(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.

775. Having seven heads. That this signifies the knowledge of the holy things of the Word that are falsified and adulterated, is evident from the signification of the head, as denoting intelligence and wisdom; and in the opposite sense, insanity and folly; concerning which see above (n. 553, 577). And because intelligence and wisdom cannot be spoken of in reference to those who by reasonings from the natural man confirm the separation of faith and life, these being meant by the beast coming up out of the sea; therefore, by his head knowledge is signified. Knowledge of the holy things of the Word is meant, because there were seven heads; and the number seven is used of things holy, as may be seen above (n. 257). The reason why such knowledge is meant is that those meant by the dragon are not hostile to the Word; for they call the Word holy and Divine because they seek out from it confirmations of their own dogmas. Nevertheless, that the holy things of the Word, of which they have the knowledge, are falsified and adulterated by them, will be evident from what follows; and in general from this, that those who separate faith from life, cannot do otherwise, because such separation is contrary to each and all things of the Word. For in these there is a marriage of good and truth, which is perfectly clear from the spiritual sense of the Word. On this account, also, there are, in most passages, two expressions, which appear to be a repetition of the same thing. One of them, however, has reference to good, and the other to truth; thus both make, as it were, a marriage, which is called a Divine marriage, a celestial marriage, and a spiritual marriage, and which, strictly regarded, is the marriage of good and truth; concerning which see above (n. 238, 288, 484, 660). The marriage of faith and love, or of faith and good works, should be similar; for faith pertains to truth, and truth to faith; and love pertains to good, and good to love. Hence it is clear, that those who separate faith from the life thereof, or, what is the same, from love, cannot but falsify the Word, because they explain the sense of the letter in a manner contrary to that marriage of good and truth which is contained in each and all things of the Word.

[2] It was said, that the head signifies wisdom and intelligence, and that in the case of those who do not possess wisdom and intelligence, it signifies knowledge; hence in the case of those who falsify and pervert the Word, it signifies insanity and folly, the same as above (n. 715), where the signification of the seven heads of the dragon was explained. Hence the same also is here signified by the head of this beast; for the beast here mentioned is the dragon, as to reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from life.

The head signifies wisdom, intelligence, and the knowledge of truths, and, in the opposite sense, folly, insanity, and the knowledge of falsities, because these things reside in the head and they are there in their beginnings. This is quite evident from the fact that the origins of all the fibres are there; these proceed thence to all the sensory and motor organs of the face and the whole body. There are substances there, infinite in number, which appear like little spheres, and are called by anatomists the cortical and cineritious substances. From these proceed small fibres, the primary of which are not evident to the sight, and which afterwards form fascicles. From these the medullary substance of the whole cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata is produced; and from this medullary substance proceed fibres visible to the sight, which, when conjoined, are called nerves. By means of these the cerebrum, cerebellum, and spinal marrow form the entire body, and each and all things pertaining to it, and thus each and all things belonging to the body are under the rule of the brains.

[3] From these things it is evident that the understanding and the will, which are designated by the one term, mind - consequently also intelligence and wisdom - reside in the brains, and that they are there in their beginnings. Also that the organs which are formed to receive sensations and produce motions are derivations therefrom; just as streams are derived from their fountains, or as results from their causes, or as substantial products from their respective substances. Moreover those derivations are such that the brain is everywhere present, almost in the same way as the sun, by its light and heat, is present in each and all things of the earth.

Hence it follows that the whole body, and each and all things belonging to it, are forms under the direction and government of the mind, and also subservient thereto; and the mind is in the brain; and that it is so constructed to obey the direction of the mind, that the part where the latter were not present, or to which it did not communicate its life, would be no part of man's life.

[4] From these things it is evident that the mind, while it is in its thought which belongs to the understanding, and in its affection which pertains to the will, extends into every individual part of the body, and there by means of its own forms ranges at large, as the thoughts and affections of the angels do in the societies of the whole heaven. The case is also similar in the present instance, because all the things belonging to the human body correspond to all the things of heaven; therefore, the form of the whole heaven, in the sight of the Lord, is the human form. This subject is treated of at great length in the Arcana Coelestia, and also in the work concerning Heaven and Hell.

[5] These things have been said in order that it may be known why it is that the head signifies wisdom and intelligence; as also, in the opposite sense, folly and insanity. For such as a man is in primaries, such is he in the whole; the body, together with each and every part of it, being a derivation, as just stated. If, therefore, the mind is in the belief of falsity, and in the love of evil, then the entire body - that is the whole man - is in a similar state.

This is also quite evident as soon as a man becomes a spirit, whether good or evil; for then his whole spiritual body, from head to foot, is entirely qualified by his mind. If the mind is heavenly, the whole spirit also as to the body is heavenly. If the mind is infernal, the whole spirit also as to the body is infernal. Wherefore the latter spirit appears in a horrible form as a devil; but the former in a beautiful form as an angel of heaven. But on this subject we shall treat further elsewhere.