Jesus was loved

JESUS WAS LOVED
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 21:15-17 So when they had broken their fast,
Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest
thou me more than these? He saithunto him, Yea,
Lord; thou knowest that I lovethee. He saith unto
him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again a second
time, Simon, son of John, lovestthou me? He saith
unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I lovethee. He
saith unto him, Tend my sheep. He saith unto him the
third time, Simon, son of John, lovestthou me? Peter
was grieved becausehe saidunto him the third time,
Lovestthou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou
knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus
saith unto him, Feed my sheep.—John21:15-17.
GreatTexts of the Bible
Who that takes any delight at all in the Bible does not take delight in the
twenty-first chapter of St. John? Who has not felt the benignant spell of that
narrative, in its indescribable simplicity and depth, its gracious beautyand its
soul-penetrating power? Willingly we follow the last Apostle as he recounts to
us, in his uttermost age, with the photographic precisionof an old man’s
recollectionofhis prime, that wonderful memory. He leads us as if into the

very landscape of the Syrian lake. We embark with him in the boat, as if we
heard the rattle of the oars, and the lap of the ripples on the sides. We “ply the
watery task” with him and his comrades, as if we saw the vernal stars
reflectedunder our eyes in the dusky mirror of the deep. Their wearinessand
disappointment, as the night wanes and they have takennothing, are as if our
own. And then comes up the morning over the dark hills of Moab, and there
stands a Figure on the solitary beach, and there are callings to and fro
betweenbeachand boat; and the nets are full and heavy on a sudden, and the
disciple plunges into the water, to swim and wade to his master’s feet. The
whole group soongathers round the fire of coals;the fast is broken; and then
there is a colloquy about love, and labour, and martyrdom, and following. We
have seenit, heard it, sharedit all.
It was my happiness a few years ago to seteyes upon the Lake of Galilee,
gazing with strange emotions upon the waters and the mountain-shores from
the gardenof the ScottishMissionHospital (scene of a noble work for God) at
Tiberias, and afterwards from a boat, built probably on lines unaltered for
two thousand years, and workedby fishermen, clad probably in the very
fashion of the Apostles. Wonderful was the charm of the thought that this was
indeed the scene of the Gospels;the eyes of the Sonof Man knew just those
outlines of cliff, and field, and shore, and that snowy dome of Hermon looking
on from the northern horizon. His feet trod this shell-wroughtstrand, aye,
and the waves too into which those smoothwaters can be tossedso soon.
Somewhere yonder, on the further side (for surely it was on that more solitary
margin), this last scene ofSt. John’s narrative was enacted;there was kindled
the ruddy fire, there the waterflashed into silver as Simon Peterwrestledhis
way through. Along that shore, whose line lies so distinct betweenlake and
hills, he followedthe steps of Jesus, and turned to see John following too. It
was a moving thing to look thus with waking eyes on the region as it is. Yet,
such is the power, the artless magic, of the narrative of the Apostle, that I
know not whether the actual gain to realization was very great. The Gospel
had createdso visible a landscape that the eyes had less to add to the picture
than I had hoped.1 [Note: H. C. G. Moule, The Secretof the Presence, 144.]

1. The occasion.—Thetime is morning; morning so full of memories, so full of
hope and high resolve. The mists are clearing from the lake and shore:the
darkness is passing away, stirred by the fresh breeze of dawn. There are
togetherthose whose names are so often found associated;Simon Peter, and
Thomas calledDidymus, and Nathanaelof Cana in Galilee, and the two sons
of Zebedee. They are on the sea ofTiberias, fishing just as before Christ called
them to be fishers of men. The fruitless night-toil, and their success whenin
obedience to Christ they casttheir net on the right side of the ship, were fitted
to remind them of His former miracle, and of their former call. John marks,
as significant of a difference betweenthis and the former miracle, that for all
the fishes were so many, yet did not the net break—a hopeful difference,
promising that their new mission should be better than the old. Called anew to
draw men to Christ, they shall be better preachers than they were;they shall
not “catchmen” for the Kingdom, they shall be enabled to bring them all in
and retain them in the Kingdom. The months that have gone by, seeminglyso
fruitless—months during which they made so many blunders, months which
appearedto come to so entire a close in the death of their Master—have not
gone by for nothing. Their past experience, their blunders and anxieties and
sorrows, allwill be seento have fitted them for their new work, when again
the Lord shall bid them to it. This, at least, we shall see to be true of St. Peter;
three times reminded of his weakness, three times made to feel the pains of
penitence, he is eachtime bidden to tend the flock. He will be better able to
tend the flock because ofwhat he has learnt of his feebleness andfolly.
The narrative seems to me full of subtle suggestions.It illustrates our
Christian life, which is ever new, yet ever old; full of strange events, the
meaning of which becomes, as we muse upon them, familiar and intelligible.
Every daybreak shows us the old world under new aspects;the objects which
loom so strangely in the obscurity, we see, as we gaze on them, to be quite
familiar. In the dim morning light, the disciples knew not that it was Jesus
who stoodon the shore; perhaps some mysterious change had passedupon
Him in the grave, the risen Saviour not appearing quite like the Masterwhom

they had followed;but the miracle revealedthat it was He. It was a new call
with which He presently bade them, but it was the fulfilment of His first
bidding, “Follow me.” It was a new miracle He wrought, a new experience
through which they were passing now; but how thoroughly was it the same as
what had gone before! It is this constantfreshness and changelessidentity of
life, this novelty of circumstance having in it the old meaning of love and
grace, the new duty which is but a repetition of the old call, which makes us
rejoice in the one purpose we perceive everenlarging and fulfilling itself. It is
as we recognize, “Iam the same, and God is the same amid all changes,”that
we rest amid ceaselessvariation, and learn the lessons to which, day by day,
God is opening our ears.1 [Note:A. Mackennal, Christ’s Healing Touch, 174.]
2. The language.—The passageis marked in the original by a variety of
language which does not appear in the English translation. There are two
different Greek words for eachof the English words “love,” “know,” and
“feed,” and three Greek words for “sheep” or“lambs.” And there is
significance in other words besides these. Take them separately—
(1) “Simon, Son of John.” The Master’s use of the old name “Simon,” instead
of the new name, “Peter,”was suggestive ofmuch. It was not to imply that he
had forfeited all right to the new name; but it was a gentle reminder to him of
the weaknesswhichhad led to his denial; and it would recall to him the
Master’s words before his fall, when He purposely abstained from giving him
the name that implied firmness and strength, but used instead the old name,
“Simon,” which bore to “Peter” the same relation as “Jacob” (the
“supplanter”) bore to “Israel” (the “prince of God”)—“Simon, Simon, behold
Satanhath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Very lovingly had Jesus already
assuredthe penitent disciple of His forgiveness. One of the first messagesHe
sent as the RisenOne was a messagespeciallyto Peter. One of the first private
interviews He gave to any disciple was given to Peter;and from that interview
he must have come awayknowing himself to be a fully pardoned man. Still,

the use of the old name here againmust have gone to Peter’s heart, making
him think, with new shame and sorrow, ofhis old self-confidence and pride.
(2) “Lovestthou me?” The distinctions betweenthe two Greek verbs used are
various and delicate;but they may all be tracedto the radical difference
betweenthem. It is not a difference in the warmth, but in the character, of
affection. The one signifies the love basedupon appreciation of another; the
other simple personalattachment. The one word would express the love that
would give itself up for another; the secondword that which gives itself up to
another. The one would be a confident, the other a confiding love. In this
narrative the one might be representedif, in English, we said, “I am thy
friend”; the other, if we said, “Thou art my friend.” It is the former of these
words that Christ here uses:“Simon, son of Jonas, esteemestthou me more,
art thou more my friend, than thy fellow disciples?” This was just what Peter
had professed, “Thoughall men shall be offended because ofthee, yet will I
never be offended.” “I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to
death.” “Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.”
We cannow understand Peter’s reply. Once he would have said, “I know that
I am Thy friend.” Once he did asserthis knowledge ofhimself againstChrist’s
knowledge ofhim; he was sure he was to be trusted. But he has lost his self-
confidence. He cannot compare himself with others now. He will not even
asserthimself to be a friend, ready to devote himself for Christ’s sake;he will
not profess esteemforJesus. He choosesthe humbler, trustful word: “Yea,
Lord, thou knowestthat I love thee.”
Again, Christ asks him, “If not more than these, yet art thou my friend at all?
Is there any of the active devoted love in thee? any of the passionthat will
assertitselfon my behalf?” And still the same humble, clinging answercomes
from Peter. Even this he will not affirm. How canhe profess whathe is ready
for? How can he be confident who has so painfully learnt that there is nothing

for him but meekly and gratefully to trust in Jesus? “Yea, Lord, thou knowest
that I love thee.”
Now, Christ takes Peter’s ownword: He will not wound him by reminding
him of his pastboastful professions;let it be as Peterwould have it, the
trusting affectionof the disciple. “Simon, son of Jonas, lovestthou me?”
“Peterwas grievedbecause he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?”
Surely Jesus cannotdoubt that. He must know that the disciple clings to his
Lord. Christ must know that He is all in all to Peter. He saith unto Him,
“Lord, thou knowestall things; Thou seestmy heart, Thou knowestwhatsort
of a man I was and am, how vain my self-confidence;Thou knowestme to be
weak, rash, changeful;but Thou knowest, too, that under all my boasting, all
my mistakes, there was love for Thee, and that it remains. Lord, Thou
knowestthat I cannotmake professions, thatI am heart-sick ofprofessions,
but Thou knowestthat this is true; thou knowestthat I love Thee.”
And this confessionChrist accepts;this confessionHe ever will accept.
Distinguish betweenthe professionoflove to Christ and the confessionofit. In
professionthe person most prominent in our thoughts is “I, who make it”; in
confession, “He, whose name I am confessing.”The confessionoflove to
Christ is the sweetestlanguage thatcan fall from human lips; it shows that the
life has found its rest and meaning. Christ is known, and He will keepfaithful
to all eternity; He will solace in all tribulation, and succourin all difficulty; He
will guide with His counsel, and afterwards receive to glory, every meek soul
that utters it. The professionof love to Christ is painful to hear. It is full of
danger; it is boastful, self-confident. He who makes it will have, by many a
sore trial, through many a bitter experience of failure, to come to a humbler
mind. It is not in what we are to Christ, but in what Christ is to us, that our
rest and securitylie.

Observe the period of Peter’s life when this confessionis made. It is not his
earliestconfession;he has been brought to it through painful self-knowledge;
it is the utterance of a tried maturity. It is a customamong many Christians to
demand this as a pass-wordto Christian fellowship; to refuse the recognition
of discipleship to all who cannotutter it. I cannot think that this is wise. To set
young converts on an estimate of their feeling towards the Saviour, instead of
encouraging them to trust in Him, is full of peril. Christian discipleship
sometimes begins with love to Christ; and singularly blessedare they with
whom it does. But in other ways souls are drawn to Christ: the weary go to
Him for rest, the guilty for pardon, the helpless for succour; the dissatisfied,
who long for a better life, seek the life that is in Christ. Such will say, “I trust
in Christ,” “I have found Christ,” “I am following Christ”; but the words,
perhaps, halt on their lips, “I love Christ.” It is not for us to insist on their
utterance. They are not for our ears, but for His. And He knows how, from
the trusting, the obedient, and the earnest, to draw at length the full
confession, “Lord, thou knowestall things; thou knowestthatI love thee.”1
[Note:A. Mackennal, Christ’s Healing Touch, 178.]
(3) “Feedmy lambs.” There is variation in Christ’s thrice repeatedcharge—”
Feedmy lambs,” “Shepherd my sheep,” “Feedmy little sheep.” All were to be
caredfor, and all modes of watchfulness and help were to be displayed. Fold
as well as feed them; guide and guard and heal them; keepthem from
straying, strengthenthe feeble, bind up the bruised, bring againthat which is
driven away, seek thatwhich is lost.
3. Three questions, three answers, and three commands.—In this story St.
Peterhas been already three times the foremost. To him the Lord speaks, now
not for the first time singling him out.
(1) The first question is, “Lovestthou me more than these?” Thesewords
refer to an earliertime, the time when He had said to the disciples, “All ye

shall be offended because ofme this night,” and St. Peterhad replied,
“Thoughall men shall be offended because ofthee, yet will I never be
offended.” Yet he had fled with the rest. And when he came back to the house
where his Lord was being tried, he three times denied Him. Was this like
loving Him more than the rest? Yet, again, his recentact might be lookedatas
a sign of his character, his leaping from the ship into the sea, and dragging the
net alone. These words therefore did not conveya real reproach, but a lesson:
the love might be the greatest, yetalso the leastto be trusted. There was a
goodbeginning, but it had not ripened into its proper nature. St. Peterhad
learnt something by those humbling days. He answers “Yea”;he could do that
unflinchingly; but he dares not claim to be above his brethren; he drops, in
answering, all allusion to them. Christ simply replies, “Feedmy lambs.” He
craved no personalcleaving to Himself, as man cleaves to man. He spoke only
as the shepherd of the sheep, whose whole care was for the sheep for whom He
had died. Such also must be the care of those who love Him. Henceforth St.
Petermust show his love by his anxiety to sustainthe life of other men; that
was to be the test of his love.
(2) A secondtime Christ repeats the question; but now He needs not to recall
the old boast; He leaves out the words, “more than these.” He would ask,
putting aside all comparisonwith others, “Canstthou say that thou lovest
me?” The answeris the same as before—a full acknowledgmentthat He is
Lord, a firm persuasionthat his Lord knows him. Again Christ replies,
slightly altering the expression, “Tendmy sheep.” Notonly the lambs, the
weak and ignorant, had to be fed, but even the strong and wise ones, the full-
grown sheep, had to be ruled and guided. Mere pity for the helpless lambs was
not enough. St. Petermust not think that there were any to whom he owedno
duty.
(3) Once more Christ renews the question. Three times St. Peterhad denied
Him, and three times his love is to be proved. St. Peter’s impatience breaks
out. He thought it enough that Christ should try him once or at most twice.

“He was grieved”;he exclaimed at the seeming needlessnessofthe question:
“Lord, thou knowestall things; thou knowestthat I love thee”—Thoucanst
find out whether I love Thee or not. This is but a small thing, a part of the
Lord’s all-embracing knowledge. ButChrist will not let go the former
command; He repeats, “Feedmy sheep”;all alike need support as well as
guidance.
The reiteration in the interrogation did not express doubt as to the veracity of
the answer, nor dissatisfactionwith its terms; but it did express, and was
meant to suggestto St. Peterand to the others, that the threefold denial
needed to be obliterated by the threefold confession;and that every black
mark that had been scoreddeepon the page by that denial needed to be
coveredover with the gilding or bright colouring of the triple
acknowledgment. And so thrice having said, “I know him not!” Jesus, with a
gracious violence, forcedhim to say thrice, “Thouknowestthat I love thee.”1
[Note:A. Maclaren, After the Resurrection, 78.]
How pleasantto me thy deep-blue wave,
O Sea of Galilee!
For the glorious One who came to save
Hath often stoodby thee.
Fair are the lakes in the land I love,

Where pine and heather grow:
But thou hast loveliness far above
What Nature can bestow.
It is not that the wild gazelle
Comes down to drink thy tide:
But He that was pierced to save from hell
Oft wander’d by thy side.
It is not that the fig-tree grows,
And palms, in thy soft air,
But that Sharon’s fair and bleeding Rose
Once spread its fragrance there.
Gracefularound thee the mountains meet,

Thou calm, reposing sea;
But ah, far more! the beautiful feet
Of Jesus walk’do’er thee.
And was it beside this very sea
The new-risenSaviour said
Three times to Simon, “Lovestthou Me?
My lambs and sheepthen feed”?
O Saviour! gone to God’s right hand!
Yet the same Saviour still,
Graved on Thy heart is this lovely strand,
And every fragrant hill.

Oh, give me, Lord, by this sacredwave,
Threefold Thy love divine,
That I may feed, till I find my grave,
Thy flock—bothThine and mine!1 [Note:R. M. M‘Cheyne.]
4. Thus Jesus thrice addressedthe same question to St. Peterwith apparently
slight and yet significantvariations. To that question he always receivedthe
same answer, only again with apparently slight modifications. And with
equally slight changes the replies were followedup by seemingly the same
injunctions. Yet, trifling as the variations appear to be—the questions slightly
differing, the answers slightly differing, the counsels also slightlydiffering—
there is a touching spiritual story in them, full of evangelicalmeaning and of
deep spiritual interest.
The truths contained in the text are these—
I. Love is the Inspiration of Service.
II. Service is the Fulfilment of Love.
I

Love as the Inspiration of Service
Love, love to Christ, which is the one sure spring of love to men, is the
foundation of service. It is the first condition of the Divine charge, and the
second, and the third. It is the spirit of the new Covenant which burns not to
consume but to purify. In the prospectof work for others or for ourselves we
can always hearthe one question in the stillness of our souls, “Lovestthou
me?” Love may not, can not, be attained in its fulness at once;but the Person
of Christ, if indeed we see Him as He is presentedto us in the Gospels, will
kindle that direct affectionout of which it comes. If our hearts were less dull
we could not study the changing scenes ofHis unchanging love, or attempt to
describe them to others, without answering the silent appealwhich they make
to us in St. Peter’s words:Lord, thou knowestthat I love thee; yes, and still
more those who are Thine and not mine, those who fall under my influence in
the various relations of life, for Thy sake.
1. Love is first and fundamental.—How significantand beautiful it is that the
only thing that Jesus Christ cares to ask about is the man’s love! We might
have expected:“Simon, son of Jonas, are you sorry for what you did? Simon,
son of Jonas, will you promise never to do the like any more?” No. These
things will come if the other thing is there: “Lovestthou me?” Jesus Christ
desires from eachof us, not obedience primarily, not repentance, not vows,
not conduct, but a heart; and that being given, all the rest will follow. This is
the distinguishing characteristic ofChristian morality, that Jesus seeksfirst
for the surrender of the affections, and believes, and is warrantedin the belief,
that if these are surrendered, all else will follow; and love being given, loyalty
and service and repentance and hatred of self-will and of self-seeking will
follow in her train.
No other religion presents anything which resembles this invitation to give
God the heart. Give me thy observances, says the God of Pharisaism. Give me

thy personality, says the God of Hegel. Give me thy reason, says the Godof
Kant. It remains for the God of Jesus Christ to say, Give Me thine heart. He
makes it the essenceand the glory of His doctrine. With Him to give the heart
to God is not merely an obligationof piety; it is its root, its beginning, its
middle, its end.1 [Note: Adolphe Monod.]
“Lovestthou me?” It is a question that goes down very deep; for it goes down
to the eternalsprings of all life. It is God’s and Nature’s greatsecret;and
man’s only hope. Love is life, hatred is death. Love, in its essence,is
attraction, combination, sympathy, blending. It is so even in what we call the
unconscious world of matter. God’s immense laboratory, the Universe, so far
as we know it, is the ceaselessarena oflove-attractions and blendings. There is
never an atom that is content alone;never a molecule that is at restin its
isolation;never a crystalthat is not flashed into form by aspiration; never a
leaf or bud or blade of grass that does not reachout after its beloved; never a
throb that is not responded to throughout all space. Gravitationitself is like
the ceaselessinfinite breathing of an all-pervading Lover—attracting all
things to itself. Throughout the Universe, so far as we canpenetrate, every
atom is crying to every other, “Lovestthou me?” Science calls it “affinity.”
We might just as well call it “love.”
Everywhere, too, Nature—the greatpatient Mother—stands waiting for the
lover’s appeal. It is true that we can capture many of her treasures without
affection;but never her joys and benedictions so. She is very wonderful in her
teachings, and very gracious in her consolationsto her lovers;but there must
be love if there is to be communion. You will only be miserable in her
solitudes if you are without love. Night and day she whispers to the wanderer,
“Lovestthou me?” Emersonwas right. We gether stare—nother music—
because we love her not. You accuse Nature ofcruelty; you say,
Nature has miscarried wholly

Into failure, into folly.
Alas! thine is the bankruptcy
BlessedNature so to see.
These young atheists
Who invade our hills
Love not the flower they pluck, and know it not,
And all their botany is Latin names.
The old men studied magic in the flowers,
And human fortunes in astronomy,
And an omnipotence in chemistry,
Preferring things to names, for these were men,

Were unitarians of the united world,
And, wheresoevertheir cleareye-beams fell,
They caught the footsteps of the Same. Our eyes
Are armed, but we are strangers to the stars,
And strangers to the mystic beastand bird,
And strangers to the plant and to the mine.
The injured elements say, “Notin us”;
And night and day, oceanand continent,
Fire, plant and mineral say, “Notin us”;
And haughtily return us stare for stare.
For we invade them impiously for gain,
We devastate them unreligiously,

And coldly ask their pottage, not their love.
Therefore they shove us from them; yield to us
Only what to our griping toil is due;
But the sweetaffluence of love and song,
The rich results of the divine consents
Of man and earth, of world belovedand lover,
The nectarand ambrosia, are withheld;
And, in the midst of spoils and slaves, we thieves
And pirates of the universe, shut out
Daily to a more thin and outward rind,
Turn pale and starve.

We praise the “strong men,” the empire-makers, the remorseless soldiers, the
commercialpioneers;and, indeed, they have their mission, and some of them
deserve their meed of praise; but these are not the great instruments of nature
and of God. The poets, the artists, the moralists, the idealists, the Buddhas, the
Christs, the lovers, are the saviours of the world.
“Lovestthou me?” is the question which determines every stage of evolution.
From beastto man, and from the beast-manto the angel-man—allis a
question of love. Until love comes, no high manhood comes, and, by so much
as love lingers, the beastlingers. “Lovestthou me?” is the preliminary
question which is the secretof that Divine Shekinah, that symbol of the Divine
Presence—the Home. “Lovestthou me?” whispers about all the subsidences of
family feuds, and tribal isolations, and clannish spite, and class pride, and
national greed. It is the mightiest factor in true nation-making; it is the life
and soul of sane and soberpatriotism; it is the advance-guard, the evangel, of
the greatideal—the Brotherhood of Man. In fine, it is that which determines
all the upward evolutionary stages ofthe race.1 [Note:J. P. Hopps, Sermons
of Life and Love, 7.]
In simple and homely ways see how true it is that love is life and joy and
progress. It is nothing to accumulate treasure, and to surround yourself with
splendid defences againstthe intrusions of the carewornworld, if you have a
loveless and carewornheart. There is profound truth in Hood’s quaintly
humorous but pathetically serious lines concerning
Love that sweetenssugarless tea,
And makes contentment and joy agree

With the coarsestboarding and bedding;
Love that no golden ties canattach,
But nestles under the humblest thatch,
And will fly awayfrom an Emperor’s match,
To dance at a Penny Wedding.2 [Note:Ibid. 12.]
It is amazing to find how Christ simplifies religion and morality and reduces
them to their elemental terms. He deliberately stakes everything on this single
qualification. “Lovestthou me?” is His sole testfor discipleship. It seems as if
nothing else seriouslymattered in His judgment, compared with this one
master passionof the soul. “Lovestthou me?”—willthere be any other
question for us to answerat the lastassize?1 [Note:T. H. Darlow, The
Upward Calling, 322.]
What is the beginning? Love. What the course? Love still.
What is the goal? The goalis Love on the happy hill.
Is there nothing then but Love, searchwe skyor earth?
There is nothing out of Love hath perpetual worth:

All things flag but only Love, all things fail or flee;
There is nothing left but Love worthy you and me.2 [Note:C. G. Rossetti.]
Let me take this as my Master’s questionto myself; and see how deep it goes,
not only into my feelings, but into my life. Forit is not,” Believestthou Me?”
or “Understandest thou Me?” or“Confessestthou Me?” or “Obeyestthou
Me?” or even, “Servestthou Me?” It goes closerhome. It is, “Lovestthou
Me?”;and all these other things may be where love is not. Again, He does not
ask, “Lovestthou My word?” or “Lovestthou My work?” or“Lovestthou
My brethren?” He asks, “Lovestthou Me?” And yet again, He does not ask,
“Art thou in the company of those that love Me?” He will not let me shelter
myself by losing myself in a crowd who all profess to love Him. He brings me
out into the light, to stand alone, and asks, “Lovestthou Me?”3 [Note:G. H.
Knight, The Master’s Questions to His Disciples, 355.]
2. Love is a personalaffection.—Fromour own experience we know that love,
as the best and utmost expressionof our own personality, can find a worthy
objectonly in anotherpersonality. No personcan really love a thing. In easy-
going speecha man talks of loving his family or his country. But it is never
strictly true. What he really loves is eachindividual person belonging to his
family or nation. There is no more difficulty in loving six than in loving two.
But he can by no possibility love even one, unless that one be, like himself, a
living person,—orat leastpotentially such, as is the new-born babe,—capable
first of appreciating and then of reciprocating the self which, as with
outstretchedhands, a person offers when he loves. Nothing else, nothing less
than this, is meant by Christ’s doctrine of the love of God. Its true significance
and expressionare for everfound in what St. Paul said concerning Christ
Himself—“Who loved me and gave himself up for me.” That Divine love
should be thus truly focused, without mistake and without difficulty, in each

individual human being, is the distinctive, wonderful, awful assertionofthe
Christian gospelalone of all the religions upon earth.
3. Love is reciprocal.—Jesus wasnot thinking only of Simon Peterwhen He
askedhim, “Lovestthou me?” He was as truly thinking of Himself, and He
was revealing to His denying and yet true servant the longing his Lord and
Masterhad for his love. Indeed, this yearning for a return of affectionis of the
essenceofall true love. We cannot love any one very dearly without desiring
that our love should find an answering response in the heart thus loved, and it
is because Jesus loves His own disciples so deeply that He seeks fortheir love
as the one sweetrequital for His own to them. It is this longing of the loving
heart for love that explains, in part at all events, the first great
commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” The love of
God for man goes forth to seek the answering love of man for God; and the
sin and guilt of a coldand loveless heartare never fully and rightly felt until
we realize that want of love to God is not only an injury to ourselves, but is an
injury done to God.
Love that is centred in a personality can be satisfiedwith nothing less and
nothing else than the reciprocating love of that person. On our own little
human scale this is at once the glory and the tragedy of life. Its default is even
more dreadful than death, as numberless poor pitiful suicides have testified.
The old word is as true and tender, as fierce and insatiable as ever, “If a man
would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly
contemned.” If, as we sit in peace and comfort at the sweetestfeast, orthe
liveliest entertainment, or the most solemn service, a voice that we could not
doubt whispered in our ear that the one we loved most felt towards us no love
in return, then the poet would be bitterly, crushingly true who wrote—
The night has a thousand eyes,

And the day but one,
Yet the light of a whole world dies
With the setting sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one,
But the light of a whole life dies
If love be done.1 [Note: F. Ballard, Does it Matter what a Man Believes? 76.]
4. Love is unselfish.—“Simon, sonof Jonas, lovestthou me?” I do not doubt
your love. I did not doubt it even in the moment of your sad fall, but it was not
that supreme affectionto which I was entitled. You loved Me, but you really
loved yourself better, and put your own desires before My will. Events,
however, have been teaching you, experience has been leading you to truer
views of Me and of yourself; tell Me now do you love Me? Is your love
prepared now to sacrifice everything for Me, and in the event of others
coming into a competition with Me, are you willing to give Me the preference,
to yield to Me the first place in your heart? That is the only love Jesus can
regard with complacence.

A German mystic in the fifteenth century, John of Goch, thus stated the
relation betweenlove and self. “Whatwings are to a bird, love is to us. They
seemto add weight to the body: in reality, however, they elevate it into the air.
In like manner the yoke of love, when imposed upon our sensuous nature, not
only does not weigh it down, but lifts the spirit with the sensesto heavenly
things. Take from them their wings, and you take from birds the powerof
flying. Even so, separate love from the will, and the will is made incapable of
every act that transcends nature.” Nevertheless how rarelywe reckonthose
Christians to be in the front rank of the Church who are distinguished by
nothing else excepttheir immense power of affection. We still reserve the chief
seats in our synagoguesforthe eloquent speakers,the munificent givers, the
superior spiritual personages, who may fall far below others in simple,
unwearying, self-forgetfultenderness.2 [Note:T. H. Darlow, The Upward
Calling, 320.]
II
Service as the Fulfilment of Love
The presence orabsence in us of the love of Christ is not only an index to our
present state, but a prophecy of all that is to be. The love of Christ was that
which enabled and impelled the Apostles to live greatand energetic lives. It
was this simple affectionwhich made a life of aggressionand reformation
possible to them. This gave them the right ideas and the sufficient impulse.
And it is this affectionwhich is open to us all and which equally now as at first
impels to all good. Let the love of Christ possess anysoul and that soulcannot
avoid being a blessing to the world around. Christ scarcelyneededto sayto
Peter, “FeedMy sheep;be helpful to those for whom I died,” because in time
Petermust have seenthat this was his calling. Love gives us sympathy and
intelligence. Our conscienceis enlightened by sympathy with the persons we
love; through their desires, which we wish to gratify, we see higher aims than

our own, aims which gradually become our own. And whereverthe love of
Christ exists, there soonerorlater will the purposes of Christ be understood,
His aims be accepted, His fervent desire and energetic endeavourfor the
highest spiritual condition of the race become energetic in us and carry us
forward to all good.
1. Service is the natural outlet of love.—The right conduct of the life is a
consequence andfruit of the Incarnation. Incarnation is a name for nothing at
all unless it be the name not only of the historic event but also of a personal
experience, the entry of the Divine into the human energies ofthe man who
declares that he believes rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Accordingly to say that a man has the love of Christ is to say, in humaner and
more concrete speech, thatthe Incarnation has been actualizedin particular
life, that Christ is born in him, that the powerof the life from heavenhas been
poured into this channel.
For him who would take on him the office of a pastor, the question is
suggested, Why do you undertake the office? Is it from love of Christ, and
from a sense ofthe obligation to show your gratitude for what He has done for
you, in the way which He has commanded—namely, by services to His sheep?
If any are actuated by lowermotives they have reasonto fear that they lie
under the woe which, through the mouth of Ezekiel, God denouncedagainst
the shepherds who feed themselves and not the flock;who allow the flock to
wander through the mountains, and on every high hill, and to be scatteredon
the face of the earth, while none searchethor lookethafter them.1 [Note:G.
Salmon, Cathedraland University Sermons, 55.]
2. Service is love’s evidence.—Ingiving St. Peter the charge, “Feedmy lambs;
feed my sheep,” Christ was guarding him againsta danger to which he was at
this moment liable, the danger of sinking down into an indulgence of
sentiment, of dwelling upon the words, “Thou knowestthat I love thee,” and

forfeiting in this sweethumiliation his calling as an Apostle, and its prize.
There is a subtle charm in self-humiliation, an ensnaring luxury of penitence.
We feelit in a self-assertive world. From the blare of trumpets, from the strife
for mastery, from the restlessnessofambition, and the constanttemptation to
self-seeking, how blessedto retire to self-abasementbefore the Lord; how
sweetlythen from lowly lips falls the confession, “Thouknowestthat I love
thee.” To cherish this life alone is very dangerous. Hence comes the pride that
apes humility; hence self-pleasing under the garb of lowliness. Worse than the
hypocrisy which disfigures its countenance that it may appear unto men to
fast is the subtle insincerity that disfigures itself that it may appearunto itself
to fast. Christ sends St. Peterfrom confessing,as He sentMary from adoring
Him, to do His work. The world is the true sphere for lowliness;loving labour
among others is the schoolofself-humiliation; love of Christ is perfectedin
the activities of a human sympathy.
What Christ wants from me is a practicalexpressionof my theoreticallove,
an expressionin act, as well as on the lip; and though it may be a hard, it will
always be a blessed, answer, if I cangive it, “Lord, thou seestall things, Thou
seestthat I love Thee.” And others ought to see it too. My love to Christ ought
to be a visible love. Let me ask myself, therefore, what proofs of my love to
Christ I am giving in my daily life. From my demeanour and conversationin
my home would any one gatherthat I love my Lord and Saviour with an
ardent love? If I never talk about Him as worthy of love, how canothers
believe that I regard Him so? If I never boldly take His part, when His laws
are despised, or His authority is contemned; if I see, and do not rebuke, the
sins that dishonour and grieve Him, how can I make goodmy professionof
loyal love to Himself? If I never think of Him or speak of Him as a dear
friend, who is gone awayfor a time, but is soonto come again;if my heart
never thrills with joy in the hope of His “glorious appearing,” so that I am
setting everything in order to meet His eye, how can I prove my possessionof
that love to which separationis a sorrow? Do I make my love to Him as plain
and incontrovertible as He makes His love to me? I have never to ask Him,
“LovestThou me?” If I did, He would answerin a moment, by pointing to the
proof He gave of that, and say, “Behold my hands and my feet.” He bears in

His glorifled body the “print of the nails,” proofs of His wonderful love to me.
But what a contrastbetweenthat love and mine! His so strong, and mine so
weak;His so changeless, andmine so fickle;His so active, and mine so
indolent; His so open, and mine so secret;His so ardent, and mine so cold!1
[Note:G. H. Knight, The Master’s Questions to His Disciples, 357.]
3. While service is for all, it is also for each.—Letus recallthe variety of
words used—“lambs,” “sheep.”Under Divine Providence we have eacha
work to do for God, eacha stationand duties in the Divine society;some,
sheepto feed, some, lambs to tend. The sheepmust be fed individually—milk
for the lambs and strong food for the sheep. One of the great intellectual
pleasures of the ministry is preaching the same Gospelin many different
ways;the boys’ brigade wants it put in one way, the men’s lecture in another,
and the mothers’ meeting in another.
(1) The Lambs.—No other book recognizes the place of children so fully or so
kindly as the Bible. The greatbooks of the world are somewhatdeficient in
this. Their writers have had no time, found no occasionto dwell on children,
and, perhaps, sometimes have been afraid to do so. The Bible does deal with
children because ofthe infinite love of God, and His knowledge ofhuman
destiny. Our Lord Jesus Christ set the child in the midst of the stormy
disputers, and made him the type of entrance into the Kingdom of heaven.
How can any deeper interest gatheraround their life and their claim than that
which is poured upon them by the words of the RisenChrist, “Feedmy
lambs”?
The Rev. Harry Venn has recordedthis experience,—“Thegreatdangeris
from surfeiting children with religious doctrines or over much talk. Doctrines
they are too young to understand; and too frequent talking wearies them.
Many parents err in expecting that the religion of a child should be the same
as their own. I did not give mine formal instruction till they were eight years

old, and then chiefly setbefore them the striking facts in the Old Testament,
or the miracles in the New. I also laboured much to setbefore them the
goodness ofour God in things which they could understand, such as the
comforts which we enjoyed together. Watching providential occurrences,I
made use of them to give a body and substance to spiritual truth. One method
used to affectthem much—carrying them to see an afflicted child of God
rejoicing in tribulation, and speaking ofHis love. To this day they tell of one
and another whom they saw happy, though poor and in pain.”1 [Note:
Memoir and CorrespondenceofHenry Venn, 429.]
It is a beautiful tradition of the JewishRabbis that when Moses was a
shepherd under Jethro in the land of Midian, a little lamb went frisking from
the flock and strayed into the wilderness. Moses,full of the spirit which loveth
all things—both man, and bird, and beast—andfaithful in little deeds as well
as in great, pursued the lamb over rocks and through briars, and after long
hours of wearysearchrecoveredit; and when he had recoveredit he laid it in
his bosom, saying, “Little lamb, thou knowestnot what is goodfor thee; trust
me, thy shepherd, who will guide thee aright.” And when God saw his
tenderness, and the straying lamb, He said, “Thoushalt be a shepherd to My
people Israel.”2 [Note:DeanFarrar.]
(2) The Sheep.—“Feedmy sheep” comes next; feed the middle-aged, the
strong, the vigorous;they also need to be directed in their Christian course,
and to be guided to some field of earnestservice forChrist, therefore
shepherdize them. Do not try to governthese, but feed them. They may have
far more prudence, and they certainly have more experience, than you have,
and therefore do not rule them, but remind them of the deep things of God,
and deal out to them an abundance of consoling truth. There is that goodold
man, he is a father in Christ; he knew the Lord fifty years before you were
born; he has some peculiarities, and in them you must let him take his own
course, but still feedhim. His taste will appreciate solid meat, he knows a field

of tender grass whenhe gets into it; feed him, then, for his infirmities require
it.
Not to priests only is this said, but to every one of us also, who are also
entrusted with a little flock. For do not despise it because it is a little flock. For
“My Father,” He saith, “hath pleasure in them.” Eachof us hath a sheep; let
him lead that to the proper pastures.3 [Note:St. Chrysostom.]
We find the best interpretation of the three commands given by our Lord to
St. Peter, by tracing their fulfilment in the Apostle’s life. In the early chapters
of the Acts we find St. Peterstanding forth as the spokesmanand leaderof the
Church; yet the doctrinal content of his sermons is extremely simple, just such
as we should teach to little children: St. Peterwas feeding the lambs. Then
another Apostle comes to the front; the Church needs a more developed
doctrine, for the lambs have grown into sheepand now require the “strong
meat” of the Word; St. Paul feeds the sheep, St. Peteraids the work by
tending the sheep. In the First Epistle of St. Peterwe find him again the
leading exponent of Christian doctrine: it is now a fully developed doctrine, a
greatadvance upon the simple teaching of his early days; now, under the
guidance of God, he is feeding the sheep.1 [Note:H. O. Cavalier.]
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
"lovestThou Me?"
John 21:15
J.R. Thomson

To comprehend this interview and dialogue, it is necessaryto look at
preceding circumstances.In a conversationwhich took place before our
Lord's betrayal, Peterhad made the most ardent professions ofattachment
and devotion to his Master. Thoughall should forsake Jesus, yetwould not he!
He was willing even to die with him! But the events of the awful night of the
Lord's apprehensionand mock trial before the Jewishcouncil, had made
evident the moral weaknessofspiritual fiber which was hidden by his
impetuous fervor. Peter's faith had failed, and he had been led by timidity to
deny the Lord he loved. That he repented of his cowardice, andthat with
bitter tears, was knownto the Masterwhom he had wronged. These
circumstances accountfor the language ofJesus when he met his disciple by
the lake of Galilee. Jesus elicitedfrom his followerthe thrice-repeated
expressionof his love, and, having done this, treatedPeteras one restoredand
reconciled, imparted to him his apostolic commission, and predicted his future
of service and of martyrdom. Turning from the specialincident which called
for the question and the answerhere recorded, we direct attention to what is
practicaland of universal application.
I. A POINTED QUESTION. "Lovestthoume?"
1. This question implies that Christ has a claim upon our love. This claim is
founded upon:
(1) His supreme worthiness to be loved. Who, in himself, in character, in
moral excellence, canbe comparedwith Jesus, as the Objectof human
affection? He was admired and loved on earth; but since his ascensionhe has
been more intensely and far more widely admired and loved by those whom
he has left behind him. In a word, he deserves love;and we "needs must love
the worthiest."
(2) His love to us. Christ's is no cold, elevateddignity and excellence.He is a
Being of benevolence, compassion, and tenderness;and these qualities he has
displayed towards us. His love and kindness to men are simply the expression
of his holy, gracious nature. He first loved us; and, if we love him not, we
prove our insensibility and moral debasement. There is nothing meanly
interestedand unworthy in the love Christ's people bear him.

(3) Especiallyupon his sacrifice and death. "Greaterlove hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends;" and this proof of Divine
affectionJesus gave. His was the love which is "strongerthan death."
"Which of all our friends, to save us.
Could or would have shed his blood?
But Immanuel died to have us
Reconciledin him to God.
This was boundless love indeed:
Jesus is a Friend in need."
2. This question implies that Christ is solicitous and desirous of our love. Men
often seek the friendship of those who are above them in abilities, in station, in
character, in power. Jesus does just the contrary when he condescends to ask
our love. It is a proof of his disinterested and benevolentaffection, that Jesus
should deign to address to eachhearer of His Word the question, "Lovest
thou me?"
3. This question implies that in Christ's view our love towards himself is of
vast importance to us. To love him, as he knows full well, is to man the spring
of the truly religious life. It is the surestmeans of becoming like him. Nay, to
love Christ is to be in the way of loving everything that is good. It must not be
supposedthat such affectionis the merely sentimental side of religion; it is
closelyconnectedwith practice, for love is the divinely ordered motive to duty
and service. How different is Christianity from other and merely human
religions!These teachmen to fear God, to propitiate God, but never to love
God. Jesus draws our love towards himself, and thus leads us into love to God
as the element of our higher life.
II. As ARDENT RESPONSE. In the case ofPeter, the reply to our Lord's
pointed question was most satisfactory. It may wellbe pondered as an
example for us, as Christians, to imitate. It was:

1. An affirmative answer, inconsistentwith coldness, indifference, and mere
respect.
2. A modest and not a boastful answer. Peterhad endured a bitter experience
of the mischief of self-confidence and boastfulness;into this sin he was not
likely again to fall.
3. A cordial and sincere answer, opposedto merely formal and verbal
profession.
4. An open and public answer, suchas should ever be given to the rightful
Lord and holy Friend of man.
5. A consistentanswer - one supported by a lit e of loving devotion.
6. An acceptable and acceptedanswer. WhenJesus asksourheart, and we
yield it, never need we fearlest he should rejectwhat we offer. - T.
Biblical Illustrator

So when they had dined, Jesus saith... Simon son of Judas, lovestthou Me
more than these?
John 21:15-17
Peter's restoration
A. Gray.
I. THE LORD'S QUESTION.
1. The question itself.(1)The feeling inquired about. Other feelings there are
which often move the soul; but love surpasses themall. Every one knows what
is meant by love.(2)The objectof the love to which the question relates. The
question is not, dostthou love at all? Perhaps there never was a heart so hard
as to be entirely a strangerto it. The question is, among the various objects
thy love embraces, is that object to be found whose claimis paramount? We
say not that unrenewed persons do not love at all; but they love other objects
in place of Christ. But the new birth carries up the dear emotion to the object
that best deserves it.(3)The degree of this love to Christ. The question may
mean, either, "Lovestthou Me more than these men? or more than these
things," and calls upon us to say, not that we love the Lord, but how much we
love Him. Does it prevail over the love we feel for inferior objects?
2. The circumstance that Christ puts the question. It is often put by Christ's
friends and ministers; but it comes with deeper meaning and greaterpower
from Christ. It implies —(1) That Christ considers He has a claim to the love
of His people. What are the grounds of this claim? We ought to love Him —(a)
For what He is. What saith the law? "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with
all thy heart," &c., "and thy neighbour as thyself." God and man, as Christ is,
in one Person, both tables of the law command Him to be loved —(b) For
what He has done: long ago as God the Son in the council of peace, and in
human history as the Man Christ Jesus.(2)ThatHe sets a value on His people
s love. When another asks you, "Lovestthou Christ?" you cannot gatherfrom
it that Christ Himself cares whetheryou love Him or not. But Christ's own
inquiry shows that the matter is not indifferent to Him. Despise His people's
level He reckons it a portion of His reward. And, when He sees its fruits, He

sees ofthe travail of His soul, and is satisfied.(3)That He is concernedfor the
prosperity of His people's souls. The love of Christ is inseparably connected
with the love of God.(4)Let us advert to some of the occasionswhenChrist
puts the question.(a) The occasionofshowing His own love. Such was the
present. He was fresh from Calvary. "Lovestthou Me? See how I have loved
thee!" Such is the occasionwhen a sinner is converted. Then, for the first
time, a sense ofChrist's love breaks in.(b) When He gives His people special
work to do.(c) In the day of temptation, and suffering for His sake. Trials
bring our love to the proof.
3. The circumstance that Christ repeats it. The gospelministry puts it from
week to week. Why? Because —(1)Love to Christ is of vital importance.(2)
There is a spurious love to Christ, a feeling of sentimentalism, which is called,
by some, love to Christ. There are some, too, who love a Christ of their own,
who, they fancy, takes awaythe sting from sin. As if that were possible, or that
God's holy Son would do it if He could!
II. THE DISCIPLE'S ANSWER. We cannotsay that believers are always able
to reply as Peterdid. There are times when they think that they do not love
the Lord. And. there are times when the utmost length they cango is, "Lord, I
can scarcelytell if I love Thee or not." Yet there are times when they canuse
Peter's language. Secretseasons ofenlargement, when the Lord unveils His
face to them, and they see the King in His beauty. Words are good, but not
essential;and there is an answerin the heart which the Lord caninterpret
right well.
1. Who does not know that true love can proclaim its existence through the
eyes when the tongue says nothing? The soul has eyes as well as the body.
And, when God's people are meditating on Christ, what are they doing but
feasting the eyes of their souls, and involuntarily declaring their love to Him?
2. There are acts of memory also, which are the consequences oflove. In the
long absence ofloved ones how fondly do we call to mind what they saidto us,
and cherish the particulars of the interviews we had together!And how
natural is it to prize the messages theysend us! Thus works the love of
believers towards Christ. They take pleasure in remembering past fellowship.

3. The way, too, in which Christ's approaches are receivedis a declarationof
love. It makes their heart leap when tidings that He is near is brought to them,
and when the sound of His footsteps is heard.
III. THE LORD'S COMMAND.
1. Its nature. Christ has a flock, of which He is the owner; for it was given to
Him of the Father, and He bought it with His blood. He is its Shepherd; for it
was committed to His care, and He acceptedthe charge of it. This flock He
commends to the goodoffices ofall that love Him. Private disciple though you
be, you may help to feed Christ's flock. Thoughyou cannot dispense the bread
of life by public ministrations, .you may dispense it by private intercourse,
prayers, and contributions.
2. Some important principles which it involves.(1)That love needs an exercise
as well as am object. The first thing is to fix it on Christ. That being done,
"Now," says the Lord, "thy love must not be idle. If thou lovestMe, go work
for Me. Only thus canthy love continue and increase."(2)Thatlove prepares
us for the service of Christ. It is a motive inciting to that which is well-pleasing
to Him, the doing of His will.(3) That love must extend to His people. "Feed
My lambs — feed My sheep."(4)Thatlove ought to show itself to the world.
The feeding of Christ's lambs and sheepimplies publicity. It is, therefore, a
confessionofChrist before men. Thereby we tell the world that we love Him,
and prove that we are not ashamedof His cause.
(A. Gray.)
The grand inquiry
W. Jay.
The question is —
I. REASONABLE. Becausewe oughtto love Him, and the affection is just.
Contemplate —

1. His Person. He is altogetherlovely: comprising in Himself all the graces of
time and of eternity; all the attractions of humanity and of Deity. Bring
forward all the excellencesthe world ever saw;add as many more as the
imagination can supply: all this aggregate is no more to Him than a ray of
light to the sun, or a drop of waterto the ocean.
2. His doings.
(1)Look backward, and considerwhat He has done.
(2)Look upward, and considerwhat He is doing.
(3)Look forward, and consider what He will do.
3. His sufferings. To enable Him to be our best friend, He submitted to a scene
of humiliation and anguish, such as no tongue can express, orimagination
conceive. Neverwas there sorrow — and, therefore, never was there love —
like thine! But we must observe, not only what He suffers for us, but what He
suffers from us, and suffers in us. "Forwe have not an high priest who cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." He that toucheth us toucheth
the apple of His eye. "O, for this love, let rocks and hills," &c
II. IMPORTANT, because we must love Him: and the affectionis not only
just but necessary —
1. To our sanctification. Love is a transforming principle. By constant
residence in the mind, the image stamps and leaves its own resemblance.
2. To give us delight in all our religious services. It is the nature of love to
render difficult things easy, and bitter ones sweet. Whatwas it that turned the
sevenyears of hard bondage that Jacobservedfor Rachelinto so many
pleasantdays? What is it that more than reconciles thatmother to numberless
nameless anxieties and privations in rearing her baby charge? Butthere is no
love like that which a redeemedsinner bears to his Redeemer;and, therefore,
no pleasure can equal that which he enjoys in pleasing Him.
3. To render our duties acceptable. The Lord lookethto the heart; and when
this is given up to Him, He values the motive, though we err in the
circumstances.

4. To ascertainour interest in the Saviour's regards. His followers are not
describedby their knowledge, theirgifts, their creed, their profession;but by
their cordial adherence to Him., His love produces ours; but our love evinces
His — "I love them that love Me."
III. SUPPOSES DOUBT.Is there nothing in you to render this love suspicious
—
1. To the world? You are not only to be Christians, but to appear such. Have
you risen up for Him againstthe evildoers, and never denied His name, nor
concealedHis truth?
2. To the Church? There are many of whom, as the apostle says, "We stand in
doubt." But your ministers and fellow-members are entitled to satisfaction
concerning, if not the degree, the reality of your religion.
3. To yourselves. "Tis a point I long to know," &c. If I loved Him — could I
ever read without pleasure the Book that unveils His glories — could I ever
fear to die — could I feel so impatient under those afflictions that make me a
partakerof the fellowship of His sufferings?
4. To the Saviour. There is a sense in which this is impossible. We are all
transparencybefore Him. But we are to distinguish the question of right from
the question of fact. With regard to right, He may, and He often does,
complain in His Word, as if He was disappointed and surprised at the conduct
of His professing people. Estimating our proficiency by our advantages, ought
He not to have found in us what He has yet sought for in vain.
IV. ADMITS OF SOLUTION It is not only possible, but comparatively easy,
to know whether we love another. And here it will be in vain for you to allege
that the ease before us is a peculiar one, because the objectis invisible. For
many of us never saw Howard, but who does not feelveneration at the
mention of his name? How, then, will this love show itself?
1. By our thoughts. These naturally follow the object of our regard, and it is
with difficulty we candraw them off. David could say, "I love Thee, O Lord,
my strength." And what was the consequence?"How precious are Thy
thoughts unto me, O God!"

2. By our speech. "Outof the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
3. By desire after intimacy. Separationis a grief. Distance is a torture. "As the
hart panteth after the water brooks," &c.
4. By devotedness to the service and glory of its Master. Nothing can
authenticate the existence ofthis principle in our hearts, detached from this
regard to His will. "He that hath My commandments," &c.
(W. Jay.)
The supreme question
J. L. Nye.
A lad named Hoopoo, a South Sea Islander, was sentto America to be trained,
that he might be useful in the Mission. One day he was in a large company,
and was askedmany questions about his birthplace. The lad spoke wisely, but
some of his sayings made a gentleman laugh. "I am a poor heathen boy," said
Hoopoo;"it is not strange that my blunders in English should amuse you, but
soonthere will be a larger meeting than this, and if we should then be asked,
'Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?'I think I shall be able to say, 'Yes.' What
will you say, sir?" The gentlemanfelt the force of the words, and found no
rest till he also could say, "Yes"
(J. L. Nye.)
Lovest thou Me?
J. Stalker, M. A.
St. Peter's first answerwas easyand light-hearted; it came only from the
surface of his mind; it was little better than "Of course I love Thee." But
Christ's close and penetrating way of putting the question a secondtime
overawedthe disciple, and brought an answerfrom much deeperdown. The
third time, Jesus sentthe question like a sword down to the bottom of the soul,

where it drew blood, and the answerwas a groan of pain out of the depths. He
puts the question to us thrice, because there are three storeys in our nature;
the uppermost is feeling, the middle one is intellect, and the basementis will;
Jesus opens the door of each, and asks, "LowestthouMe?"
I. FEELING. This is the most superficialof the three; and here He first puts
the question. Our feelings have had many objects. We cannot remember when
we began to love some of those whom we hold dear. Other passions we
remember distinctly the genesis of. Now, among the objects we have loved is
Christ one? — the principal one? Has our love to Him formed one of the
colours which can be distinctly tracedin the pattern of the past? Has it a
history, and is it a distinct part of our history?
II. INTELLECT. A man who has been wise and fortunate in marriage will
say, "I loved you at first, because my fancy was takenwith you, and there was
a blaze of feeling. But now, besides that, my calm judgment approves my
choice;the experience of many years has made me only the more satisfied
with it." Happy the man who can saythis and the woman who hears it! Do we
love Christ with such love? Perhaps our religious life beganwith excitement
and ecstasy. This is past: but every day we are more and more convinced that
in choosing Christ we choose wisely;we have a hundred times more reasonfor
loving Him than we had then.
III. WILL. The will is the part of our nature out of which resolutions and
actions come, and on this specially wishes to have a hold. Love's realtrial
comes when it is calledupon to endure and to sacrifice. No man knows how
strong his own love to any one is till it has gone past the stage atwhich it is a
delightful feeling, and the stage atwhich it is sensible of deriving advantages
from its object, and has arrived at the stage whenit has to give everything,
bearing burdens, practising self-denials for the sake ofthe person it loves.
Cowper's lines to Mary Unwin are a perfect example of such love. Have we a
love to Christ which makes us slay besetting sins because He wills it, devise
liberal things for His cause, confessHim fearlesslybefore men, and rejoice to
suffer for His sake?
(J. Stalker, M. A.)

Lovest thou Me
C. H. Spurgeon.
? —
1. The inquiry is not concerning his love to the kingdom or the people of God,
but to the Son of God. It deals with a personalattachment to a personal
Christ.
2. Our Saviourquestioned Peterin plain setterms. There was no beating
about the bush. As the physician feels his patient's pulse to judge his heart, so
Jesus testedat once the pulse of Peter's soul.
3. This question was askedthree times, as if to show that it is of the first, of the
second, and of the third importance; as if it comprisedall else. This nail was
meant to be well fastened, for it is smitten on the head with blow after blow.
4. Jesus Himself askedthe question, and He askedit until He grievedPeter.
Had he not made his Master's heartbleed, and was it not fit that he should
feel heart-wounds himself?
I. LOVE TO THE PERSON OF CHRIST MAY BE ABSENT FROM OUR
BOSOMS. This inquiry is not rendered needless by —
1. Outward religiousness.Do we enter very heartily into all the public
exercises ofGod's house? Yes, but there are hundreds of thousands who do
that, and yet they do not love Christ! It will be vain to reverence the Sabbath
if you forgetthe Lord of the Sabbath, vain to love the sanctuaryand not the
GreatHigh Priest, vain to love the wedding-feastbut not the Bridegroom.
2. Highest office. Peterwas an apostle, and in some respects a foundation
stone of the Church, and yet it was needful to sayto him, "Lovestthou Me?"
The name of Judas should sound the death knell of all presumptuous
confidence in our officialstanding.

3. Enjoyment of the greatestChristian privileges. Peterwas one of the most
favoured apostles, who beheld Christ on the mount of transfiguration and in
the gardenof Gethsemane.
4. The greatestwarmth of zeal. Peterwas a redhot disciple. You are earnestin
the Sunday school, or preach in the streets, or visit the poor, and are full of
warmth in all things which concernthe Redeemer's cause;but for all that the
question must be put. For there is a zeal which is fed by regard to the opinions
of others, and sustained by a wish to be thought earnestand useful; which is
rather the warmth of nature than the holy fire of grace, and which makes a
man a mere tinkling cymbal, because he does not love Jesus Christ.
5. The greatestself-denial. Petercould say, "Lord, we have left all and
followedThee."
6. The highest mental attainments. Peterwent to college three years, with
Christ for a tutor, and he learned a greatdeal; but after he had been through
his course, his Master, before He senthim to his life-work, felt it needful to
inquire, "Lovestthou Me?" It is, therefore, a healthy thing for the Lord to
come into the study and close the book, and sayto the student, "Sitstill a
while, and let Me ask thee, 'Lovest thou Me?'"
II. WE MUST LOVE THE PERSON OF CHRIST, OR ALL OUR PAST
PROFESSIONS HAVE BEEN A LIE. It is not possible for that man to be a
Christian who does not love Christ. Take the heart away, and life is
impossible.
1. Your first true hope of heaven came to you, if it ever did come at all, by
Jesus Christ. You heard the Gospel, but the Gospelapart from Christ was
never goodnews to you; you read the Bible, but the Bible apart from a
personalChrist was never anything more than a dead letter to you. The first
gleamof comfort that ever entered my heart flashed from the wounds of the
Redeemer.
2. Nordo we merely begin with Him, for every covenant blessing we have
receivedhas been connectedwith His Person — pardon, righteousness,
adoption, &c.

3. Every ordinance of the Christian Church has either been a mockery, or else
we have loved Christ in it. Baptism — what is it but the mere washing awayof
the filth of the flesh unless we were buried with Christ in baptism unto death?
The Lord's Supper, what is it but a common meal unless Christ be there? And
so it has been with every approach we have made towards God. Did you pray?
You could not have done it exceptthrough Jesus the Mediator.
4. If you have made a professionof religion, how can it be a true and honest
one unless your heart bums with attachmentto the greatAuthor of salvation.
5. You have greathopes, but what are you hoping for? Is not all your hope
wrapped up in Him?
6. Since, then, everything that you have obtained comes to you direct from His
pierced hand, it cannotbe that you have receivedit unless you love Him. Now,
when I put the question, recollectthat upon your answerto it hangs this
alternative — a hypocrite or a true man — "Lovestthou Me?"
III. WE MUST HAVE LOVE TO THE PERSONOF CHRIST, OR
NOTHING IS RIGHT FOR THE FUTURE.
1. Fora true pastor the first qualification is love to Christ. Jesus does not
inquire about Peter's knowledge orgifts of utterance, but about his love. And
what is true of a pastor is true of every useful workerfor Christ.
2. If your heart is not true to Christ, you will not be able patiently to endure
for His Name's sake. Beforelong, the time came for Peterto glorify God by
death. Love makes the hero. When the Spirit of God inflames love He inspires
courage.
3. If we have no love for Christ's Personour piety lacks the adhesive element,
it fails in that which will help us to stick to the good old way to the end. Men
often leave what they like, but never what they love.
4. Love is the great inspiriting force. In serving Christ you come acrossa
difficulty far too great for judgment, for prudence, and unbelief weighs and
calculates,but love laughs at the impossibility and accomplishes it for Jesus
Christ.

5. Without love you are without the transforming force. Love to Christ is that
which makes us like Him.
6. Without love to Christ we lack the perfecting element. We are to be with
Him soon;but if we have not love to Jesus we shall not be where He is.
IV. IF WE DO LOVE HIM, WHAT THEN? Let us do something for Him
directly, for He said, "FeedMy sheep." He knew from His own heart that
whereverthere is love there is a desire for activity. What are you doing?
Attending the means of grace and getting a goodfeed. Well, that is doing
something for yourself. Many people in the world are very busy at feeding,
but I do not know that eating a man's bread is any proof of love to him. A
greatmany professing Christians give no proof of love to Christ, exceptthat
they enjoy sermons. But now, if you love Him as you sayyou do, prove it by
doing goodto others.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Lovest thou Me
Bp. Ryle.
I. THE PECULIAR FELLING OF A TRUE CHRISTIAN TOWARDS
CHRIST — he loves Him.
1. A true Christian is not a mere baptized man or woman, a personwho only
goes, as a matter of form, to a church on Sundays; he is one whose religion is
in his heart and life, and its greatpeculiarity is love. Hear what St. Paul says
(1 Corinthians 16:22; Ephesians 6:24). Hear what Christ says (John 8:42).
Would you know the secretof this peculiar feeling (1 John 4:19)?
2. A true Christian loves Christ —(1) For all He has done for him.(2) For all
that He is still doing.
3. This love to Christ is —(1) The inseparable companion of saving faith. A
faith of devils, a mere intellectual faith, a man may have without love, but not
that faith which saves.(2)The mainspring of work for Christ. There is little

done for His cause from sense ofduty. The heart must be interested before the
hands will move. The nurse in a hospital may do her duty, but there is a vast
difference betweenthat nurse and a wife.(3) The point which we ought
speciallyto dwell upon in teaching religion to children. Election, imputed
righteousness, &c.,are matters which only puzzle; but love to Jesus is within
reachof their understanding (Matthew 21:16).(4)The common meeting point
of believers of every branch of Christ's Church (Ephesians 6:24).(5)The
distinguishing mark of all savedsouls in heaven. Old differences will be
merged in one common feeling (Revelation1:5, 6).
II. THE PECULIAR MARKS BY WHICH LOVE TO CHRIST MAKES
ITSELF KNOWN. If we love a person, we like —
1. To think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. It is just so
betweenthe true Christian and Christ! Christ "dwells in his heart," and is
thought of more or less every day (Ephesians 3:17).
2. To hear about him. We find a pleasure in listening to those who speak of
him. So the true Christian likes those sermons best which are full of Christ.
3. To read about him. What intense pleasure a letter from an absenthusband
gives to a wife, or a letter from an absentson to his mother. So the true
Christian delights to read the Scriptures, because they tell him about his
beloved Saviour.
4. To please him. We are glad to consult his tastes and opinions. In like
manner the true Christian studies to please Christ by being holy both in body
and spirit.
5. His friends. We are favourably inclined to them, even before we know them.
And the true Christian regards all Christ's friends as his. He is more at home
with them in a few minutes, than he is with many worldly people after an
acquaintance of severalyears.
6. To maintain his interests and his reputation. We regard the person who
treats him ill as if he had ill-treated us. And the true Christian regards with a
godly jealousyall efforts to disparage his Master's Word, or name, or Church,
or day.

7. To talk to him. We find no difficulty in discovering subjects of conversation,
nor does the true Christian find any difficulty in speaking to his Saviour.
Every day he has something to tell Him, and he is not happy unless he tells it.
8. To be always with him; and the heart of a true Christian longs for that
blessedday when he will see his Masterface to face and go out no
more.Conclusion:
1. Look the question in the face and try to answerit for yourself. It is no
answerto say —(1) That you believe the truth of Christianity. The devils
believe and tremble (James 2:19).(2) That you disapprove of a religion of
feelings. There can be no true religion without some feeling towards Christ. If
you do not love Christ, your soul is in greatdanger.
2. If you do not love Christ, let me tell you what is the reason. You have no
sense ofdebt to Him. There is but one remedy for this state of things — self
knowledge and the teaching of the Holy Ghost.(1)Perhaps you have never
read your Bible at all, or only carelessly. Beginto read it, then, in earnest.(2)
Perhaps you have never known anything of real, hearty, business-like prayer.
Beginthe habit, then, at once.
(Bp. Ryle.)
Lovest thou Me
C. H. Spurgeon.
I A SOLEMN QUESTION, notfor His own information, but for Peter's
examination, it is well, especiallyaftera foul sin, that the Christian should
well probe the wound. Note what this question was.
1. It was concerning Peter's love. He did not say, "Fearestthou Me?" "Dost
thou admire or adore Me?" Norwas it even a question concerning his faith.
That is because love is the bestevidence of piety. He that lacks love must lack
every other grace in proportion. If love be little, fear and courage will be little.

2. He did not ask Peteranything about his doings. He did not say, "How much
hast thou wept? How often hast thou on thy knees soughtmercy?" Though
works follow love, yet love excelleththe works, and works without love are not
evidences worth having.
3. We have very much cause forasking ourselves this question. If our Saviour
were no more than a man like ourselves, He might often doubt whether we
love Him at all. Let me lust remind you of sundry things which give us very
greatcause to ask this question.(1) Hast thou not sinned? "Is this thy kindness
to thy Friend?"(2)Does not thy worldliness make thee doubt? Thou hast been
occupiedwith the shop, the exchange, the farmyard; and thou hast had little
time to commune with Him!(3) How coldthou hast been at the mercy-seat!
II. A DISCREET ANSWER. Jesus askedhim, in the first place, whether he
loved Him better than others. Simon would not say that: he had once been
proud and thought he was better than the other disciples. There is no loving
heart that will think it loves better than the leastof God's children. But Peter
answerednot as to the quantity but as to the quality of his love. Some of us
would have answeredfoolishly. We should have said, "Lord, I have preached
for Thee so many times; I have distributed to the poor; Thou hast given me
grace to walk humbly, faithfully, and honestly, and therefore, Lord, I think I
can say, I love Thee." We should have brought forward our goodworks as
being the evidences ofour love. That would have been a very goodanswerif
we had been questioned by our fellow-man, but it would be foolish for us to
tell the Masterthat. The Mastermight have said to Peter, had he appealed to
his works, "Idid not ask thee what are the evidences of thy love, I askedthe
fact of it." Very likely some would have said, "Love Thee, Lord? Why, my
heart is all on fire towards Thee;I feel as if I could go to prison and to death
for Thee!" But that would have been very foolish, because although we may
often rejoice in our ownfeelings, it would not do to plead them with our Lord.
In such manner Peterhad spokenbefore; but a sorry mess he made of it. But
no, Peterwas wise;he did not bring forward his feelings nor his evidences.
But, as though he shall say, "Lord, I appeal to Thine Omniscience:Thou
knowestthat I love Thee." Now, couldwe give such an answer? There is a
test. If thou art a hypocrite, thou mightest say, "Lord, my minister, the
deacons, the members, my friends think I love Thee, for they often hear me

talk about Thee." But thou couldst not say, "Lord, Thou knowestthat I love
Thee";thine own heart is witness that thy secretworks belie thy confession,
for thou art without prayer in secret;thou art stingy in giving to the cause of
Christ; thou art an angry, petulant creature, &c. But thou, O sincere
Christian, thou canstanswerwith holy fear and gracious confidence. Sucha
question was never lint to Judas. The response is recordedfor thee, "Lord,
Thou knowest," &c.
III. A DEMONSTRATIONREQUIRED."Lovestthou Me?" Then one of the
best evidences is —
1. To feed My lambs. Have I two or three little children that love and fear My
name? If thou wantestto do a deed, which shalt show that thou art a true
lover, and not a proud pretender; go and feed them. In the ancient Churches
there was what was calledthe catechismclass — I believe there ought to be
such a class now. The Sabbath school, I believe, is in the Scripture; and I
think there ought to be on a Sabbath afternoona class of the young people of
this Church, who are members already, to be taught by some of the elder
members.
2. But we cannotall do that; the lambs cannot feed the lambs; the sheep
cannot feedthe sheepexactly. Therefore allow me to say to some of you, that
there are different kinds of proof you must give. "Lovest thou Me?" Then
preserve that prayer-meeting; see to thy servants that they go to the house of
God. Do something to prove thy love.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The risen Jesus questioning Peter's love
C. Bradley, M. A.
I. We gather from OUR LORD'S INQUIRY —
1. That He takes pleasure in the love of His people towards Him and in their
avowalof it. And herein He discovers His human nature. We are all conscious
that wheneverwe have realaffection towards any object, we desire the same

affectiontowards ourselves, and are gratified by any manifestationof it.
Jonathanshared in this feeling. Now our Lord's heart is, in all sinless things,
like ours. He found gratificationthere, not only in Peter's love, but in these
reiteratedassurances.
2. That Christ has now a specialclaim on our love. Previously to His final
sufferings and death, He does not appear to have ever put this question. But
when for their sakesHe had gone to CalvaryHe felt and acted like one who
had now earneda claim on a sinner's affection, and such a claim as even a
sinner's heart could not resist. Place the cross in whateverlight we may, there
is no exaggerating its importance or its power. As the basis of love nothing
even in heaven is like it.
3. That real love for Christ is of the very utmost importance to us. Love is
nothing more than a feeling. Its importance arises from the place it holds in
the mind, and the influence it exercises overeveryother feeling, thought, and
movement. No wonder, therefore, that when Christ brings a sinner to His feet,
the first thing He asks him for is his heart; one of the first things He takes is
his love. Love for Him is not an ornament; it is religionitself, its foundation,
its spring, its strength, its perfection, its glory.
4. That our love for Christ is sometimes questionable and ought to be
questioned.
II. THE ANSWER WHICH PETER GAVE TO THE INQUIRY. From this
we infer at once that it is a question which maybe answered. Thrice said
Christ to Peter, "Lovestthou Me?" and thrice Peteransweredwith
promptitude and firmness that he did love Him. How then, under similar
circumstances, maywe come to a similar answer? We love Christ —
1. When we mourn bitterly for our sins againstHim. Nothing pains a feeling
heart more than to offend causelesslya heart it loves. Forgivenesscannotwear
our pain away, kindness cannotdissipate it; they sometimes rather aggravate
than remove it.
2. When we are especiallyon our guard againsta repetition of those sins
wherewith we have dishonoured Him.

3. When no sin, no sorrow on accountof sin, no state of mind whatsoevercan
keepus from His feet.
(C. Bradley, M. A.)
Jesus questioning Peter's love
C. J. Deems, D. D.
Christ never unnecessarilyinjured the feelings of any one;yet when necessary
He did not hesitate to inflict pain. Jesus did not flatter and call Petera rock
now — "Simon, sonof Jonas."
I. THE INFERENCESFROM CHRIST'S QUESTION.
1. That Jesus, afterthe Resurrection, was desirous to be loved by man. Do not
make the mistake that you must win His love; see that you love Him.
2. That Jesus wants an avowalof love. How the lover, although he has the love
of his loved one, rejoices in the avowals ofthat love. Jonathan made David
sware twice that he loved him. Christ did not ask this before the Crucifixion.
But now He had given His life He had a right to expectthe heart's deepest
love.
3. That love is the important thing. Christ did not catechise Peteras to his
faith.
II. THE INFERENCESFROM PETER'S ANSWER. Peterwas consciousof
his love. What are the proofs that we love Christ?
1. We have a deep feeling of bitterness when we have come short of love.
2. True love will not allow us to commit the same sin twice over.
3. True love brings the sinner back to Christ.
III. PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.

1. There is no religionwithout the love of Christ, and no heaven. Intellect,
wealth, positions, friends cannotmake up for the lack of it. Paul holds a man
accursedwithout it.
2. By loving Christ we place ourselves where He can do us the most good.
(C. J. Deems, D. D.)
Peter's confessionoflove to Christ
A. Mackennal, D . D.
There are times which revealto us the mysterious identity of our ever-
changing lives; when we read old letters, visit well-rememberedscenes, grasp
the hand of old friends, or indulge in the silent luxury of their presence. You
know the subtle influence of such seasons;with what reality they recall the
past. The coincidences oflife are designedby Godto revealus to ourselves
and to show what is God's guidance of our life. These verses recordsucha
period in the life of Peter. The past was with him; what were its memories for
Peter? Of eagerhaste and painful failure; of love for Christ so true and yet so
powerless;of self-confidence and of unfaithfulness. With chastened, bumble
spirit he must have satand pondered; feeling that not in his devotedness to
Christ, but in Christ's love to him, lay his hope that he might be faithful to his
apostleship, if he should be reinstated in it. And to these, his thoughts, Christ
at length gives expression:"Simon, son of Jonas," the name by which Christ
had first calledhim, and which He had so often used in tender solemnity,
"lovestthou Me more than these?"
I. PETER'SLOVE TO CHRIST.
1. There is a beautiful order in Christ's questions. There is a difference
betweenthe two Greek verbs translated "lovest." Itis not a difference in the
warmth, but in the characterof affection. The one signifies the love based
upon appreciationof another; the other simple personalattachment. The one
might be representedif we said, "I am thy friend;" the other if we said, "Thou
art my friend."(1) It is the former of these words which Christ here uses:

"Simon, sonof Jonas, esteemestthou Me more, art thou more My friend than
thy fellow disciples?" This was just what Peter had professed, "Thoughall
should be offended," &c. "I am ready to go with Thee, both in prison and to
death; ThoughI should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee."(2)You can
now understand Peter's reply. Once he would have said, "I know that I am
Thy friend;" he was sure he was to be trusted. But he has losthis self-
confidence. He will not profess esteemfor Jesus. He chooses the humbler,
trustful word: "Yea, Lord, Thou knowestthat I love Thee."(3)AgainChrist
asks him, "If not more than these, yet art Thou My friend at all?" And still
the same humble, clinging answercomes from Peter.(4)Now Christ takes
Peter's own word; let it be as Peterwould have it, the trusting affectionof the
disciple. "Peterwas grievedbecause He said unto him the third time, Lovest
thou Me?" Surely Jesus cannotdoubt that. Christ must know that He is all in
all to Peter. "Thouknowestthat under all my boasting, all my mistakes, there
was love for Thee, and that it remains." And this confessionChristaccepts,
and ever will accept.
2. Distinguish betweenthe professionof love to Christ and the confessionofit.
In professionthe personmost prominent in our thoughts is "I who make it;"
in confession, "He whose name I am confessing." Itis not in what we are to
Christ, but in what Christ is to us, that our restand security lie.
3. Observe, too, the period of Peter's life when this confessionis made. It is not
his earliestconfession;he has been brought to it through painful self-
knowledge;it is the utterance of a tried maturity. To setyoung converts on an
estimate of their feeling towards the Saviour, instead of encouraging them to
trust in Him, is full of peril. Christian discipleship sometimes begins with love
to Christ; and singularly blessedare they with whom it does. But in other
ways souls are drawn to Christ; the wearygo to Him for rest, the guilty for
pardon, the helpless for succour. Such will say, "I trust in Christ," "I have
found Christ," "I am following Christ;" but the words, perhaps, halt on their
lips, "I love Christ." It is not for us to insist on their utterance. They are not
for our ears, but for His. And He knows how, from the trusting, the obedient,
and the earnest, to draw at length the full confession, "Lord, Thou knowestall
things; Thou knowestthat I love Thee."

II. THE PROOF AND MANIFESTATION OF LOVE TO CHRIST.
1. In giving Peter the charge, "FeedMylambs; feed My sheep," Christwas
guarding him againsta danger to which he was at this moment liable; the
danger of sinking down into an indulgence of sentiment. We feel in a self-
assertive world, from the strife for mastery, the restlessnessofambition, how
blessedto retire to self-abasementbefore the Lord; how sweetlythen from
lowly lips falls the confession, "Thouknowestthat I love Thee." To cherish
this life alone is very dangerous. Hence comes the pride that apes humility.
Christ sends Peterfrom confessing, as He sent Mary from adoring Him, to do
His work. It was in separating himself from the other disciples, in supposing
himself better than they, that Peterdisplayed the self-confidence whichhe
now so bitterly repented. He was not free from the temptation even in his
penitence. It is possible to separate ourselvesfrom others in our very
consciousnessofself-distrust. One of the saddestsights is that of men whose
humblest words are a vaunting of themselves, whose very lowliness is
sentimental and insincere.
2. A higher work is now committed to Peter than when Christ said, "Follow
Me, and I will make you fishers of men." The pastoraloffice is higher than
that of preaching the gospelof the kingdom; to watch overthe flock is higher
than to add to its numbers.
3. Here, too, would Peterhave an opportunity for the constantexercise of
lowliness. He would grow meek and gentle as he fed the lambs and
shepherded the sheep;he would be humbled by every lessonhe learnt of
men's impatience and folly and self-deception. Sympathy is the way to self-
knowledge;our own penitence deepens as we know a brother's sins.
4. They would serve, too, to deepenhis love of Jesus;every brother's fall
would remind him of his own restoration. There is nothing which so deepens
our lore to Christ as the largerknowledge ofHis grace which we gain as we
see souls savedby Him.
5. In this work which Christ assigns to Peter, Petermay see the meaning of the
struggle of contrition through which he is made to pass. He will be better able

to bear with the flock because he knows himself. The heart broken with
penitence will scarcelyharden itself againsta sinful brother.
III. THE CROWN AND PERFECTINGOF LOVE TO CHRIST IS THAT
FULL SELF-SURRENDER BYWHICH WE SHALL GLORIFY GOD (ver.
18).
1. When he was young he girded himself and walkedwhither he would. How
often he wandered, how far astray his hasty will led him! But when he could
no longer go whither he would, when another girded him and carried him
whither he would not, he acceptedthe appointment and the surrender of
himself was complete. In one way or other, this privilege that we glorify God
is given to every one who loves Jesus. Notall need the struggle and the
martyrdom. There are meek souls whose whole life is sacrifice, whose willis
ever submissive. Others require a sharp discipline. Whatever is needed will be
given. And death seems appointed as the completion of all; the chequered,
troubled life is vindicated as a Christian life by the death that glorifies God.
2. "And when He had spokenthis He saith unto him, Follow Me." It was the
first call againrepeated. When Peterhad first heard it he thought that to obey
it would leadhim near a throne; now he knows it will conduct him to a cross.
Yet he draws not back;for meanwhile he has been with Jesus, andlove of
Him now fills his soul. What dreams possess us of the honour, and triumphs of
the Christian life when first we rank ourselves as disciples of Christ! Rarely
indeed are these hopes fulfilled; we grow wiser with sad self-sacrifice as we
become holier men. The boundless prospectnarrows before us; we are well
content "to fill a little sphere, so He be glorified."
(A. Mackennal, D . D.)
Christ loved from gratitude
C. H. Spurgeon.
You remember the tale of Androcles and the lion. The man was condemned to
be torn to pieces by beasts;but a lion, to which he was cast, insteadof

devouring him, lickedhis feet, because atsome former time Androcles had
extracteda thorn from the grateful creature's foot. We have heard of an eagle
that so loved a boy with whom he had played that, when the child was sick,
the eagle sickenedto;and when the child slept, this wild, strange bird of the
air would sleep, but only then; and when the child awoke, the eagle awoke.
When the child died, the bird died too. You remember that there is a picture
in which Napoleonis representedas riding over the battle-field, and he stops
his horse, as he sees a slain man with his favourite dog lying upon his bosom
doing what he canto defend his poor dead master. Even the greatman-slayer
paused at such a sight. There is gratitude among the beasts ofthe field, and
the fowls of the air. And, surely, if we receive favours from God, and do not
feel love to Him in return, we are worse than brute beasts.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Love a goodaugury
C. H. Spurgeon.
When the heathen killed their sacrifices in order to prophesy future events
from the entrails, the worstaugury they evergot was when the priest, after
searching into the victim, could not find a heart; or if that heart was small and
shrivelled. The soothsayersalways declaredthat this omen was the sure sign
of calamity. All the signs were evil if the heart of the offering was absent or
deficient. It is so in very deed with religion and with eachreligious person. He
that searchesus searches principally our hearts.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Love before its judge
C. Stanford, D. D.
I. THE HISTORY OF THE QUESTION.

1. The writer, in continuing his accountof what was said and done, goes on to
say: "Now, whenthey had brokentheir fast, Jesus saith," &c. Here we have a
most interesting note of time. It was delicatelycharacteristic ofJesus to see
that all were strengthened and quieted before the questioning. No one who
had not been present would have shownthe sense ofmingled homeliness and
solemnity which this verse shows. Whenwe read, "When Jesus satthus on the
well," we say these two lines are by the same writer.
2. This question is a question to a believer. Faith goes before love. It is
impossible to love one whom you do not even trust. Perhaps Christians have
put you wrong by their unscientific way of telling you that all you have to do is
"to give your hearts to Christ"; but you have no heart to give to Him, until by
faith you receive the heart He gives to you. Believing is receiving;and when
the love of Christ is received, the recipient loves Him back again.
3. This question reminds us that the greattestof faith is love. "Faith worketh
by love." Sometimes faith and love are practically so much alike that we can
hardly distinguish them. Talk to that true teacherof theology, a Christian
child, and, while perhaps she will not say a word about faith, she will be sure
to tell you that she "loves Jesus.""Wrong!" says a hard old doctrinist, "we
are justified by faith." "Right!" say we; "forin the consciousnessofthat little
heart love and faith are one." A man may be true to Christ, yet if Christ were
to say, "Understandestthou Me?" or"Followestthou Me?" or, "Confessest
thou Me?" he could not always establishthe fact of his discipleship. There is,
however, no Christian heart but quivers to the question, "Lovestthou Me?"
We setour sealto Wesley's words, "We may die content without the
knowledge ofmany truths, but if we die without love, would the knowledge of
many truths avail us? Just as much as it would the devil. I will not quarrel
with you about your opinions... only see that you love the Lord Jesus Christ."
4. This question was askedin the spirit of reproof. There was reproof —(1) In
the very appellative, "Simon, sonof Jonas," and the sound of it must have
struck upon him like a bolt of ice, making his burning soul suddenly freeze.
On the day of his introduction to Christ, it was predicted that he should be
called"Peter" — that is, a stone. This prophecy was fulfilled on the day of his
memorable confession. It is written of a certain caliph, that he used to give

eachof his principal officers an honourable surname suited to his qualities;
and that, when he wished to show dissatisfaction, he used to drop it, calling
him by his original name, which causedgreatalarm. This helps us to enter
into the meaning of the Simon, sonof Jonas, here. The startled disciple might
have thought that this was as much as to say, "Thouhast nothing in thee
answering to the name 'Rock';a rock does not run away, and does not ebb
and flow; thou art not worthy of thy new name; until thou art clearedin this
court, give it up."(2) In the reference to the other disciples — "More than
these." But how did they prove their love? By language? No;for they were
dumb. By obedience? No;for when the Mastersaid, "Bring of the fish that ye
have caught," they stoodstock still, gazing. By work? No;they could not even
haul the net up the strand; Simon did it. While a thought of satisfactionin the
comparisonof himself with them might have shot across his mind, the
question sternly broke in upon it, "Lovestthou Me more than these?"(3)In
the plain allusion to his boastful speech, "If all shall be offended," &c. "Now,
Simon, what do you say?"
5. In reference to his most recent action. On the night before the Crucifixion,
Jesus had said, "Simon, Satanaskedto have you... when once thou hast
turned again, stablishthy brethren." Had he done so? Notif we have correctly
interpreted the words, "I go a fishing; we also go with thee." He did wrong,
and by his super-abundant vitality and eagerlife drew the others along with
him; and this was not to establishhis brethren. It was "a threefold hammer-
stroke," andhad reference to his threefold sin of denial.
6. Think of the question in connectionwith the greatnessofthe questioner.
Love to God is set forth in the "first and greatestcommandment." Christ
claims the very same, "He that loveth father and mother more than Me," &c.
What John thought of Christ's greatnessappears from the words at the
opening of his Gospel, whichpulse all through the succeeding narrative; the
writer does not once forgetthis, nor must the reader, any more than the
singermust forgethis key-note, or the builder that which he builds upon.
7. Think of the question in connectionwith Christ's love to the disciple to
whom He puts it. His love is great, because He Himself is great. As the ocean
holds more water than the tiny lakelet, has more force, carries more weight,

and canbe wrought up into a grander storm, so does the heart of God hold
more than the heart of man.
8. Notice the personality of the question. He deals with us one by one lovingly,
eachsoul with a distinct love; asking eachsoulfor a distinct response;to each
speaks personallyas when He said, "Adam, where art thou?" "Abraham,
Abraham!" "Samuel, Samuel!" "Martha, Martha!" "Saul, Saul!" "Simon,
son of Jonas." Englishnames are on His lips as well as Jewishnames; answer
to your name — it is spokennow — silently to the ear, audibly to the soul —
"Lovestthou Me?"
II. THE HISTORY OF THE ANSWER.
1. It was an answergiven after deep searchings ofheart.(1) The Searcherof
hearts had so orderedthe process ofquestioning as to compelthis. The first
sentence ofit slashedright through the consciencejustwhere it had been last
wounded, and where it was still on fire. "Lovestthou Me more than these?"
What does he answer? does he simply say, "Yes I do"? No! for the word for
love which Christ employs is beyond him. Does he sayno? No! Does he take
up the challenge of comparison? No!never again. He is now done for ever
with heroics, comparisons, consequentialairs. Does he sayout from black
despondency, "I have been a self-deceiver, and what I thought was love was
not love"? No!Was he silent? No!speak he must. He therefore looks up, and,
with tumultuous throbs, whispers, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowestThouart dear
to me."(2) The searching eye is still upon him; still using the same word for
love which Simon had humbly put aside for a weakerword, and giving this
word greateremphasis, the Judge repeats the question. Six months before,
Simon would have been ready to say, "Lord, dost Thou doubt me? Love
Thee? Only try me! See if I will not gladly die for Thee!" But now, not daring
to own such a lofty love as Christ's word indicates, he still says, "Thouart
dear to me."(3) Then the King of Grace comes downto him, accepts the
humble word that Simon had chosen, and asks, "Am I dear to thee?" In the
lightning of that instant, he lookedround for something to which he should
make his appealin proof of the sincerity with which he could saythis; and to
what could he make it? Poorman! he thought just then, that if he lookedto
himself for a proof of his love, he could find little better than lies, and oaths,

Jesus was loved

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