John 21:15: “Then when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these do?’ He replied, ‘Yes, Lord, You know I love You.’ Jesus told him, ‘Feed My lambs.’”
This is like a climax of Peter’s journey with Jesus. Jesus called Peter when he was a fisherman (Luke 5:1–11). He called him, and he left everything to follow Him. Peter once told Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). Over time, Peter was the one who said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). But as the time drew near for Jesus to be crucified, Peter was very much against it (Matthew 16:21–23), because he did not fully understand what Jesus was all about.
We have that incident where he said, “Even if they all fall away on account of You, I never will” (Matthew 26:33). Jesus told him, “This very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times” (Matthew 26:34).
So here in John 21, Jesus asks the question three times, “Do you love Me more than these?” Peter does not answer that comparison directly; he refuses to compare himself again. That is a good thing. Your faith cannot be about how you compare with another person.
When Jesus first started speaking about going to the cross, James and John, with their mother, came to Him and said, “Let one of us sit at Your right and the other at Your left in Your glory” (Mark 10:35–37; Matthew 20:20–21). Jesus said those places belong to those for whom the Father has prepared them. But it became a problem among the disciples—are we meant to be jostling for first position?
Jesus is asking, “Do you love Me more than these?” Let our faith, our love for God, not be about being “better” than another person. We must recognize that it is all because of the grace of God.
Even when Paul said, “I am the least of the apostles,” he also said, “but I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:9–10). The grace of God was still the identifier. It was not a battle of comparison. It was not, “I am better than this other person.”
Remember what Peter said: “Even if all fall away, I will not” (Mark 14:29). Yet he is the one who denied Him. “If all of them leave You, not me”—and he ended up doing the worst thing, if you want to measure it that way.
Jesus had already said to him, “Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31–32).
So, to think you are going to stand by your own strength is a problem. Paul said that God is able to bring him to His heavenly kingdom. And that God is able to keep what has been entrusted to Him until that day (2 Timothy 1:12, 4:18).
Paul said he was convinced God is able to keep what has been entrusted to Him until that day (2 Timothy 1:12).
It is not by power, it is not by might, but by God’s Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). It is not by saying it; it is by what God helps you to do.
Peter says, “Lord, You know I love You.” How is he going to show that love? Not by competition with others. It is about action. It is about obedience. It is about having his whole life sown into the work of God. It is about his investment. It is about him not drawing back.
It is not about, “They want to kill Jesus, I will take out my sword and defend Him with physical force” (John 18:10–11). It is not about gathering people to fight by the arm of flesh. Rather, it is about prioritizing what the Shepherd, Jesus, prioritizes. That is how he will express his love for Him. Not competition, but work—service.
Remember what Paul said: “I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” It is not a chest size competition; it is about the rigor of the work you are doing.
After this conversation with Peter, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”—referring to the other disciple. Jesus answered, “If I want him to live until I come, what concern is that of yours? You follow Me!” (John 21:21–22).
And elsewhere: “Who are you to judge another man’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls” (Romans 14:4).
How will Peter show he loves Jesus? By following. By doing. By feeding. By living a sacrificial life to serve the people Christ has died for. Not by competition, not by saying, “I can do better than all these people.”
I am sure the spirit of competition died in Peter that day.
God bless you.