I have written and taught many times about the encounter that Peter and the other disciples had with Jesus after fishing all day and catching nothing. And one of the interesting parts of the meeting is when Jesus confronted Peter with those 3 famous questions… Peter, do you love me. The first two times Jesus uses the word agape (God’s kind of love) and Peter answers with phileo (brotherly love), and then Jesus asks him if he loves (phileo) a third time and the exasperated Peter answers yes.

But this morning I saw something different, thanks to the Holy Spirit.

When he came ashore, Peter immediately noticed that Jesus had a fire of coals going and fish laid on them and bread alongside. I am pretty sure that the memory of his denial of Jesus while warming his hands over a charcoal fire crossed Peter’s mind and stirred his conscience. The Greek word used for “a fire of coals” is anthrakain, and it is used only two times in the New Testament. Yup, you guessed it…

 John 18:18 And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.

And alongside that fire of coals cooking fish was the bread. I wonder if it brought to Peter’s mind anything else? Consider that the Greek word for fish broiling on a fire is opsarion, and it is only used here and one other place… yup…

John 6:9, 11 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?… 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

I am pretty sure that seeing those fish warming on that charcoal fire brought up some painful memories for Peter. And I don’t think I’m alone in saying that there is a place or two in my life where something happened which I am ashamed of. Something that I deeply regret and would do almost anything to undo. But there is no way that I can go back over the years and relive the incident again. And so, perhaps like me, Peter wanted to avoid remembering the incident in the courtyard.

But Jesus had something else in mind.

So, after they ate, Jesus asked Peter the 3 questions, which we understand was His way of forgiving Peter the 3 times he denied Him. Note that He reflected back to that moment of denial by using the name Peter had in the days before he met Jesus… Simon, son of Jonas. It was a strong reminder of the offense and of Peter’s old nature.

Let’s look at the 3 statements that Jesus gave in response to Peter’s answers.

1. Feed my lambs… the word used is arnion, which means little. The other word used for lamb is used only in reference to Jesus. Jesus was telling Peter to once and for all not turn away from the spiritual to the secular; from the work of a shepherd feeding God’s lambs to fishing… lambs need to be fed!
2. Feed my sheep… this time He used a different word “feed” and a different word for “sheep.” The first time He used a word that expressed the idea of providing the lambs with food. This time the word poimaino, which means “to tend” or “to shepherd” the flock… sheep need to be led!
3. Feed my sheep… This time Jesus once again used the same word He used when He told Peter to Feed my lambs. Sheep also need to be fed as well as led!

What is important for us is to recognize that in Jesus forgiving Peter his denial, He also called him back from the carnal world he was slipping back into… fishing. His spiritual calling was much higher. Peter was called to be a shepherd of God’s flock and he needed to know that it would require two things: good food and good pastoring.

It’s the same thing for us. We need to allow Jesus to heal us from our past guilt and set us on the path (the spiritual path) that leads to us doing our part in feeding and shepherding the flock; be it one lamb, one sheep or the whole flock. And that is only going to happen if we, like Peter, allow the Lord to break us of our past, our pride and our fear.

Jesus will provide us our own Fishy Reminder if we will sit down by the fire with Him and listen.