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officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it
was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter also
was with them, standing and warming himself.”
There’s only two times in your New Testament that you
read about a charcoal fire. The last time Peter saw a charcoal
fire he was denying the Lord. Now he swims to shore and that
memory comes back of the charcoal fire. Jesus did that on
purpose. I say, “Lord, why are you doing that to that poor
man?”
John 21:15, “So, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus
said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me more
than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord, You know that I love
You.’ He said to him, ‘Tend My lambs.’” Don’t read that “la,
la, la”. Peter was already suffering when he saw the charcoal
fire and now Jesus speaks to him for the first time and he calls
him, “Simon”. That was his name before he got saved. Jesus
isn’t calling him “Peter”. He’s calling him “Simon”. I think
that was painful.
Remember the verse that we began with, John 1:42, “He
brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, ‘You are
Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas. (Which
translated means Peter).” Jesus is stirring up Peter’s heart; the
memory of the miracle of the fish and the memory of the
charcoal fire. Peter thought, “I don’t want to see that. Jesus
lost confidence in me and now He is calling me by my old
name.” This is very uncomfortable for Peter.
Then Jesus asked him the same question three times. He
had denied the Lord three times. John 21:15, “So, when they
had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son
of John, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him,
‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Tend
My lambs.’” John 21:16, “He said to him again a second time,
‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes,
Lord; You know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Shepherd
My sheep.’” John 21:17,“He said to him the third time, ‘Simon,
son of John, do you love Me?’ And he said to Him, ‘Lord, You

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