jesus may have been referring to the other disciples that were present.  He may have been saying, “Peter, is your love really greater than anyone else’s, as you claimed it to be before you denied Me?”  If not, did Peter love Him at all with the self-sacrificial agapao love with which Christ loved him?  Did Peter love Jesus enough to sacrifice the things he wanted in life for what Jesus wanted?  That’s the way He asked the question the second time. If not, did Peter even love Christ with his affections, i.e., with phileo, or brotherly love? Did he think about Jesus?  Was love for Jesus a central focus of his life? That was the nature of the third question. 

And in all that questioning, we should ask ourselves the very same things.  If Jesus were to stand before us at this moment and ask us the same questions time after time, like a lawyer questioning a witness in an attempt to get to the truth, what would our answer be? 

You see, Jesus wasn’t just concerned with Peter knowing the depth of his own love for his Lord and Savior.  He wants us to know our own hearts as well.  Jesus wants all believers to grasp how long and wide and high and deep His love is for them (Ephesians 3:18).  And He also wants us to know the nature of our love for Him.  Like in the case of Peter, we will fall short, probably far short, in the comparison.  Nevertheless, Jesus loves us just the same.  His love never wavers. It is always strong.  It is that love that would motivate Him to give His life for His friends.  Surely “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).  This knowledge should spurn us on to ever love Him more.  As Paul prayed in the power of the Holy Spirit for the Philippian Christians, that their “love may abound more and more (Philippians 1:9),” we can be assured that this is a primary desire of Jesus for each and every one of us as He “always lives to intercede for us” (Hebrews 7:25).

May the Lord help us to continually and honestly take stock of the strength of our love for Him, and continually pray that that love will grow, for it is certain that we can and indeed should always love Him more than we currently do.