Getting out of the boat part 3: Epilogue to John

 Getting out of the boat part III: Epilogue to the gospel of John.

We have unfinished business and it has to do with Peter. We saw how in Luke 5, Peter dropped his fishing nets, and walked away from his trade to follow this man who seemed extraordinary. We saw in Matthew 14 how Peter, while keeping this same man in sight, was able to defy the laws of physics and step out of a fishing boat, into a storm. There is a third instance regarding Peter and boats we need to discuss.

You see, Peter, when he walked on water with Christ, faltered. He saw the waves and wind around him, and caved to that pressure in fear. He began to sink. 

That isn’t the most infamous time Peter caved to pressure. Chances are better than none that you, reader, know from scripture or common knowledge Peter’s epic failure via threefold denial of Jesus on the night before his crucifixion. Every gospel has an account of the denial. The four gospels vary in what details they include, yet every gospel describes Peter, the leader of the early church, caving to social pressure, looking out for himself, and lying about his affiliation with Christ. That isn’t something you want people knowing about the first leader of the church. It’d be like if the declaration of Independence described in detail Thomas Jefferson’s abuse of his underaged slaves. “Doesn’t it go against everything the cause stands for? Doesn’t this ruin our reputation? People can’t know about this! We need a leader we can look up to now that Jesus is ascended, not a flaky, emotionally turbulent tryhard.”

I don’t have time to detail Peter’s denial, read it for yourself. I do want to focus on how Jesus calls Peter out of the boat one final time, in one final gospel scene, to make amends for this denial.

What compounds the tragedy of Peter’s denial is that Christ had already made it clear that Peter would have some serious role to play in the church. In Matthew 16, Peter is the first to verbally recognize Jesus as the Christ, and Christ commends him: 

“For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

To have Peter do such a grave sin as denying he even knows Jesus after this commendation is career suicide. It is reasonable to suppose that, following the denial and resurrection, Peter would stew on his betrayal of Christ to the point that this “keys to the kingdom” commendation may be forfeit in his head. If you had betrayed your best friend after they showed you how much they loved you, you’d feel something similar. Sure, Jesus is alive, walking, and talking, and breathing, but I’m still a piece of trash for what I’ve done.

Jesus knows this. Jesus evidently desired to make one of his post-resurrection appearances to deal with this. Because though he is God, and he is crowned in blood to rule the fabric of all that is, he is also man, and knows he needs to invest in this friendship and care for Peter whom he loves. 

Given all this setup, here’s the passage, John 21(ESV):

21 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. 8 The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Immediately, Jesus’ entrance calls back to his first calling Peter. The disciple Jesus loved(John, the author), snaps Peter into the right headspace: “It is the Lord!” and with that Peter is out of the boat. Not only is he out of the boat, but he’s put his coat on as well, while they’re still a ways off shore! 

Some(younger me) might say it’d make thematic sense for Peter to miraculously run on water to reach shore like Neo in the Matrix. I say that because our Western minds enjoy that sort of protagonistic setup and payoff of “He failed once, but now he can do it because he believes!” 

The miracle of walking on water is no longer necessary to reflect the inner love and dependence Peter has for Jesus and Jesus for Peter. Peter is going to Christ regardless, and he’s going to do his best to get there. 

And then, what happens next? Next, the Lord of the universe invites the wet, smelly fishermen, his friends, for breakfast. They’re just chilling. This is the third post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to the disciples, which suggests that it was still a very confusing time, though joyful, to be around Jesus. 

Now, if I were Peter, eating breakfast with my best friend, I would want nothing more than to apologize profusely for the pain I caused them when I turned my back on them. It’s been a while since Peter denied Jesus, but if the gospel accounts are anything to go by, he’s always trying to do the right thing and this denial of Jesus destroyed him. 

Jesus seeks to address this guilt with a little drop of the universal salvific remedy: by covering it up with love. 

“Do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

“Do you love me?”

“Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

“Do you love me?”

“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Jesus is carpet bombing the issue here. Peter may not be the brightest all the time, but we can guess that the three-time symbolism isn’t lost on him. In his seeking peace with Peter, Jesus needs to reinforce their relationship with these three trusses of fundamental, unconditional love. Alongside these, Jesus lays down the commission:

“Feed my lambs.”

“Tend my sheep.”

“Feed my sheep.”

Peter’s work, work he might have thought forfeit, is only beginning. His career as a shepherd for Christ has just begun. But freedom in Christ comes with an earthly cost:

““Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 

(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) 

And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.””

I think when you’re in a relationship with a friend, and one wrongs another, there might be a fear that that friendship is over, or that that friendship will never be what it could’ve been. And as I’ve said before, I wonder if Peter is thinking this. His abject failure to put himself on the line for Christ once probably lingers in his brain as: this will forever stunt our relationship.

Christ’s existence on earth, though, is predicated on the fact that the greater the gap is between two people, the further love can reach to bridge that gap. That is the whole M.Night.Shyamalan twist of the gospels: that God could see the unsurmountable rift of sin that humanity needed to cross and crossed from the opposite end. He came to live as a backwater carpenter, with backwater friends, and slowly, tenderly, sowed the seeds of love in people like Peter so as to mend the cosmic gap from behind enemy lines. That looks like giving Peter a hug. That looks like dying for his sins, also. And that is why Peter gets out of the boat. 

Christian tradition has Peter being crucified upside down. According to some early church fathers, it was because he deemed himself unworthy of dying the death Jesus died. “So take the cross, and this is my last request: spin is 180 degrees, please.” That is intense.

Who knows? Not I. I am very happy I got to finally cap off this blog, though. I have a ton of other writing ideas, including short stories and substacks, and potentially a satire LinkedIn page.

Thanks for reading!