Verse of the Day for February 13

Peter denied him three times beside a fire of coals. In this chapter there is another fire of coals on a beach, and John mentions it deliberately.

Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?

Three questions for three denials. Jesus does not raise the denials once. He does not require an account of that night, or an explanation, or a promise it will not happen again.

He asks one question about affection, three times, and after each answer gives Peter work: feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep.

That is the restoration. Not a lecture, not a probation, not a reduced role. The same commission, issued in the place where the failure happened, over a fire that would have smelled exactly like the one in the courtyard.

Being grieved was part of it. Jesus let him feel it and then handed him sheep anyway.

Restoration in this passage is not the removal of the memory. Peter never stops knowing what he did.

It is being given the work back, by the person you failed, in the place you failed.