From: John 21:15-19
Peter's Primacy
[15] 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." [16] A second time He said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you
love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord, you know I love You." He said
to him, "Tend My sheep." [17] 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?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know
everything; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My
sheep. [18] Truly, truly I say to you, when you were young, you girded
yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will
stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where
you do not wish to go." [19] (This He said to show by what death he
was to glorify God.) And after this He said to him, "Follow Me."
Commentary:
15-17. Jesus Christ had promised Peter that he would be the primate of
the Church (cf. Matthew 16:16-19 and note on the same). Despite his
three denials during our Lord's passion, Christ now confers on him the
primacy He promised.
"Jesus questions Peter, three times, as if to give him a triple chance
to atone for his triple denial. Peter has learned his lesson from the
bitter experience of his wretchedness. Aware of his weakness, he is
deeply convinced that rash claims are pointless. Instead he puts
everything in Christ's hands. `Lord, You know well that I love You"
([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 267). The primacy was given
to Peter directly and immediately. So the Church has always
understood--and so Vatican I defined: "We therefore teach and declare
that, according to the testimony of the Gospel, the primacy of
jurisdiction over the universal Church of God was immediately and
directly promised and given to Blessed Peter the Apostle by Christ our
Lord. [...] And it was upon Simon Peter alone that Jesus after His
resurrection bestowed the jurisdiction of chief pastor and ruler over
all His fold in the words: "Feed My lambs; feed My sheep" ("Pastor
Aeternus", Chapter 1).
The primacy is a grace conferred on Peter and his successors, the
popes; it is one of the basic elements in the Church, designed to guard
and protect its unity: "In order that the episcopate also might be one
and undivided, and that [...] the multitude of the faithful might be
kept secure in the oneness of faith and communion, He set Blessed Peter
over the rest of the Apostles, and fixed in him the abiding principle
of this twofold unity, and its visible foundation" ("Pastor Aeternus,
Dz-Sch 3051"; cf. Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 18). Therefore, the
primacy of Peter is perpetuated in each of his successors: this is
something which Christ disposed; it is not based on human legislation
or custom.
By virtue of the primacy, Peter, and each of his successors, is the
shepherd of the whole Church and vicar of Christ on earth, because he
exercises vicariously Christ's own authority. Love for the Pope, whom
St. Catherine of Siena used to call "the sweet Christ on earth", should
express itself in prayer, sacrifice and obedience.
18-19. According to Tradition, St. Peter followed his Master to the
point of dying by crucifixion, head downwards, "Peter and Paul suffered
martyrdom in Rome during Nero's persecution of Christians, which took
place between the years 64 and 68. St. Clement, the successor of the
same Peter in the See of the Church of Rome, recalls this when, writing
to the Corinthians, he puts before them `the generous example of these
two athletes': `due to jealousy and envy, those who were the principal
and holiest columns suffered persecution and fought the fight unto
death'" ([Pope] Paul VI, "Petrum Et Paulum").
"Follow Me!": these words would have reminded the Apostle of the first
call he received (cf. Matthew 4:19) and of the fact that Christ
requires of His disciples complete self-surrender: "If any man would
come after Me, let him deny himself and take up the Cross daily and
follow Me" (Luke 9:23). St. Peter himself, in one of his letters, also
testifies to the Cross being something all Christians must carry: "For
to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps" (1 Peter
2:21).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.