Feed like a Shepherd, Graze like the Sheep

Feed like a Shepherd, Graze like the Sheep

He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

John 21 v 17



Peter denied Christ thrice before His trial and crucifixion but he also affirmed the risen Christ thrice after His resurrection and just before His ascension to Heaven. He affirmed that he loved Jesus. Peter was hurt that Jesus asked him thrice. But the purpose was to annul the three denials that Peter made. Satan could no longer accuse him of having said that he did not know the man Jesus and had nothing to do with Him. We might have denied Jesus a thousand times but our affirmations and confessions of faith will cancel the weight and consequences of the denials. Up till this point, Jesus had been playing the role of the good Shepherd who fed His sheep. By asking the same question thrice, He was preparing Peter to take on that role to feed the disciples and believers. “To feed the sheep” meant to encourage, guide, admonish, inspire, teach, minister, explain, illustrate, declare and demonstrate in practical and real ways.


Jesus rarely repeated His golden words for He is a person of perfect speech and perfect wisdom. Yet why did He chose to ask Peter the same question thrice? Jesus is driving home not just to Peter but to all humanity that the greatest task of leadership is not to lead but to feed, to feed not our egos but those who follow Him. Peter was being commissioned for the task of leadership – to feed the other apostles as well as disciples, followers and believers of the time with the words of eternal life that He Himself had taught him. We feed others around us with spiritual nourishment when we teach them the Word, when we share our experiences of the love, grace and mercy of God. When we love the Word of God, it is the surest sign that we love God with all our heart, soul and mind. When we satisfy the longing for truth and meaning, the searching, the spiritual hunger and thirst of people of our generation we are fulfilling the highest calling or purpose to which the Lord has called us.

Through this uni-verse series of meditations, the Lord has called me to feed His sheep in different parts of the world. It will augment their faith, answer unanswered questions, ignite faith in new areas, increase them in maturity and release the wisdom and power of God in their lives. I am also being fed the spiritual food at the same time. Just as a water tank has water flowing into it and then flowing out of it to many outlets, we need to be a reservoir for the Lord. In terms of the frequency of feeding, we ought to be like the sheep. The sheep do not just graze and feed thrice or four times a day but they are grazing wherever and whenever they find pasture. If they are not grazing, they are chewing. Similarly, we need to be feeding as frequently as possible and in between those times of feeding, we should be chewing or meditating on what we had read or heard.

The leadership and management concept derived from this uni-verse is that the chief function of leadership is feeding the sheep and not leading per se. Most of the time the leaders of this world are wolves who feed on the sheep and instead of meeting the spiritual and other need of the sheep are using the sheep to feed their need. The principles evolved from this concept are: a) Our love for God is reflected in how and how much we are involved in feeding His people
b) The more the sheep are fed, the quicker they turn into shepherds
The practical steps that we can take to translate these principles into practice is 1.) set aside time in our daily schedules to feed on the Word
2.) set aside time in our weekly or monthly schedules to feed the believers with spiritual food or the Word

Prateep V Philip