He said unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?
Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Do you love me? And he said unto him, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you. Jesus said unto him,
Feed my sheep.
All Commentaries on John 21:17 Go To John 21
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time lovest thou Me, and he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed My sheep (Syriac, My lambs). Why does Christ thrice ask Peter if he loved Him, and thrice repeat, Feed My sheep? I answer, the first reason Isaiah , that Peter, by a triple and constant profession, of his singular love, might expiate and change his three-fold denial of Christ. So Cyril, Leontius, Theophylact, Bede, and S. Augustine, which last thus writes (Tract123): "For a threefold denial a threefold confession is rendered, that the tongue might not seem to serve love less than fear, and that impending death might not seem to elicit more speech than Present Life. Let it be the office of love to feed the Lord"s flock, if it was the mark of fear to deny the Shepherd. If any feed Christ"s sheep with this disposition, that they wish them to be their own sheep rather than His, they are proved to love not Christ but themselves, either from the desire of boasting, or ruling, or acquiring, not from the love of obeying, and helping, and pleasing God. Against such, therefore, the Word of Christ, many times enjoined, gives warning, and of them the Apostle complains that they seek their own, not the things which be of Jesus Christ. For to say, "If thou lovest Me, feed My sheep," what else is it but to say, If thou lovest Me, do not study to feed thyself, but My sheep; feed them as Mine, not as thine: seek My glory in them, not thine: My dominion, not thine own?" From hence let bishops learn to examine suspended priests and others a second and third time, concerning their amendment, that they may be safe in restoring them to their office.
The second cause is that Christ might show what a value He set upon His sheep, and how in the day of judgment He will examine bishops and pastors as to their care for, but especially as to their love for, the sheep. Wherefore S. Bernard (Ser18 in Cant.) inveighs against those who, though having little love, are ambitious of being set over others, and so lose themselves and others; or if they save those under them, lose themselves. "Thou, brother," he says, "whose salvation is not yet strong, who as yet hast not love, or that so weak and like a reed as to yield to every blast, believe every spirit, be carried about with every wind of doctrine, thou, I say, who hast such an opinion of thine own self in what pertains to thine own self, by what madness, I ask, art thou ambitious to have the care of others, or even acquiesce in having it?"
Thirdly—that He may show that pastors ought to feed their sheep, as it were, in a threefold manner—viz, by the word of truth, by example of life, and by temporal assistance (see S. Greg.). And S. Bernard (Ser2on the Resurr.) says, that feed was repeated by Christ thrice, in order that a pastor may feed his sheep by mind, by tongue, and by hand. "Feed," he says, "by mind, feed by mouth, feed by works. Feed by mental prayer, by verbal exhortation, by showing example." The same ( Ephesians 210) says, "Feed by word, feed by example, feed by the fruit of holy prayers." Hence that wonderful love and zeal for souls in S. Peter, as well as in S. John , who in his Gospel, and his Epistles, everywhere breathes love and Divine fire. A memorable instance of this was that young man who had been converted by S. John and committed to a certain bishop by whom he had been neglected, and so had become a chief of robbers, whom S. John , when an old Prayer of Manasseh , brought back to repentance and a holy life. Eusebius (L3 , Hist. c23) gives a full account of this matter from Clemens Alexandrinus. Also S. Chrysostom ( Ephesians 5 , to Theodorus, a lapsed person).
Peter was grieved—because from the thrice-repeated question it seemed to him as if his love for Christ were suspected, or verily he was afraid that he had no part in the Passion; and like as he then denied, so now also he did not love Christ. So S. Chrysostom, &c. Whence the Lord consoles him in his grief, and says that Peter, from the love and example of Christ, should, like a true shepherd, be crucified for the sheep.
Feed My sheep, as Mine, not as thine; seek My glory in them, not thine; My profit, not thine. Hear S. Augustine: "Let us not therefore love ourselves but Him, and in feeding His sheep let us seek the things of Christ, not our own: he who loves himself, not God, does not really love himself; for he who is not able to live by himself, dies by loving himself: when He is loved from whom is life, by not loving himself a man the more loves himself, forasmuch as he loveth not himself in order that he may love Him by whom he liveth." Such a shepherd was S. Paul, the colleague of S. Peter, who said, "for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh" ( Romans 9:3). Where S. Chrysostom says, "Broader than any sea, more vehement than any flame was this love, and no speech can worthily express it." In the first place, this I myself is emphatic. What does this I myself mean? Says S. Chrysostom, "It is I who have been made a teacher of all, I who have collected offices and merits infinite, I who expect infinite crowns." And then some remarks intervening, he thus explains S. Paul"s wish of anathema: "Willingly would I lose the kingdom of heaven, and be cut off from the hidden glory, considering that it would afford me the highest, consolation if only I might no more hear Him reviled, with love of Whom I so greatly burn."
