The Leadership ChallengeSample

Challenge 40

JESUS, RESTORING A BROKEN LEADER

READ: John 21:1–17

By the time we read about Peter in this fascinating passage from John’s Gospel, the impetuous former fisherman has become a broken man. On the night of Jesus’s trial and crucifixion he had boldly proclaimed that he would follow Jesus to the death if necessary. Yet as Jesus predicted, Peter denied his Lord three times before the rooster crowed. After Jesus looked into Peter’s eyes, the disciple left, weeping bitterly over his betrayal (Luke 22:60–62). From a human perspective, that seemed like the end for Peter. How could someone who had fallen so dramatically be restored to leadership? Yet in our text we see Jesus doing exactly that in His first personal encounter with Peter after the betrayal. Recreating the original scene of betrayal around a charcoal fire (see John 18:18), Jesus restores Peter by matching his three original denials with three questions about Peter’s love for Him. Jesus’s first question is whether Peter loves Him more than the other disciples do. It seems likely that Peter’s sense that he loved Jesus more than the others did was what he had been trusting in before his denials. Peter has to be freed from this self-trust before he can be reinstated and given new roles in leadership.

From our text, how does Jesus restore Peter to leadership after each affirmation? We are all prone to failure and brokenness. How does Jesus’s example of loving restoration encourage you in your leadership role?