There’s something breathtakingly intimate about John 21. After the resurrection, Jesus appears to His disciples by the Sea of Galilee; not in glory or grandeur, but in the ordinary. A fire crackling on the shore. Bread. Fish. Breakfast.
And in that quiet morning light, He turns to Peter.
The same Peter who had once sworn, “I’ll never deny You,” and yet did… not once, but three times. The same Peter who wept bitterly when the rooster crowed and shame took root in his chest. The same Peter who, by all human standards, should’ve been disqualified.
But Jesus didn’t disqualify him. He reinstated him.
"Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
“Yes, Lord. You know that I love You.”
“Feed My lambs.”
Three times He asked. Three opportunities to undo the sting of failure. Jesus wasn’t rubbing Peter’s face in guilt. He was healing the wound.
Each “Do you love Me?” wasn’t for information, it was for restoration. Each answer wasn’t graded, it was received with grace. And each command wasn’t punishment, it was purpose.
Jesus didn’t just forgive Peter. He entrusted him again. He called him again. He loved him again… three times over.
And that’s how He is with us.
When we fall short. When we fail. When we run. When we weep bitterly and wonder if we’ve messed it all up, He meets us in the morning, with warmth in His voice and purpose in His eyes. He doesn’t just pardon. He reinstates.
Because to Jesus, love is not disqualified by failure.
It’s made new in grace.
Scriptural Musings with Booferchick 