Read
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, "Feed my lambs." 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, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.
Meditate
Today’s message
There’s a smell that preaches to us. The smell of smoke, for example. A lit barbecue can trigger memories we’ve tried to bury. I know what it’s like to avoid places, names, conversations, because I stumbled in them. But God loves to start from where no one expects: a basket turning into refuge in the river, a virgin pregnant, and today, a bonfire reigniting hope. What have you been running from? An office, an app, a conversation, a church? I came to take you by the hand: it’s not changing the scenery that makes guilt disappear; it’s letting Jesus light another bonfire in the same place.
John takes me to the beach. Bread, fish, and a bonfire. He makes a point of tying this ember to another, back in the cold courtyard: John 18:18. Two bonfires, two stories. In the first, I see myself in Peter, too confident in himself, denying what he swore to defend (Matthew 26:33). In the second, I see Jesus, not ignoring anything, calling the same Peter by name. Grace doesn’t cover up; it enters right where I fell. That’s why I say: running away doesn’t heal; facing it with Jesus rebuilds.
Two bonfires: fall and restoration
- First bonfire (John 18): lit by soldiers; stage of Peter's denial and shame.
- Second bonfire (John 21): lit by the Savior; place of healing, new chance, and new meaning.
- The enemy wants the first to define you; Jesus reignites the second to rewrite your chapter.
- Where do you avoid going back? That’s where grace wants to enter, not to humiliate, but to lift up.
God rebuilds in the same place where you were destroyed.
Notice how Jesus deals with deep wounds: without haste, but without straying from the point. He doesn’t talk about the sea, nor about the fish. He aims for the heart and goes straight to the root. Love. Not performance. Not resume. Love.
Three questions, three healings
- First question: heals a denial and reopens the vocation — Feed my lambs.
- Second question: reaffirms the choice — Tend my sheep.
- Third question: closes the wound — Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.
- Each answer shifts Peter from guilt to care, from a stuck past to an active calling.
So I call you to make the same journey. Face your bonfire. Tell Jesus where it hurt, where you failed, where you’ve been running. Go trembling, but go. Acknowledge limits; stop pretending to be the 'super believer'. Restoration precedes ministry, but ends in it: care, serve, return to your post. And if you need a simple phrase today, pray like this: If the Lord wills, I’m ready. I need to rebuild where I was destroyed.
Did you know
- John is the only evangelist who records the detail of the bonfire in the courtyard and on the beach, connecting fall and restoration.
- The Greek term anthrakía (bonfire of embers) appears only in John 18:18 and John 21:9, reinforcing the intentional connection.
- At Pentecost, about 3,000 believed after Peter's preaching, a sign of the restored calling (Acts 2:41).
Key phrases
- Chapter 21 of John is the chapter of the rescue of the apostle Peter.
- The first bonfire was lit by soldiers. The second bonfire was lit by the Savior.
- Three times you said you didn’t know me, and three times I will make you confess that you love me.
- I need to rebuild where I was destroyed.
Translated from the Portuguese original.
Seek
To seek today
Go deeper
Go deeper
Rebuild where you were destroyed - Pr.Diego Menin
Watch