In this message we will consider the last chapter of the Gospel of John and the first chapter of the Song of Songs. The order of the writings in the Bible is very meaningful. According to the human concept, we would never imagine that there would be a story of shepherding at the end of John, the Gospel of life. John 21:14 says, “This was now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after He had been raised from the dead.” Note that here the Lord calls them His disciples, not apostles. In this context, we should not consider Peter as an apostle. Peter is not in the position of an apostle but on the ground of a disciple when the Lord deals with him. Therefore, what follows is something related to the disciples.
Verses 15 through 17 continue, “Then when they had eaten 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. He said to him again 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, Shepherd My sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Peter was grieved that 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.” Notice that twice the Lord used the same word, feed.
As we have seen, the first section of the Gospel of John, in chapters one through three, deals with the birth of life. The second section, starting from chapter four, deals with the growth of life, and the third section is on the maturity of life, which is the building up. The more we read this book and get into it, the more we will see that this is the right order. The birth of life is a matter by the spirit and of the spirit: “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (3:6b). Growth is a matter of eating and drinking. In John 4, drinking comes before eating, because drinking is more fundamental than eating. Then in chapter six there is the eating, and in chapter seven there is drinking again. This is the way we take a meal; we drink something first, then we eat, and then after eating we drink again. Drinking and eating, eating and drinking, are for the growth.
The last section, especially from chapter ten and onward, is for the maturity of life, that is, for the building up. The important word in chapter seventeen is one. Verse 21 says, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” Oneness is the building up, and it is maturity. Until we are built up with others, we can never reach maturity. Being built up is a proof that we are mature. The birth of life is a matter of the spirit, growth is a matter of drinking and eating, and maturity is a matter of oneness.
At the end of the Gospel of John there is the record of how the Lord Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep. All Bible students who know this book agree that chapter twenty-one is a “postscript.” After someone writes a letter, he may add something as a “P.S.” at the end to make the letter more clear. The end of chapter twenty says, “Moreover indeed many other signs also Jesus did before His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name” (vv. 30-31). Seemingly, at the end of the twentieth chapter, the book of John concludes. After this conclusion, however, there is another chapter, chapter twenty-one as a postscript.
Both the composition and the meaning of chapter twenty-one give us the same impression that even if we know the Lord as life, grow in Him, and are built up, there is one thing that still is easy to neglect. We know we need to grow, to pay our full attention to growth, and we have seen the light that we have to be built up. However, we must realize that as we are growing and being built up, we need to be balanced and feed others. While we are feeding on the Lord, we have to feed others. We have to feed the lambs. We must be like mothers, who feed on their own food and then feed their children. If there were not such a chapter as John 21, we may easily neglect taking care of and feeding others.
As we have seen, the Gospel of John is not like the other three Gospels. At the end of the other three Gospels, there is the commandment, the so-called great commission, from the Lord to go and preach the gospel. It seems, though, that there is no such commission in this book. However, this book says, “Feed My lambs....Feed My sheep.” Firstly the Lord tells us to feed on Him, and then He says to feed others. This is the balance. Regardless of how spiritual we are, how much growth we have, and how much we have been built up, if we are not feeding others all the time, we are wrong; we are out of balance. Under the Lord’s sovereignty there are some spiritual children that we need to take care of.
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