Every evangelist without exception bears witness to the manifestations of the Kingdom that accompanied Jesus' earthly ministry. But only in John do we find a testimony to it connected with the person of the risen Saviour. And perhaps the most remarkable thing about this testimony is precisely the fact that...
Every evangelist without exception bears witness to the manifestations of the Kingdom that accompanied Jesus' earthly ministry. But only in John do we find a testimony to it connected with the person of the risen Saviour. And perhaps the most remarkable thing about this testimony is precisely the fact that it is astonishingly similar, like two drops of water, to what the Gospels relate when describing the Messiah's earthly journey. Here again we have an account of a miraculous catch of fish, like the one that accompanied Peter's first encounter with Jesus (vv. 1–6). Of course, Jesus also acts in this way to make it easier for the apostles to recognize Him, and they apparently do understand at once Who is standing on the shore (v. 7). But this is probably not the only point. The laws of the Kingdom are still the same, and its effect on the world remains unchanged, just as the apostles had seen it even before their Teacher's resurrection.
And yet something changed after the Resurrection. It is no accident that Peter rushes towards Jesus (vv. 7–8) and that He asks him the same question three times: “Do you love Me?” (vv. 15–17). Peter had always been the first in the apostolic community. He was the first to call Jesus the Messiah; he swore that he would die for his Teacher, and he was also the one who denied Him three times after His arrest, in the courtyard of the high priest's house. Of course, this denial can hardly be regarded as deliberate, and it cannot in any way be compared with Judas' long-premeditated and carefully planned betrayal. Here one can speak rather of a kind of spiritual breakdown which, unfortunately, can happen to anyone in our fallen world. In our fallen world, but not in the Kingdom, where there is no place for such breakdowns.
And now, in entrusting His Church to Peter, it is no accident that Jesus requires him three times to confirm his love for Him. Relationships form the foundation of the Kingdom: relationships with God, with Jesus, and between people. The Lord requires Peter to confirm the relationship that already exists, and having received that confirmation, He testifies to the apostle that the day will come when Peter will have to confirm his love for Him not only by his life, but also by his death (vv. 18–19).
Here we probably see one of the most important laws of the Kingdom, where there are no irreparable mistakes, but where every mistake is corrected by the very person who made it. Testimony is important not only for those around the witness; it is no less important for the witness himself, who becomes part of the Kingdom through bearing witness. That is why every voluntary or involuntary refusal to bear witness becomes an obstacle to life in the Kingdom, an obstacle that must be overcome. Not only for the sake of the fullness of the Kingdom, but also for the sake of the fullness of the spiritual life of the person whom it hinders.
21
21:15 Simon, son of Jonah - The appellation Christ had given him, when be made that glorious confession, Mat 16:16, the remembrance of which might make him more deeply sensible of his late denial of him whom he had so confessed. Lovest thou me? - Thrice our Lord asks him, who had denied him thrice: more than these - Thy fellow disciples do? - Peter thought so once, Mat 26:33, but he now answers only - I love thee, without adding more than these. Thou knowest - He had now learnt by sad experience that Jesus knew his heart.My lambs - The weakest and tenderest of the flock.
21:17 Because he said the third time - As if he did not believe him.
21:18 When thou art old - He lived about thirty - six years after this: another shall gird thee - They were tied to the cross till the nails were driven in; and shall carry thee - With the cross: whither thou wouldest not - According to nature; to the place where the cross was set up.
21:19 By what death he should glorify God - It is not only by acting, but chiefly by suffering, that the saints glorify God. Follow me - Showing hereby likewise what death he should die.
21:20 Peter turning - As he was walking after Christ. Seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following him - There is a peculiar spirit and tenderness in this plain passage. Christ orders St. Peter to follow him in token of his readiness to be crucified in his cause. St. John stays not for the call; he rises and follows him too; but says not one word of his own love or zeal. He chose that the action only should speak this; and even when he records the circumstance, he tells us not what that action meant, but with great simplicity relates the fact only. If here and there a generous heart sees and emulates it, be it so; but he is not solicitous that men should admire it.It was addressed to his beloved Master, and it was enough that he understood it.
21:22 If I will that he tarry - Without dying, till I come - To judgment.Certainly he did tarry, till Christ came to destroy Jerusalem.And who can tell, when or how he died? What is that to thee? - Who art to follow me long before.
21:23 The brethren - That is, the Christians. Our Lord himself taught them that appellation, Joh 20:17.Yet Jesus did not say to him, that he should not die - Not expressly.And St. John himself, at the time of writing his Gospel, seems not to have known clearly, whether he should die or not.
21:24 This is the disciple who testifieth - Being still alive after he had wrote. And we know that his testimony is true - The Church added these words to St. John's, Gospel, as Tertius did those to St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Rom 16:22.
21:25 If they were to be written particularly - Every fact, and all the circumstances of it. I suppose - This expression, which softens the hyperbole, shows that St. John wrote this verse.