“Do you love me?... Feed my sheep.” After Peter’s greatest failure, when he felt broken, Jesus asked him three times, “Do you love me?” Three times Peter was instructed to feed and shepherd Jesus’ sheep. I wonder if Peter was not only reminded of denying Jesus three times, but also of the time when they had gone to a remote place to rest only to encounter a multitude. He had been there when Jesus stepped ashore; when Jesus saw the huge crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
How did Jesus shepherd His flock? In Mark it says that He taught them many things. In His teaching He pulled back the curtains of heaven and showed them a glimpse of the eternal kingdom. On that day, in that remote place, the crowd tasted the bread of life. They drank living water from the Rock. On that day the Shepherd cared for His sheep, and their souls and spirits rested and were satisfied. But their stomachs were empty.
The disciples who had hoped to find rest and not a multitude in that remote place suggested sending the crowd away. How did they know the crowd was hungry? Because they were hungry! Jesus, however, had a different idea. “You give them something to eat.” I wonder if Peter’s memory flashed back to this scene when, on a different shore, Jesus told Peter that if he loved Him he would feed His sheep.
It was an impossible request! How could they feed 5,000 men, not even counting any women and children that might be there! They were incredulous! Jesus’ response to them was similar to what God said to Moses when He gave him the task of shepherding His people out of Egypt. God asked Moses, “What is in your hand?” Jesus asked His disciples what they already had. They brought what they had to Jesus, He broke it, multiplied it, and gave it back to them to distribute.
Peter had felt inadequate when Jesus had asked him to feed the 5,000, and I think he felt that same sense of inadequacy when Jesus told him on a different shore that, if he loved Him, to feed His sheep. Jesus had broken the bread before He multiplied it. Before Peter could shepherd and feed Jesus’ sheep, he too had been broken. “Do you love me?” What does loving Jesus look like? If you are being shepherded by Jesus, where does He take you? I think I find the answer to those questions in this story.
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