“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15)

Jesus Christ had two encounters with his disciples by the lake shores.  In both occasions Peter was present. The first encounter was at the very beginning when Jesus started preaching to the people proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Peter and his companions had worked hard fishing all night and had caught nothing. Nevertheless, Jesus told Peter to put out into deep water and lower their nets for a catch. When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Jesus then said to Peter, “From now on you will be catching men!”

The second encounter was after Jesus’ resurrection. He revealed Himself to the disciples by the lake shores. Peter and a few other disciples got into a boat and went out fishing, but that night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore and told them to cast their net over the right side of the boat. This time they caught a full load of fish. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus asked Peter thrice, “Do you love me?” Even though Peter was distressed that the Lord had asked him thrice, he replied to Jesus, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus then affirmatively replied to Peter three times , “Tend my sheep.”

Whether as a  “fisher of men” or a “shepherd to tend the flock of sheep”, the prerequisite was to love and to be loyal to the Lord. Peter had thrice overtly denied that he was Jesus’ disciple.  However his fault was totally wiped out with just one manifestation of his reaffirmation of sincerity to the Lord.