John 21:15

Plain English Version

After they finished eating, Jesus talked to Peter, whose other name was Simon. He said, “Simon, son of John, do you love me, more than these other followers love me?” Peter said, “Yes, sir, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “All right, you have to take care of my people properly, just like a shepherd takes his young sheep to good grass for them to eat.”

Cross References

Genesis 33:13

But Jacob said to Esau, “Sir, as you can see, my kids are young, and they can’t walk very fast. And some of my animals have baby animals with them, and I have to look after those animals. If I make them walk fast, they will die after one day.

Matthew 10:37

You see, you have to love me more than you love your own father and mother. Then it is all right for you to be my follower. And you have to love me more than you love your own son or daughter. Then it is all right for you to be my follower. If you don’t love me like that, you are not the right person to be my follower.

Mark 14:29

Peter said, “Maybe all the others will run away, but not me. No way.”

John 1:42

So Andrew took Simon to meet Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and said, “You are Simon and your father’s name is John. I will call you Kefas.” (In their language, that word Kefas means stone, and Peter is another name that means stone, so we usually call him Peter.)

John 13:37

Peter asked, “But, sir, why can’t I follow you now? I am ready to die for you.”

John 16:27

You see, he loves you too. He loves you because you love me, and because you believe that I came from him.

John 21:12

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” They all knew that he was their leader Jesus, but none of them were brave enough to ask, “Are you really Jesus?”

John 21:7

Then the follower that Jesus liked a lot, said to Peter, “That man on the land is our leader Jesus.” As soon as Peter heard that the man was Jesus, he put his coat back on. (You see, he took it off before, so that he could work better.) Then he jumped into the water to go to Jesus.

John 8:42

Jesus said to them, “No. God is not your father. You see, God sent me here. It wasn’t my idea to come here, God sent me. But you don’t love me. So I know that God is not your father.

Acts 20:28

Now you leaders have to make sure you keep on following Jesus properly, and you have to help God’s people to follow him properly too. The Holy Spirit picked you to be their leaders, so look after them properly. Remember, God bought his people with the blood of his own son.

Acts 20:29

I know that after I go away from here, other people will come to you, and they will teach you lies. They will try to trick all of God’s people. They will be like cheeky dingoes that kill sheep. Even in your own group of Christians, some men will get up and say things to trick other Christians. They will change the true story and tell it wrong, so they can get people to follow them.

Romans 14:1

There are some Christians that are not sure if it is right or wrong for them to do some things. But don’t worry, let people like that be in your church, and don’t argue with them about whatever they think they have to do.

Romans 15:1

Some of us are strong and trust God about these things, but other Christians are weak and worry about them a lot. We strong Christians have to be easy on those weak Christians, and help them get strong. We have to think about the problems they have with these things. We can’t just do whatever makes us happy.

1 Corinthians 8:11

So you will wreck that other Christian that is not so sure about these things. You see, you yourself know that food has no power, but if then you eat it, and that makes another Christian go wrong, you are doing wrong because you wreck that other Christian. And Jesus Christ died for that person.

Galatians 5:6

You see, if people belong to Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter if they have a young man operation or not. The only thing that matters is that they trust Jesus, and if they do that, they will love God, and they will love other people.

Ephesians 4:14

So then liars will not trick us, like they trick little kids. Lots of tricky people will try to teach us new messages that sound good, but are wrong. But we will not be like little kids. We will not believe their lies. Instead, we will be strong, and we will not stop believing the true message.

Ephesians 6:24

I want God to be very good to everyone that never stops loving our leader, Jesus Christ. From Paul

1 Peter 1:8

You never saw Jesus, but you love him. You can’t see him now, but you trust him. You are trusting God, and he is saving you, so you are really happy. You are so happy you can’t properly say how happy you are.

1 Peter 2:2

Instead, you have to keep learning more of God’s word. Think about little babies. They always want milk. It makes them grow and get strong. Well, they are a picture of you Christians. You have to keep wanting more of God’s word, and it will make you believe more strongly, and then God will save you.

1 Peter 2:25

Before that, you were going the wrong way and getting lost like sheep. But now you have come to Jesus, and he looks after you and shows you the right way to live, just like a man looks after his sheep.