The Tuesday after Misericordias Domini Sunday
Posted on May 6, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. John 21:15-19 (NKJV)
21:15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, 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 again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, 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 Jonah, 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 all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. 18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”
Devotion
With what food was Peter supposed to feed the sheep of Jesus? The food and drink of believers is Jesus Himself. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35). Yesterday we learned that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the Door. We can add that Jesus is also the green pasture and the quiet water that satisfy the sheep. Our Good Shepherd commands all pastors, just like St. Peter, to feed His sheep. He gives these servants His Word and Sacraments, by which they feed His sheep with His presence.
Why would a man follow Jesus into a job like this, especially when it might require that he also lay down his life for the sheep, as Jesus prophesied would happen to Peter? Why would anyone, for that matter, follow Jesus as a believing sheep? There are many possible answers, but only one good answer: faithful love. Both the faithful pastor and the faithful hearer love the Good Shepherd more than anything else, for He has laid down His life for them. The cross gives us this love. Whenever affliction comes, hear the Lord asking you, “Do you love me more than these?” May God grant us the Holy Spirit so we may say, “Yes Lord, You know that I love You.”
Collect: God, Who, by the humiliation of Thy Son, didst raise up the fallen world: Grant unto Thy faithful ones perpetual gladness, and those whom Thou hast delivered from the danger of everlasting death, do Thou make partakers of eternal joys; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
