Do You Love Me more than These?

After the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Peter did what so many people do when the fire dies down, he went back to his old life.

The bold apostle who swore he would die for the Lord slunk back to the Sea of Galilee and picked up his nets again. Fishing. The same old grind. The same old commitments that defined him before Jesus called him to leave it all behind. He was done with the radical life of following the Messiah. Back to the boat, back to the ropes, back to the daily catch. Comfort over calling.

Then Jesus showed up on the shore. He didn’t pat Peter on the back or give him a participation trophy for trying. Jesus pointed straight at those nets, those cages, those boats, and all the fishing gear that represented Peter’s old life and asked the piercing question:

“Do you love Me more than these?”

That word “love” here isn’t some fluffy emotional feeling. In the original Greek it’s agape, the highest form of committed, sacrificial, covenant love. Jesus wasn’t asking about warm fuzzies. He was asking about total allegiance: Are you more committed to Me than to your old career, your old security, your old identity? Then, why are you crawling back to what I already called you out of? Why are you re-committing to fish when I called you to fish for men?

Jesus asked it once.

Then again.

Then a third time.

Three times! Matching the three times Peter had denied Him by the fire. Each question drove the knife deeper:

“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

Peter finally broke: “Lord, You know all things. You know I love You.”

Then came the command that needs to be heard by every one that calls themselves a Christian today:

“Feed My sheep.”

Quit the nets. Quit the boats. Quit the old commitments. Get out of the water and start feeding the flock. Stop fishing for fish and start fishing for men!

That happened for a reason. For our learning. Because so many people walk out of the baptismal waters, dripping wet with the symbol of new life, and go right back to the same old life. Same job, same hobbies, same worldly ambitions, same lukewarm compromises. They treat Jesus like a fire insurance policy instead of the absolute Lord who demands everything.

Jesus said it plainly elsewhere:

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26).

That’s not hyperbole. It means your commitment is no longer to what or who it use to be. You no longer live for those things. Christ is your commitment. He is what and who you live for. All things become new. The old man is crucified. The old careers, the old dreams, the old securities all die with Him.

You gave up everything to follow Jesus. Or at least you claimed you did.

So why are you still fishing?

Why are you still cutting hair?

Why are you still building houses, plumbing pipes, practicing medicine, enforcing man’s laws, playing football, typing memos, or running businesses as if nothing radical happened at the cross?

Let the dead bury the dead.

Let the dead fish.

Let the dead cut hair.

Let the dead build houses.

Let the dead plumb.

Let the dead be doctors, law enforcement, football players, secretaries, and business owners.

You,a follower of the risen King, go preach the Kingdom of God!

Fulfill the Great Commission! The world doesn’t need more comfortable Christians chasing paychecks and pensions. It needs disciples who have counted the cost, burned the boats, and gone all in for the only commitment that matters:

Jesus Christ, Lord of all!

Peter got the message. He left the nets for good and turned the world upside down. What’s your excuse?