When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
- John 21:15-19

Heroes returning from a great quest often find that they face a last obstacle at home. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus returns to Ithaca after long years away to overcome Penelope's worthless suitors. After the great victory, the hobbit heroes of Lord of the Rings have to come home and deal with the mess on their doorstep. The great victories have to be applied to ordinary life. That's what this series has been about.

So: Peter. Impetuous, loyal, often wrong, occasionally magnificent. In Luke 5, the first time Jesus produces a miraculous catch, Peter's response is to fall at Jesus' knees and beg him to go away - "I am a sinful man!" The presence of Jesus overwhelms him. But in John 21, the same kind of miracle happens, and Peter throws himself into the water and swims to shore as fast as he can. Same Jesus. Same basic situation. Completely different Peter.

What changed? He's learned something about grace - of how in Jesus, the holiness and transcendence of God can be enjoyed, not feared. Theologian Miroslav Volf about the two wrong pictures of God we tend to carry: the Santa Claus god who gives and demands nothing, and the wrathful moralist just waiting for you to slip up. Jesus blows both of those apart. He is genuinely holy - and genuinely loving. Both at once.

Then we have the three-fold "do you love me?" conversation on the beach. It's a deliberate echo of Peter's three denials around the charcoal fire. But Jesus isn't rubbing Peter's nose in his failure - he's restoring him. He's asking: Do you understand now? Do you see what I came to do? And he recommissions Peter. In a mirror of his first calling in Luke as a fisher of people, he is now called as a shepherd of people.

It turns out that failure isn't the barrier to being used by God. If anything, it might be the condition. Only when we learn that our efforts for the cause of Jesus are neither sufficient nor the thing he wants from us, are we ready to serve. Like Peter, you will most probably break down under pressure. What matters most is that we love him.

Stammering Moses became God's great prophet. Annoying little brother David became Israel's great king. Peter failed spectacularly - and became the rock on which the church was built.

What could he do with you?