phileo<\/em> (the love of a close and dear friend). Still, Jesus gives him tasks that will build his faith. He tells Peter to feed his lambs, tend his sheep and to feed his sheep.<\/p>\nJesus’ sheep are all Christians, both Jews and Gentiles (John 10:14-16). Jesus is the Shepherd and we follow him. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep<\/em>” (John 10:11).<\/p>\nWe aren’t talking about physical sheep, so also the action of feeding is not a physical one. Jesus is instructing Peter to give spiritual nourishment. It is an imagery God has used often. “And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding<\/em>” (Jeremiah 3:15).<\/p>\nLambs are young sheep, so lambs well represent new Christians. “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby<\/em>” (I Peter 2:2). Peter’s job was to teach God’s word to help new Christians to grow.<\/p>\nHe was also to tend the sheep. Again, this imagery was used before. “He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands<\/em>” (Psalms 78:70-72). It is true that this is a job of elders. “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock<\/em>” (Acts 20:28-29). Peter did fill the role of an elder along with being an apostle. “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away<\/em>” (I Peter 5:1-4).<\/p>\nPeter was not being placed at the head of the other apostles. Such counters what Jesus had long taught them. They had always fought over who would be greatest, and thus missed the point. “There arose also a contention among them, which of them was considered to be greatest. He said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves. For who is greater, one who sits at the table, or one who serves? Isn’t it he who sits at the table? But I am in the midst of you as one who serves<\/em>” (Luke 22:24-27). In John 21, Jesus was giving Peter instructions on how to serve, not to rule. And this Peter did. “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior<\/em>” (II Peter 1:12-21).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: Our Lord Jesus in John 21 tells\u00a0the apostle Peter to feed His sheep three times. What role was Peter being told to assume? Is it that of an elder? \u00a0Which sheep was our Lord talking about? Is it the other apostles and disciples or the church that was going to be established at Jerusalem?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[170,123,559,451,76],"class_list":["post-20848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-apostles","tag-elders","tag-peter","tag-teaching","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70683,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/feed-my-sheep\/","url_meta":{"origin":20848,"position":0},"title":"Feed My Sheep","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton If you love Jesus, you must tend His sheep (John 21:15-17). This is what Jesus told Peter. You cannot love Jesus without caring for Jesus' church, who are His sheep. Jesus is inseparable from His church. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot love\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sheep-300x225.avif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28406,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-all-petered-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":20848,"position":1},"title":"I\u2019m All Petered Out","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The sun was sinking, and the day's work was done. The farmer shut off his tractor, walked to the house, and into the kitchen where his wife had his coffee waiting for him. As he sat, he wiped the sweat off his brow and said, \"I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/tired-300x256.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21016,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/restoration\/","url_meta":{"origin":20848,"position":2},"title":"Restoration","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Fancher I. Restoration of Purpose, Zeal, and Love John 21:1-9 After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself:2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in, Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58076,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/martignoni-thrasher-debate-on-the-pope\/","url_meta":{"origin":20848,"position":3},"title":"Martignoni – Thrasher Debate on the Pope","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"John Martignoni, Catholic, and Thomas N. Thrasher, Christian via\u00a0Meditate on These Things, April 2012 Proposition \"The apostle Peter was the first Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.\" Affirm: John Martignoni Deny: Thomas N. Thrasher Martignoni's First Affirmative My task is to argue the affirmative of the proposition: \"The apostle Peter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2670,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-ending-of-the-law-and-salvation-of-the-gentiles-taught-before-paul\/","url_meta":{"origin":20848,"position":4},"title":"Was the ending of the Law and salvation of the Gentiles taught before Paul?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Before Acts 9 can you give me scriptures that shows the twelve apostles teaching that we are not under the law, there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, and that we are saved by grace through faith in the death and resurrection of Christ only for salvation? I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54455,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-peter-follow-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":20848,"position":5},"title":"Why did Peter follow Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did Peter follow Jesus? Answer: Peter followed Jesus first because his brother, Andrew, told him that he and John, Peter's fellow fisherman, had found the Messiah (John 1:41-42), so initially, he went out of curiosity. When he met Jesus, he was given a nickname, which indicated what kind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}