And so a few weeks after the Resurrection, when the Risen Christ breakfasted on the shore of the Lake of Galilee with Peter and six other disciples, he solemnly restored Peter to his position as the Prince of the Apostles, and entrusted him with the threefold commission to feed Christ’s lambs and to shepherd and feed Christ’s sheep.

And Christ was able to do that with complete confidence because Peter, for all his failure and all his faults, was his loyal and devoted friend and disciple; and Christ knew that his flock would recognise Peter’s voice as his own voice, and in following the Apostle they would also follow the Good Shepherd himself whose flock they were.