Beside the fire where failure once had been,
The risen Lord restores the heart within.
“Do you love me?”—the question still rings deep;
Love answers back: Go now, and feed my sheep
On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, beside a quiet charcoal fire, the final scene of the Gospel unfolds. The risen Jesus prepares breakfast—bread and fish—for tired fishermen who had spent the night casting their nets. Moments earlier they had hauled in a remarkable catch: 153 fish, yet the net did not tear. The scene is simple, almost ordinary. Yet within this ordinary moment lies one of the most profound questions in all of Scripture: “Do you love me?”
The setting is deeply intentional. The only other charcoal fire in John’s narrative burned in the courtyard where Peter denied Jesus three times. Now, beside another charcoal fire, the risen Christ gently leads Peter through three questions, mirroring those three denials. Shame is not ignored, but it is transformed. Failure becomes the doorway to restoration.
Each time Peter affirms his love, Jesus entrusts him with responsibility: “Feed my lambs… Tend my sheep… Feed my sheep.” Love for Christ becomes the foundation of Christian leadership. Before strategy, authority, or mission comes a far deeper qualification: a heart that loves the Lord.
Nearby stands another disciple, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Together these two figures represent the life of the church—Peter the shepherd who leads and serves, and the beloved disciple who bears faithful witness. Different callings, yet the same center: devotion to Christ.
The miraculous catch hints at the future mission of the church—people gathered from every place, held together in one unbroken net. The quiet breakfast reminds us that the risen Christ is not distant; he invites his followers into fellowship with him.
And so the Gospel does not end with a command or a doctrine, but with a question that echoes through every generation of believers: Do you love me?
From that love flows everything else—service, witness, and the ongoing story of God’s work in the world.
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