"He Calls Me Friend" - 3

"He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him Feed My Sheep." (John 21:16) The second time that Jesus asked Peter, was not the same as the first; it was not a question of comparison. He did not ask Peter, "Do you love (agapao) Me more than these?", but simply, "Do you love (agapao) Me?" However, Peter's answer was the same as his first; he was just repeating himself with his response. But, Jesus, being God incarnate, has intuitive knowledge of each of His children; thus, the Lord would not accept Peter's confession of personal attachment to Himself as that of Friendship, because Jesus intuitively knew that Peter was not always His devoted friend; for He knew Peter would deny Him. Some have suggested that in this passage Christ was providing an opportunity for Peter to redeem himself from the earlier denial of the Lord. The third question, however, was different, "Do you love (phileo) Me?"; or, 'Are you My Friend?' In other words; 'Are your interests, now that you have seen Me risen from the dead, different than before the resurrection?' This is very telling of how much of a change there actually was in how Peter viewed who Jesus was, and what His mission was in going to the cross. For before, after Peter had exclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, he then followed up that exclamation with his nonacceptance of Jesus' determination to die while He could avoid His death. Thus, Peter's denial of the Lord, was basically still set in this nonacceptance of what was really the Lord's plan in going to the cross. Which was really the reason for Peter's reaction of sorrow to the third question; because he now understood the deeper meaning of Jesus' question, "Are you My Friend?" His answer utilized two similar, but distinct verbs, 'oida' to know intuitively, and 'ginosko' to know experientially: "Lord, Thou knowest, (oidas, intuitively) all things; Thou knowest, (ginoskeis, know experientially) that I love Thee (philo, that I am now your friend)". This Peter knew, that the Lord knew, because now Peter knew and understood why Jesus had to die on the cross; which is why Jesus could now surely call him Friend, and accept Peter saying, "Yes, now I am Your Friend". And thus, Jesus went on to tell Peter the manor of death that he would die; "Follow Me". And as history has it, Peter was crucified on a cross, but asked his executioners to place him up-side-down on the cross, because he did not want his Crucifixion to be similar to that of Jesus'; because Jesus dieing on the cross was so much more significant. So then; given all this gained knowledge which Peter had, what does this tell us about what we must do? Again, I must repeat what I have said before: Faith!!! WE MUST BELIEVE!!! We must believe not only that Jesus is the Christ, but that His death upon the cross was His intention, and God's plan for our redemption. It must be undoubtedly clear to us, as individuals, that Jesus died for us; and now that we know that, we must be willing even, to die for Him; and when we come to realize this, and accept our response, then we too can say, 'Yes, I am now Your Friend.' "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who His Own Self bare our sins in His Own Body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: By Whose Stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." (1 Peter 2:21-25)