“He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus *said to him, “Tend My sheep” John 21:17. (NASB)
Three times Jesus asks Peter this question “do you love Me?” Does Jesus ever need to ask us this question? Are we quick, when among friends and other believers to affirm our devotion to Christ? Peter was and then he denied knowing Jesus three times on the night of his trials which let to his crucifixion. Jesus promised Peter that He would do so. Peter was crushed by his denial of his Lord. Jesus here wants to restore him because He knows His plans to use Peter. Three denials, so Jesus asks for three affirmations. Jesus presses to get past Peter’s bravado. Like Peter, we might jump quickly to professing our allegiance to Christ Jesus when in an emotional but safe moment. We want to signal to others how strong our commitment is. But when our commitment depends on our own ability to remain strong, that is when God allows us to be tested and without trusting God’s Spirit, we flop badly. When we fail, He promises to restore us. Jesus asks us, “Do you love Me?” When we affirm that we do, the evidence will be the fruit of our obedience to His Word.
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*There are verb tenses known as 'historical present' in the Greek which have been translated with an English past tense in order to conform to modern usage. The translators recognized that in some contexts the present tense seems more unexpected and unjustified to the English reader than a past tense would have been. But Greek authors frequently used the present tense for the sake of heightened vividness, thereby transporting their readers in imagination to the actual scene at the time of occurrence. However, the translators felt that it would be wise to change these historical presents to English past tenses. The asterisk marks those verb tenses which in Greek are 'historical present' and our passage above can read as "He was saying to him" or "He says to him" with the context indicating it is 'historical present.'
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
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