Galatians 5:22-23, the next two words are patience and kindness and the place to see them is beside a fire that remembers failure. Peter is back near the water, John chapter 21, morning comes, a figure stands the on the shore, but they do not yet know it is Jesus, he tells them to cast the net on the right side of the boat, the net fills, John realizes first, it is the Lord, Peter throws himself into the sea. This is so like Peter, he does not wait for the boat, he does not calculate the dignified way to return, the man who once stepped onto waves now throws himself into the water, because Jesus is on the shore. When they reach land, John gives the detail, there is a fire of coals there with fish laid on it and bread.
A charcoal fire, John used that same detail earlier in the courtyard where Peter denied Jesus. Around a charcoal fire, Peter had warmed himself while saying he did not know the Lord, not once, six times. Scripture does not tell you everything Peter felt in that moment on the beach, but John wants you to see the echo, the smell of the fire, the memory of the courtyard, the place where failure could have become Peter’s permanent name. Jesus has breakfast ready, before the questions, he feeds him, then Jesus says, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Not Peter the rock, Simon, the old name, again the question comes, then a third time, three questions meet three denials.
Jesus does not pretend the failure never happened, he does not erase the wound by ignoring it, but he also does not crush Peter with it, each answer moves Peter back toward calling, feed my lambs, tend my sheep. Feed my sheep, John chapter 21 is not labeled as an exposition of Galatians chapter 5, but it gives you a living picture of what Paul names. The Greek word often translated patience is makrothymia, it carries the sense of being slow to anger, long in endurance, able to bear provocation without immediate retaliation, it is not passivity, it is restrained strength. Jesus has the right to expose Peter, he restores him instead.
A charcoal fire, John used that same detail earlier in the courtyard where Peter denied Jesus. Around a charcoal fire, Peter had warmed himself while saying he did not know the Lord, not once, six times. Scripture does not tell you everything Peter felt in that moment on the beach, but John wants you to see the echo, the smell of the fire, the memory of the courtyard, the place where failure could have become Peter’s permanent name. Jesus has breakfast ready, before the questions, he feeds him, then Jesus says, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Not Peter the rock, Simon, the old name, again the question comes, then a third time, three questions meet three denials.
Jesus does not pretend the failure never happened, he does not erase the wound by ignoring it, but he also does not crush Peter with it, each answer moves Peter back toward calling, feed my lambs, tend my sheep. Feed my sheep, John chapter 21 is not labeled as an exposition of Galatians chapter 5, but it gives you a living picture of what Paul names. The Greek word often translated patience is makrothymia, it carries the sense of being slow to anger, long in endurance, able to bear provocation without immediate retaliation, it is not passivity, it is restrained strength. Jesus has the right to expose Peter, he restores him instead.
