The Lord’s Message:  Questions that Jesus Asked: “Do You Love Me?”

The Lord’s Message:  Questions that Jesus Asked: “Do You Love Me?”
Date:  November 2, 2025
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  John 21:15-19

            Please allow me to guide you down a rabbit hole this morning.  I want you to turn in your Bibles to John 17:20-21.  This can be found in the Pew Bibles on page 1680.  Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He knows that He is going to be crucified on the cross to atone for the sins of humanity.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prays first for Himself, then for His disciples, and last for the believers that would come after this; you and me. His prayer has been one that I have been trying to wrap my head around, especially the part, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You.” 

            I can understand how Jesus and God could be one.  They are two parts of the Trinity.  Now, we do not find the word, “Trinity” in the Bible.  But we do have many examples of the Trinity existing.  The best example is when Jesus is being baptized by his cousin, John, in the Jordan River.  When Jesus comes up out of the water, the Holy Spirit comes down, the best humanly way to define it is as a dove, and God the Father speaks to His Son from Heaven.  “You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.”  So, Jesus could be in God and God in Jesus and both in the Holy Spirit because they are of one substance.  But how can sinners such as you and I be one with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  I would love to have the relationship that they all have with each other, but I do not measure up to their level of holiness. 

            As I pondered this, God spoke to me through the Bible.  God put into my mind,

Genesis 1:27.   You and I, even though we are sinners, are made in the image of God.  His DNA is in us.  Can that be scientifically proven?  Yes.  As scientists have been studying DNA for a number of years now to find out how each one of us are composed, they have come across a common strand in all human DNA.  Guess what they call this strand?  The Eve Strand, as in Adam and Eve the first two human beings that God created.  Science and the Bible are coming closer and closer together.  This Eve strand is only found in human beings.  Not apes or gorillas or any other part of creation.  Therefore, you and I can be one with God through Jesus. 

            Let us pray.

            Let us look further into the book of John 21:15.   Allow me to give you the background on what has happened.  Jesus has been resurrected from the dead.  He has appeared to all the disciples.  In Matthew 28:16, He told them to go to a specific mountain in Galilee. 

            Instead, Peter, so ashamed by his actions of denying Jesus three times, goes to the sea to get as far away from Jesus as possible.  Peter returns to his old life.  He goes fishing.  Not that being a fisherman is bad, but once Jesus has called you from your old way of living, why would you want to go back to it?  Only, if you feel that you are unworthy.  Peter is a broken man.  I think that he must have been saying to himself something along this line, “Knowing what I have done, how could Jesus use me?”

            Reading in John 21: 2, he apparently convinced 7 of the 11 disciples to go with him.  They all got into the boat.  They fished all night but caught nothing. 

            Jesus appears on the shore.  They do not recognize Him.  Jesus calls out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”  “No,” they answered.  He tells them to throw their nets on the right side of the boat.  They follow His instructions, and they have a huge haul of fish.  The haul totaled a 153 large fish, and the net did not tear.  Seeing the huge haul of fish, Peter recognizes that it is Jesus, and he jumps in the water and swims to Jesus.

            Peter finds that Jesus has a fire going with fish and bread on it.  Jesus invites them to bring some of the fish and have breakfast with Him.  The rest of the disciples enjoy their breakfast with Jesus. 

            After breakfast, Jesus confronts Peter about his guilt and shame.  Jesus starts off with calling Peter Simon, son of John.  Jesus had given the name Peter to him.  In

Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells him that he will be called Peter, meaning the rock.  Peter is not feeling like a rock.  By Jesus calling him, Simon, son of John, Jesus acknowledges how Peter is feeling.  Truth be known, every one of the disciples had abandoned Jesus.  Only John and the women were at the cross when Jesus died.  Jesus is addressing Peter, but Jesus is using Peter as an example for the rest of them.  All of them were feeling that they had let Jesus down.  When Jesus, in the Upper Room, told them what was going to happen to Him the disciples responded in unison with, “we will not desert you.  We will all fight for you.”   

            Jesus says to Peter, “Do you truly love Me more than these?”  Now, the original language that the book of John was written in was Greek.  The Greek language has many names for the word Love.  The Greek word for love, agape, that Jesus is using here means sacrificial love.  Willing to give up the old way of life and follow Jesus.  Take up your cross and follow Him.   That is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.  This is a surrendering of our mind and will to Jesus.

            Peter responds with “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.”  The Greek word for love, philo, that Peter uses is what we would use as “like.”  “Yes, Lord, You know that I like You.”   This is a feeling. 

            Jesus responds to Peter, “Feed My lambs.”  Everyone is a sheep.  Just as sheep started out as lambs, so new believers are lambs until they mature in the faith and become sheep.  Jesus is telling Peter to care for and educate the new believers. With these three questions, Jesus is going to renew the call that He put on Peter three years earlier when Jesus told Peter that he was not going to fish for fish any longer, but for people. 

            Again, Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you truly love Me?”  Again, the Greek word for love means sacrificial love.  Peter responds with “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.”  Again, Peter uses the Greek word for love as “like.” 

            Jesus responds to Peter, “Take care of My sheep.”  Jesus is telling Peter to care for those who are mature in their faith to meet their earthly needs.

            Again, Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”  This time Jesus used the Greek word for love meaning “like.”  The same word that Peter has been responding to Jesus with. 

            Each time when Jesus asked Peter, Simon, son of John, do you truly love Me, Peter was feeling the hurt and pain of what Jesus was asking.  Now that hurt and pain are ratcheted up, by Jesus using the Greek word for love meaning “like.”  Peter responds now with painful conviction, “Lord, you know all things; (you know what I have done) You know that I love You.  This time Peter uses the Greek word for love meaning sacrificial love.  This is where Jesus wanted Peter to go.  Jesus was looking for that commitment, that surrender from Peter. 

            This time, Jesus responds with “Feed My sheep.”  Peter is reinstated back into being a leader for Jesus and for the church.

            Jesus next tells Peter how committed that Peter is going to be.  Peter is not going to live his life denying Jesus, any longer.  Instead, when confronted again as to whether Peter is a follower of Jesus, he will boldly state that he is and it will be a commitment that will cost Peter his life, John 21:18-19a.

            To further show Peter that he is now the rock on which Jesus will build His church, Jesus simply says “Follow Me.” 

            Peter once a follower of Jesus, then a deny-er of Jesus, has now once again become a follower of Jesus and a leader of the church.  Peter’s relationship with Jesus has been restored.  Peter is now one with Jesus and one with God. 

            Peter is an excellent example for those of us who have failed in our Christian faith and have gone as far as to deny Christ. Jesus can restore us and give us the victory over sin. 
The next time that Peter is put to the test of denying Jesus, he will rise to the occasion and boldly declare that he is a follower of Christ.  He will give up his life by being crucified upside down because he did not feel that he was worthy of being crucified in the same way as His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   

            Jesus is asking us today the same question that He asked Peter, “Do you love Me?”  Our response will reveal our faith.  God’s DNA will come alive inside of us.  We can tap into the resources of the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to overcome any doubts that we may have in our faith.  I was sitting at the entrance door of the YMCA in St. Michaels waiting for JoAnn to pick me up.  I was greeting everyone with Good Morning as they came in.  I had on my “I Still Believe” hat.  One of the men coming up, said to me, “What do you still believe in?”  Without hesitation, I could feel the power of God (God’s DNA) come over me and I blurted out “Jesus Christ, My Lord and Savior!”  The man smiled and gave me a fist bump and went on his way.  I would like to think that Peter would have reacted the same way.

            So, continue to read your Bible, live the Bible and be the Bible for others.  Amen.