John uses three words in John 21:9 that he has used once before, and the first time he used them was on the worst night of Peter's life.
Here is the second time.
As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.John 21:9, King James Version
A fire of coals.
And here is the first time, in the courtyard, while Jesus was being questioned inside.
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.John 18:18, King James Version
Same phrase. It occurs twice in the whole of the New Testament and John wrote both of them.
The first fire is where Peter said I am not three times. The second is where breakfast is.
I do not think that is an accident, and I do not think John expected anybody to miss it. He is not a careless writer, and this is the same man who counted the fish in verse eleven.
Breakfast comes before the conversation
Now watch the order of the morning, because the order is where the kindness is.
They come in with the fish. There is already a fire, already fish on it, already bread. He asks them to bring some of what they have caught. Then:
Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.John 21:12, King James Version
Come and dine. That is the first thing said to Peter at that fire. Not we need to talk. Not a question about the courtyard. A meal, cooked, on a beach, at daybreak, by somebody who had got there before them and started it.
And John adds a small strange line: none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Nobody says anything. They eat.
You are not being taken back to be shamed there. John 21:12 has a meal offered before a single question is asked, and it is the Holy Spirit who keeps that order intact for somebody who has been bracing for a conversation.
Then, after they have eaten, the three questions.
So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?John 21:15, King James Version
Three times He asks. Three times Peter answers. And it is impossible to read that and not count the three denials in the courtyard beside the same kind of fire.
But look at what the questions are not.
They are not why did you do it. They are not do you understand what you did. There is no examination of the night, no reconstruction, no requirement that Peter explain himself. The subject of every one of the three questions is not the failure. It is the love.
You have been asked about the affection and never about the transcript. John 21:15-17 puts the same question three times and never once asks for an account of the courtyard, and the same Spirit who kept it that way is the reason nobody has to rehearse the worst night to be restored from it.
Now the hardest line in the passage, and John does not soften it.
Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?John 21:17, King James Version
It hurt. The text says so. Being asked a third time was painful, because Peter knew exactly why it was three, and John records the grief rather than pretending the morning was purely warm.
I am not going to tidy that either. Restoration is not always comfortable, and this one had a sting in it, and the man who was there wrote the sting down.
You were not promised that it would not sting, and John 21:17 keeps the grief in the sentence. The written word says Peter was grieved in the middle of a restoration, and it is His Spirit who makes that honest rather than discouraging.
And then the third thing, which is what the whole morning was for.
Each time Peter answers, he is given work. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Three questions, three answers, three commissions.
He is not restored to standing and then assessed for suitability. He is handed a flock, on a beach, with fish still on the fire.
You have been handed something to do rather than a probation to serve. John 21:17 ends on feed my sheep and not on a condition, and the same Spirit who kept the commission in the same breath as the question is the reason there is no waiting period in this chapter.
So stop staying away from the fire.
You have been building your life around not being in that room, that kitchen, that kind of morning, because you assume the subject will come up and you have no defense prepared. And the passage agrees the subject comes up. It just does not come up first, and when it does it is not about the transcript.
You are wanted at that fire, and the invitation in John 21:12 is two words long and has no conditions in it. The written account says come and dine before anything else is said, and it is the Holy Spirit who is the reason that reaches a kitchen you have been avoiding for two years.
You have a commission waiting in the same sentence as the question, and there is no probation between them. John 21:17 puts feed my sheep directly after the third answer, and the same Spirit who kept them attached is the reason usefulness is not held back pending good behavior.
And I will not lay one gram on you: nobody in this chapter makes Peter account for the courtyard. Not Jesus, not John, not any of the others in the boat. The night is never discussed. What God does not reopen, nobody reopens, and He has never once required a person to explain the worst thing before He would cook them breakfast.
Declare this over yourself
- Fire I have been staying away from, you are not where I get shamed. John 21:9 has coals and fish and bread already waiting on that shore, and His Spirit lit it before I arrived. I am not being taken back to be shamed there.
- Defense I have been preparing, get out, in the name of Jesus. You have told me the subject will come up and I had better be ready, and the written word asks three times about love and never once about the night I denied Him, which ends you, and the Holy Spirit keeps that written where I can reach it, and I am reaching. What He does not reopen, I can stop rehearsing.
- Lord, You are the God who said come and dine before You said anything else, and You are doing that here. Scripture puts the meal in John 21:12 and the questions in John 21:15, three verses apart, and Your Spirit keeps them in that order. I am eating first, and I am saying one sentence afterward.
John 21:9
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