Sisters Lea and Consilia are quite right to mistrust and dislike that sheep-and-shepherd imagery that early on became traditional in hierarchical Christianity, not least in the common title "pastor." And I hope it has struck at least some of us, at one time or another, as very odd, to use that imagery to refer to a supposedly loving relationship, when in fact the literal pastoral relationship was all about the deadly exploitation of the sheep by the shepherd.

The threefold commands of Jesus to Peter, "Feed/tend my sheep/lambs," are found in chapter 21, the final chapter, of the Gospel of John, considered an appendix added to the final edition. We should note that this gospel was written by and for a community who considered the non-hierarchical Beloved Disciple as their leader in the faith, and not Peter or the "apostles." So the Peter-material in 21 should be understood as a friendly blessing of those Petrine, non-Johannine Christians, without being an endorsement of Petrine ways.