(A commentary on John 21:15-25)

In the first part of this chapter, seven of the Lord's disciples had come home to Galilee. They had gone fishing, seen Jesus on the shore, followed his instructions to fish on the right side of the boat, dragged a net loaded with 153 fish to shore, and... as the second half of the chapter begins, they have just finished breaking their fast with Him. Now they are relaxing.

Jesus says to Peter,"Do you love me?" and Peter, perhaps a little startled at the question, thinking that the answer is obvious, answers "yes", and Jesus responds, "Feed my lambs". Twice more this sequence is repeated, but with some changes. Then, after this unusual conversation, the Lord tells them all a little parable about being young and later being old. Then the Lord tells Peter to follow him, and Peter, apparently jealous, asks what John is supposed to do. The Lord mildly rebukes Peter’s jealousy by saying, "If this man tarry until I come what is that to you?", but then He tells John also to follow him.

Finally, the gospel of John, and indeed the collection of all four gospels, closes with an explanation by John that he is the writer of this gospel.

So now, let’s look more closely at the conversation, the parable, and the outbreak of jealousy.

Only two of the seven disciples, Peter and John, are mentioned in this part of the story. Peter represents faith, or truth, but truth about spiritual things that we really believe are from God. John represents good, or love to the neighbor. The former resides in the understanding part of the mind and the latter in the will part of the mind.

In telling Peter to feed His sheep, the Lord is saying that to follow Him means to preach the truths that all the disciples now know about the Lord, His coming, and about how a life should be led, in order to be a follower of the Lord in a new church. In the conversation the Lord is direct and probing. "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" I think Peter is being asked whether he loves the Lord, Jesus, more than he loves his fellow Galilean friends, though it’s ambiguous, it could mean "do you love me more than these other six do?’ When Peter answers the first time he says "Lord thou knowest that I love thee."

With this first of the three probing questions, the Lord answers "Feed my lambs," while after that the response is "Feed my sheep." Sheep and lambs both represent people who are in a love of doing good, but while sheep means those who love to do good for the sake of the neighbor, lambs mean those who do good for the sake of the Lord. The first is spiritual good, and the second is higher, and is called celestial good. But people who wish to do good at first don’t know what is good; they need to learn that from the Word and be taught. This is why Peter is told to "feed them", which is to say that truth must indicate how good is to be done. In order to do things that are good, the will's wanting to, and the understanding's knowing how to go about it, must be conjoined. For a successful Christian life, or on a larger scale, a Christian church, 'Peter' and 'John' must work in harmony.

Then comes the parable. "When you were young you got yourself ready and did what you wanted on your own. But when you become old, you have to reach out for help and another shall carry you where you don’t want to go."

This doesn’t seem to fit in here, but of course it does, and in two ways. The first way is given in the Biblical text; it is about the Lord’s death, that all the prophecies were leading Him to His crucifixion, as is mentioned. The second way is a lesson for all of us. When we are young, confident, and strong, we feel that we can do what we want and don’t need any help. Temptations to do evil we ourselves can deal with. But when we grow wiser we realize that all our strength comes from the lord, and if we continue to depend only on ourselves, the temptations from the hells will be too strong and we will be led into doing what the hells want for us, not what we want. We must learn at the start to follow the Lord and depend on Him. This he says at the end of the parable, where it seems not to fit until we understand the parable. "And when He had spoken this He saith unto (them), follow Me." That’s what we need to do also.

Peter is happy to do this preaching of the truth and maybe feels that he has been singled out, but he also realizes that John also loves the Lord and is loved in return. So he asks "And what is this man supposed to do?" It seems that the needed harmony is not yet present, and that Peter is jealous of the bond, and probably hopes to be assured that he is number one... but that doesn’t happen. Peter is simply told that it doesn’t matter; he needs to do the job he has been given.

I’m reminded of the story of Jacob and Esau, in Genesis 25, where Esau is the firstborn and will inherit the birthright and blessing from Isaac, as his due. Jacob by craft devised by his mother deceives Isaac and steals what is Esau’s. Then he runs off to Padan-Aram and stays there with his uncle and becomes rich. It is only on his return journey that he wrestles with the angel and has his name changed to Israel, that he again meets Esau. The change of name means that now that Jacob is rich with truth from the Word, now with the friendly meeting with Esau, also rich, that the two twins can in parable, be merged into one personage, called Israel, meaning the joining of good and truth in the mind.

Esau means something similar to John, they both represent goodness or true charity. Jacob means something similar to Peter, they both represent truth learned from the Word. Any seeming enmity between them as to which is more important can make them both useless, and in a person who is becoming angelic (as everyone should be aiming for), there is no enmity. Truth enables good, and good inspires truth in order to get something done. Although we can think and speak of them separately, they are (perfectly in the Lord and less so in angels) conjoined into a oneness so as to be seen as married. The marriage of the Lord's Divine good and Divine truth is the origin of all creation. Yes, all creation.

This marriage of good and truth, and the need for both to work in our lives, in balance and harmony, is a core New Christian concept.

In the Gospels, there is just one more story that takes place after this one. In it, the rest of the disciples join the seven mentioned here to hear the Lord’s last commands.

1071. That 'he drank wine' means that he wished to probe into matters of faith is clear from the meaning of 'wine'. 'A vineyard' or 'a vine', as has been shown, is the spiritual Church, or member of the spiritual Church. The grape, clusters, and bunches are its fruit, and these mean charity and what belongs to charity. Wine however means faith deriving from charity, and all things that belong to faith. Thus 'grape means the celestial aspect of that Church, and 'wine' the spiritual. The celestial, as often stated already, comprises the will, while the spiritual comprises the understanding. That 'he drank of the wine' means that he wished to probe into matters of faith, and to do so indeed by means of reasonings, is clear from the reason given why 'he was drunk', that is, sank into errors. Indeed the member of this Church did not possess any perception at all as the member of the Most Ancient Church had done. Instead he had to acquire knowledge of what good and truth were by learning about them from doctrinal matters concerning faith which had been gathered together and preserved from the perception that had existed in the Most Ancient Church. And these matters of doctrine constituted the Word of the Ancient Church. As with the Word, doctrinal matters concerning faith were in many instances such that, without perception, they could not be believed; for spiritual and celestial things infinitely transcend human comprehension, and this is why reasoning enters in. But the person who refuses to believe those things until he comprehends them is never able to believe, as often shown already. See what appears in 128, 130, 195, 196, 215, 232, 233.

[2] That 'grapes in the Word means charity and what belongs to charity, and that 'wine' means both faith deriving from charity and also matters of faith, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. ¹ He looked for it to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes. Isaiah 5:1-2, 4.

Here 'grapes' stands for charity and the fruits of charity. In Jeremiah,

I will surely gather them, says Jehovah; there will be no grapes on the vine nor figs on the fig tree. Jer, 8:13.

'Vine' stands for the spiritual Church, 'grapes' for charity. In Hosea,

Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel, like the first fruit on the fig tree, in the beginning, I saw your fathers. Hosea 9:10.

'Israel' stands for the Ancient Church, 'grape' for the fact that they were endowed with charity. These words are used in the contrary sense when 'Israel' stands for the sons of Jacob. In Micah,

There was no cluster to eat; my soul desired the first fruit. The holy man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men. Micah 7:1-2.

'Cluster' stands for charity or that which is holy, 'first fruit' for faith or that which is upright.

[3] In Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it. Isaiah 65:8.

'Cluster' stands for charity, 'new wine' for goods that stem from charity, and truths deriving from these. In Moses,

He washes his clothing in wine, and His garment in the blood of grapes. Genesis 49:11.

This is a prophecy concerning the Lord. 'Wine' stands for that which is spiritual deriving from what is celestial, 'blood of grapes' for the celestial in respect to spiritual Churches. So 'grapes' stands for charity itself, 'wine' for faith itself. In John,

The angel said, Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the earth, for its grapes have ripened. Revelation 14:18.

This refers to the last times when there is no faith, that is, when there is no charity. For no faith exists other than that which inheres in charity, and in essence is charity itself. Consequently when it is said that there is no longer any faith, as in the last times, it means that there is no charity.

[4] As 'grapes' means charity, so 'wine' means faith deriving from charity, for wine is obtained from grapes. In addition to these and previous quotations concerning the vineyard and the vine, the following also make the point clear: In Isaiah,

Gladness and exaltation have been taken away from Carmel, and in the vineyards there is no singing, no joyful noise. No treader treads out wine in the presses; I have made the hedad ² to cease. Isaiah 16:10.

This stands for the fact that the spiritual Church, meant by 'Carmel', has been vastated, 'none treading wine in the presses' for the fact that no longer are there any people who possess faith. In the same prophet,

The inhabitants of the earth will be scorched and few men left. The new wine will mourn, the vine will languish; they will not drink wine with singing, strong drink will be bitter to those drinking it; there will be an outcry in the streets over wine. Isaiah 24:6-7, 9, 11.

The vastated spiritual Church being the subject, 'wine' stands for truths of faith that are considered valueless. In Jeremiah,

They will say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they faint like one who has been run through in the streets of the city. Lamentations 2:12.

'Where is corn and wine?' means, Where is love and faith? 'Streets of the city' means truths here, as elsewhere in the Word. 'Those who have been run through in them' means that they do not know what the truths of faith are.

[5] In Amos,

I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel, and they will build the ruined cities and inhabit them. And they will plant vineyards and drink their wine. Amos 9:14.

This refers to the spiritual Church, meant by Israel, to which 'planting vineyards and drinking wine' is attributed when it becomes a Church such as derives faith from charity. In Zephaniah,

They will build houses but not inhabit them, and they will plant vineyards but not drink their wine. Zephaniah 1:13; Amos 5:11.

Here 'vineyard' and 'wine' stand for the contrary situation when the spiritual Church has been vastated. In Zechariah,

They will be like a mighty man of Ephraim, and their heart will rejoice as from wine, and their sons will see it and rejoice. Zechariah 10:7.

This refers to the house of Judah, that it would be such by virtue of the goods and truths of faith. In John the command not to do harm to oil and wine, Revelation 6:6, stands for doing no harm to what is celestial and spiritual, that is, to things of love and faith.

[6] In the Jewish Church, since 'wine' meant faith in the Lord, the libation of wine in the sacrifices also represented faith, as in Numbers 15:1-15; 28:11-15, 18-end; Numbers 29:7-end; Leviticus 23:12-13; Exodus 29:40. Hence the following is said in Hosea,

Threshing-floor and winepress will not feed them, and new wine will be deceptive in her. They will not dwell in Jehovah's land, but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean: They will not pour libations of wine to Jehovah, they will not be pleasing to Him. Hosea 9:1-4.

This refers to Israel, or the spiritual Church, and to those people in it who pervert and defile holy things and the truths of faith by wishing to probe into them by means of knowledge and reasonings. 'Egypt' is knowledge, 'Assyria' reasoning, and 'Ephraim' one who engages in reasoning.

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