A shepherd is not called to offer pop psychology. Self-help only heals the wound of the daughter of Zion lightly. The only thing under heaven that will nurture the sheep is the Word of God. That is the food God’s people desperately need if they are going to grow.

“Come and have breakfast,” Jesus said to His disciples when He appeared to them for the third time after His resurrection (John 21:12). In all His resurrected glory, Jesus condescended to invite His friends to a meal, and it’s in this context that we read about Jesus’ final conversation with Simon Peter.

Jesus asks three times, “Simon, do you love me?” The standard interpretation of this passage is that just as Simon Peter had repudiated Jesus three times—denying even knowing Him, let alone loving Him—Jesus counters with this threefold interrogation: “Simon, do you love me?” But there’s at least one other possible interpretation for this repetition. Specifically, perhaps what we find here is the principle of emphasis by repetition.

To make a point emphatic, Jesus often prefaced His words by saying, “Verily, verily,” or “Truly, truly, I say unto you,” before a profound teaching. We see this again and again in Scripture whereby the truth of a statement is given emphasis by repetition. The Apostle Paul says, “Let him be anathema . . . anathema” (Gal. 1:8–9). The seraphim cried to one another before the throne of God, “Holy, holy, holy” (Isa. 6:3). And the cry is heard in Revelation, “Woe, woe, woe,” when God’s wrath is revealed (8:13).

Whatever the interpretation, whether it’s linked to Peter’s denial or the principle of emphasis by repetition, this is a text that every church member and pastor needs to hear.

Perhaps one of the most common and favored metaphors in Scripture for the people of God is the metaphor of sheep. We immediately think of Psalm 23, where David draws from his own experience as a shepherd and attributes to God the qualities of a shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd” (v. 1). This metaphor carries over to the New Testament, where Jesus declares Himself to be the Good Shepherd (John 10).

How fitting it is to liken God and His Messiah to the role of the shepherd. Anyone in Palestine would have known how dependent sheep were on their shepherd. To be honest, it bothers me a bit that the people of God are compared to sheep. It’s not really a very complimentary metaphor if you know anything about sheep.

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