It happens after the last supper, when Jesus speaks of his betrayal, that must and will take place soon, for the hour is now come. With all this talk of a follower of Christ, one of his chosen 12, turning against him Peter begins to feel uneasy and "Re-assure" Jesus of his dedication. It is in verse 37 of Chapter 13 in the Gospel of John that Peter says I will lay down my life for your sake. In the next verse Jesus (in response) says "Verily, verily I say unto you, the cock shall not crow, till you have denied me three times." How devastating this must have been for Peter to hear that he would deny the one man he had given 3 1/2 years to following and learning from, that he would deny God.
After the arrest of Jesus, Peter did deny the Lord three times to three different people (on of which was a young girl), this can be read of in John 18:15-27. How could this happen just day/days before Peter had declared that he would go as far as to die for the purpose of the king. What dedication! How can a man with such passion fall so badly as to deny friendship with God? Well this story more than not reminds me of myself. i sing songs to the Lord like, "All I am is yours", "I surrender, all to you, Lord all to you". Vowing my dedication even until death to Jesus, yet often, I fail. So as Peter denied the his Master by mouth, I see that in my life I also deny the Lord by Actions taken. Here I submit that it is much easier to die for God than live for Him. When Peter denied Christ, I am sure one of the reasons leading to that Denial was doubt. What did he doubt? The faithfulness of Christ's protection. In Proverbs 29:25 we read "The fear of man brings a snare: but whosoever puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe." Fear of men and mis-trust (doubt) in the Lord, brought about his denial.
So far we have seen a dedication declared and a doubt-led denial. Next let's look at a delightful demand given by Christ to Peter. We can find this in looking at the third appearance Christ made unto his disciples after his resurrection. This we can find in the last chapter of 21 verses 15-17. Jesus is here eating fish and bread with His disciples on the beach at the sea of tiberias. Here Jesus asks Peter three times "Simon, son of Jonah, Do you love me?" Three times Peter's response was "Yes Lord, you know that I love you" Jesus' then replied "feed my sheep", "feed my sheep", "feed my sheep" after each time Simon Peter declared his Love for Jesus. When reading I though, Why? Why would Jesus choose Peter as a shepherd. The man that denied Jesus to a girl? Why not a real man? We find the answer in Jesus' question to Peter, "Do you love me?"
Throughout this book, I find Christ telling his disciples that if they love Him they will keep his words, his commandments, in one place He tells them that Love is the commandment. To love one another as He loved them. So, why Peter? Because Peter had Love, moreso, he loved the Lord. It was Martyn Lloyd-Jones that said "to me the work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which one can ever be called" This is the call given to Peter. Jesus is saying, I don't care what is in the past, do you love me? Feed my sheep.
So in this I hope you learned as I did that It is not the amount of commandments you kept, it is not that you have not denied Christ, if you want to serve God, then love him. These things will come along with Loving the Lord, keeping his commandments comes with loving Him, and when you have love, I pray that you will hear that glorious calling, Feed my sheep.
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