The Gospel of John

The Under-Shepherd Duty

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 71- 72

Genre:

Track: 069

Dictation Name: RR197AM71

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Year:

Let us worship God. God commendeth His love toward us in while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Let us pray.

Almighty God our Heavenly Father we come into Thy presence again with gratitude for all Thy mercies and blessings thanking Thee that Jesus Christ has come and died for our sins, destroyed the power of death and sits at Thy right hand to make intercession for us. Make us bold therefore in prayer, faithful in service, confident and ever hopeful in Thy word so that we may indeed be more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray, Amen.

Our scripture lesson is John 21:1-17. Our subject: The Under-Shepherd’s Duty. John 21:1-17.

“After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.

2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.

3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.

6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.

8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.

9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.

10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.

11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.

14 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.

15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16 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.

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”

We are told that sometime after the resurrection and before the ascension Jesus appeared to His disciples at the Sea of Galilee also known as the Sea of Tiberius. There were seven of them there, Simon Peter, John, Thomas, Nathaniel, James and two other unnamed men. Simon Peter decided that they should go fishing and they agreed. This was commercial fishing. They fished all night and caught nothing. Towards morning Jesus appeared on the shore but because it was still somewhat dark they did not recognize Him although they were not far from shore. Jesus called out to them ‘have you caught anything’ and the answer was no. Jesus then told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat which they did catching a hundred and fifty three large fish without the net breaking. Peter now recognized Jesus after John had observed it is the Lord. He put on and belted his outer garment and jumped into the water heading for shore. They were close enough so that perhaps swimming was not required. They were only about two hundred cubits from land and instead of hauling in the fish they dragged the heavy net to shore to avoid damage to the net. On landing they saw that Jesus had a fire going and bread and fish prepared for them. Jesus instructed them to bring their fish in shore and He fed them and He added more fish to the fire. He had enough for them to start and then more was added. The disciples held back in timidity and Jesus went forward bringing the fish and bread to them.

This was His third appearance after the resurrection. After they had dined Jesus asked a question of Peter who perhaps had jumped into the water to ask Christ’s mercy for His behavior but had said nothing thus far.

“Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?”

Peter was the one who had boasted that he would be faithful if all the others were faithless. Now he says yea Lord, thou knowest that I love Thee. Jesus’ response was feed my sheep. Again a second time Jesus asked the same question but with a difference. The first time lovest translates agapi, a form of agape. It refers to God’s unmerited and grace filled love. It means a love that is without warrant, without cause, no reason for it and yet out of sheer grace love is given. It’s a strange word, it was not a commonly used word, rarely used but it was somehow there and came into its own with the New Testament. Did Peter have such a love? Not only did he have such a love that was an overflowing uncaused love, pure, unadulterated love but what was his love greater than that of the other disciples? But Peter in his first, second and third answers used the word philo which means a human love with all its frailties. We have it in the name Philadelphia, adelphos, brother, philo, love, the city of brotherly love, a human love.

Imperfect, frail, faulty but real and Peter indicated by using that word that his love was real but it was a weak human thing and not superior to the other disciples. In His second question our Lord drops the phrase ‘more than these’, He simply asks do you love me, agapos, with a holy, selfless love. Peter knew that this was not true but he did insist that in his limited human way he did love, philo, his Lord. Then for the third time Jesus repeated His question. Lovest thou me? This time instead of using the word agape He uses philos. Do you truly love me with a weak and human love, Peter? This time Peter was hurt and he showed it and he said I do love you with such a love, a weak, frail, human love. The answer was feed my sheep and Peter said:

“Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”

At the same time our Lord’s command changes from the first instance when He says feed my lambs, \feed my sheeps and after that more literally ‘feed my little sheep’, the weak ones. Grace was being manifested to Peter and to all the disciples for their betrayal. A shepherd providing a watchful eye can allow the mature sheep to graze, some of the lambs require special care and the young sheep also.

The shepherd is like a nurse, caring for the sheep. This is why there is a difference of character between sheep herders and cowboys. Cowboys are almost invariably people of a very weak character, frankly. They will work on a ranch for eleven months and then take all the money they’ve earned and blow it in two three days in town and will not be able to remember what they did because they were drunk the whole time. But shepherds by and large work harder, their work is much more responsible, they have to take care of the old ewes who have trouble lambing and if they have twins they have to bottle feed them, they have to do a great deal of nursing of old and young and be ever watchful that coyotes and bears do not damage or kill in the flock. Moreover the sheepherders, and it’s a commentary that while our cow hands are American our sheepherders are not, we have to import them, we bring them in from places like the Bask parts of France and Spain because the Bask are excellent shepherds or from Greece and a few from Mexico. Invariably with rare, very rare exceptions, they save their money and either go back to the old country well to do after some years or stay and buy a ranch for themselves. There is a difference.

Now the Lord having shown His patience with the disciples now requires that Peter and the others be mindful, ever mindful of their sins and shortcomings and to be patient with the weak in Christ who they must shepherd. They have a task to do, they have to go forth as missionaries to summon men and nations to come to Christ. They would be pastors of home churches, they would have great need for patience, for an understanding of the frailties and the weaknesses of their converts, even as Christ was of their own. No more than Thomas was alone in his doubt was Peter alone in betraying our Lord. John’s focus was here catholic, or universal, Peter which means belonging to the rock, tetras, belonging to the rock, can only be a part of the Rock of Ages, Jesus Christ, if with humility and a knowledge of his betrayal of the Lord he can work patiently with Christ’s sometimes very weak flock. This is why the [unknown] movement was so blasphemous. The [unknown] movement came in towards the end of the persecutions, during the last and severest wave of persecutions when Christians were executed right and left. Many apostatized, they denied Christ or surrendered bibles and offered incense to the image of Caesar. The [unknown] felt that anyone who did this had to be permanently barred from the church. The rest of the church refused because they said there had to be grace.

They were mindful of particularly this type of incident in scripture. How could they be of the rock if they did not show the mercy that Christ did? The [unknown] movement in effect required a fault free faith, they insisted that anyone who was fearful of the Roman authorities was permanently to be barred from the church. They began very intensely well meaning, it’s easy to understand how people whose pastors or family members had died for the faith would be intolerant of those who had compromised and even betrayed others but this stance led steadily to hypocrisy and Phariseeism. To require such a perfection of faith is to substitute pretense for growth and what it did do was to produce a great deal of hypocrisy among the [unknowns]. They were unwilling to admit when they had sinned that they did so. The Christian life is one of troubles, troubles that often find us wanting but which if we are faithful increase our alliance on the Lord and stimulate our growth. Very early as a student I encountered the lines of the poet James Russell Lowell in Under the Willows which are very plain spoken and describe us as ‘we who by shipwreck only find the shores of divine wisdom’. I was in my third year at the university when I read those lines and I’ve never forgotten them because we are those who by shipwreck only find the shores of divine wisdom, that’s how we grow. We who have grown in grace and in understanding are the veterans of many shipwrecks.

We falsify the faith if we limit the frame of reference. Then John here speaks of the Lord’s rebuke to them all, all are called to be mindful of the weaknesses of Christ’s young ones, of His new converts. It was Thomas Boston, a great Puritan, who spoke of the falsify of many super pious Christians, of expecting to leap in his words ‘from Delilah’s lap into Abraham’s bosom’ and Boston said that’s impossible, we grow stumbling, falling, but always moving in the right direction. John’s purpose here is to teach us patience and understanding with others and with ourselves. We have to be patient with others but also with ourselves. Our Lord makes very clear that He can expect everything of us and He will not cease in His patience with us because He is all gracious. So in this episode the disciples are prepared, they are to go forth, they are to deal with people who are going to be weak, who are going to be very often a problem and they must be patient with them. Now it is interesting when the division took place between the [unknown] and the others that those who refuse to go along with the [unknown] called themselves the Catholic party and that churches since who have been anti-[unknown] in their stance have always stressed the catholicisity of the church. It is not for the super pious or the perfect, it is for those who stumble and fall but keep going in the right direction. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word. We thank Thee that Thou knowest us even as Thou didst know Peter and the others. Our frailty, our sins and our shortcomings are known to Thee but in Thy grace and mercy Thou hast made us Thine. Teach us to be patient with others and with ourselves that we may grow in grace and be more than conquerors in Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.

Are there any questions now? Yes?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Yes. In the third time it really, although it’s not so translated, it means my littlest lambs. So He is saying you are going to have to be patient with those who are young in the faith, those who are very new in the faith and those who are in the faith for some time. You are going to be patient with all of them because whether they are new converts and just beginning to grow or young converts or older ones in the faith their sins and shortcomings are going to be there, they are not perfect in this life. And what the disciples had done was to say with Peter we will not forsake Thee and they did. They did not know themselves and our Lord is saying know yourselves and accordingly be patient with others.

[Question] Is there any possibility that man can exhibit agape love towards God or is it just a goal that we have.

[Rushdoony] That’s a good question, we are to love Him as He has loved us which means an agape love towards God would be one which says though you slay me yet will I trust Him. That whatever God does I will accept because I know He is good and I don’t understand things from the eternal perspective or in terms of the future. So I will love Him as best as I can with an agape love. Are there any other questions or comments?

Next Sunday we will conclude the Gospel of John and after that we will begin the study of Hebrews and Hebrews has been said to be the least known book in the New Testament. It’s an extremely important work and it is important because contrary to the attitude of a great many that once you’re saved that’s it and then you sit around and wait for the rapture and wait for God to do great things and give you paradise on earth or in heaven as the case may be. And what Hebrews says is something radically different from that, it strikes directly against that attitude. And it indicates that it’s the beginning of the battle, you’ve broken from the world and from its fallen condition, now as you’ve separated yourself from that to move ahead, to do the Lord’s work, that’s when the troubles are really going to begin, that’s when you shall be tested.

Well we’ll come to that in two weeks’ time. Let us conclude now with prayer.

Our Father we give thanks unto Thee for the majesty, the strength and the comfort of Thy word. We thank Thee that it speaks to our every condition. Give us patience with ourselves and with one another, teach us so to walk that we anticipate in all things that we are continually being tried and tested and must grow. Bless us with growth in Thy grace. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.