John 21:15-17

John 21:15

Notice:

I. The connection of two things: "Lovest thou Me," "Feed My sheep." It is love to the Saviour which has been the secret of each successful ministry. It is this which makes the patient and longsuffering Teacher put up with the waywardness, the selfishness, the ingratitude and inattention of His scholars; and it is this which made Peter himself and Paul so gentle and much-enduring among converts, very quarrelsome and carnal, very crude and un-Christlike; for even amongst these wild sheep might be lambs of Christ's fold.

II. Peter and his colleagues were evangelists. It was part of their vocation to bring into the fold the sheep not yet gathered the wild and unreclaimed. But they were also pastors. That is to say, it was their business to provide for the flock food convenient food for the sheep, food for the lambs. As tastes are so various, and as in the same audience there is great variety of capacity, and feeling, and circumstances, the wise steward, in dispensing the Word of Life, will seek to suit each want and emergency. Happy the minister who can say with the Apostle, "I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God."

III. The providing of food convenient is not, however, the whole of the pastoral office, whether that pastorate be parental, ministerial, or prophetic. One part of the shepherd's work was to go out and in before the flock. If he was a good shepherd, the sheep got fond of him, and came to know his very voice. They liked him and trusted him, and as they had no fear of his leading them to poisonous pastures or dangerous places; they went out and in, and followed him. Quite as important as instruction is example; and he alone is a good shepherd who, not content with telling the road to heaven, leads the way. He alone is a good shepherd who is full of sympathy and tenderness, binding up that which is broken, and strengthening that which was feeble. He alone is a good shepherd who feels as a personal sorrow the inconsistencies and declensions of believers; and who, if one were wandering, would leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost.

J. Hamilton, Works,vol. i., p. 292.

References: John 21:15. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. iii., No. 117; A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve,p. 519; G. Dawson, The Authentic Gospel,pp. 236, 252. Joh 21:15-18. Homilist,vol. vi., p. 51. Joh 21:15-19. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. iv., p. 266; B. F. Westcott, The Revelation of the Risen Lord,p. 127; A. Mackennal, Christ's Healing Touch,p. 171.