The Sea and the Beach

John xxi. 11

This is now the tliirtl time that Jesus shewed Himself to Ilis disciples, after that He was risen from the dead. — John xxi. 11.

r I iHE risen Lord’s appearances to the disciples on -*- Easter Day were chiefly intended to enkindle and confirm their faith in the fact of the Resurrection. That being done, a 2)ause ensued, during which they had not His presence. They returned to Galilee, and, as it would appear, — some of them at all events, — to the old haunts, and there awaited the fulfilment of the promise: ‘’ There shall ye see Him.” My text refers to the fulfilment of that promise. The evangelist is careful to point out that this is the third of the Lord’s appearances to the assembled disciples, the other two having been those on Easter {Sunday itself, and a week after, mainly for the benefit of the unbelieving Thomas.

Now, there is a very obvious and striking difi’erence between these two sets of appearances, which are thus parted by a imrenthesis of absence. In the one, the object is, as I have said, mainly to demonstrate the fact of the Resurrection; in the other the object is mainly to reveal the consequences of that fact, and to show what the risen Lord will be to His servants, where they may find Him, how they may recognise Him, what He will do for them. Consequently there is an obvious difference in the prominence given to the disciples in the two sets of narratives. In the former they simply appear as doubting and convinced, in the latter they play a much more prominent part.

One other observation must be made in order that we may grasp the whole meaning of this third manifestation to the assembled disciples, and that is that it is a replica of a previous event — the time when the first apostles were called to their office by that miraculous draught of fishes by the same Sea of Tiberias. Differences occur, which are as significant as the resemblances, but this later manifestation is evidently built upon, and refers to, the former. Now, that former incident is by our Lord Himself declared to be symbolical of His call to the apostles to be “fishers of men,” and we are therefore not only permitted, but obliged, to regard this incident, too, as having the same colouring and the same application. It is intended to be, in symbolical form, a revelation of the relation of the risen Lord to His toiling servants. In the former event He was with them in the boat: in this

He stands on the firm beach whilst they toil on the tossing sea. !So then, there are two main points here, the toilers on the sea and the Lord on the beach, and the toilers with their Lord at the meal on the shore. Let us look at these two:

We have in the former part of the incident —

I. The Toilers on the Sea, and the Lord on THE Shore.

A little group of seven disciples had held together, and come back, as I said, to their old haunts. The composition of the group is remarkable. Three of the seven belonged to the first set of disciples; a fourth was the disbelieving Thomas, who had had enough of solitary brooding, and now found safety in companionship; a fifth was Nathanael, and then there were two unnamed disciples. The three inseparables, Peter, James, and John, are separated in the catalogue here; Peter being put first, and James and John at the end, veiled under their patronymic. Does not that place of inferiority, and that halfconcealed declaration of their presence on the occasion, coincide with the supposed authorship of this gospel? Who but John himself would have put him at the tail-end of such a catalogue as this?

“Simon Peter saith, we go a fishing.” The man of action felt waiting to be irksome, and the rest of them fell in with his jn’oposal. They had come to Galilee to meet Christ. It might have seemed a very dnll, prosaic kind of thing to go back to the old life with nets and boats, after the excitements and the blessednesses of the three years of communion, and with such an expectation flaming in their hearts, but it was wise. And we shall be wise if we learn that wholesome expectation of great crises should never make us disgusted with small duties. The steadying effect of sticking to humble tasks is taught us here, and the wisdom of always making our waiting, which is no small part of our work on earth, associated with active endeavour. We shall be most sure of meeting Jesus Christ in the dusty roads of common life, if we are expecting with an inward and an upward-looking eye, even while we toil and travel. It was to “shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night” that the infant King was shown. It was to a handful of toiling fishermen in a slimy boat that the Master appeared on the shore. ^’ I being in the way, the Lord met me.”

The night’s toil had been in vain. The rising sunshine ended the hopes of a haul. And so it was at the very moment that disappointment would be busiest at their hearts that the Stranger was seen on the beach. His question is scarcely adequately represented either in the Authorised or the Hevised Version, for it has not reference so much to their supply of food for themselves as to the success of tlicir fishing’, and is the kind of question that a curious passer-] »y, or an intending j)urchaser, would he likely to put. And the answer, curt, is such as weary fishermen with empty nets, who had something else to do than talk to a passer-by, would be likely to fling over a hundred yards of water. “They answered, No.” We do not need to bring in any idea of a personal change in the corporeity of Jesus Christ to understand their non-recognition of Him. It was the grey of the morning; they were not thmking about Him; they had something else to look at, they scarcely looked at Him. They answered as briefly as possible, and then went on with theii work.

Then came the first of the revealing words: “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.” Brethren, the risen Christ directs His servants. The season may seem to be past, long and futile toil may have discouraged and saddened us. Hope may be nearly dead, but if we will keep our hearts, as we ought to keep them, in the attitude of waiting — aye! and sometimes though we do not so keep our hearts, and are thinking about anything else, we shall hear, — by His providences, by the whispers of His Spirit in our spirits, by His shaping and directing of our own honest attempts to ascertain our duty — we shall hear Him speak; never fear! For this incident is no mere exhibition, in a transitory fashion, of a transitory blessing, but it is the revelation — not symbolically, but actually, as being the natural expression of His interest in His servants’ work — of the perpetual fact that they that wait on Him to be guided will be guided, in the measure of their docile waiting, and that our lives, all of them, may be regulated by the hand of that directing Christ, who, from the safe shore, guides the tossing boats. That is no mere fanciful spiritualising of a fact which was never meant to carry such weighty lessons, but it is the discernment, beneath one incident, of the perpetual principle from which that incident flows, and from which other similar ones will flow, if we fnlfil the conditions. The risen Christ, unseen, is interested in His servants’ toils, and the risen Christ will guide us, if we will let ourselves be guided.

Then comes the other thought, that that guiding Christ is the Source of success, as well as the Fountain of counsel. “They cast, and were not able to draw for the multitude of fishes.” No doubt they thought to themselves — “The Stranger there on the beach has seen some signs of a shoal from His higher elevation that we on the water’s level have failed to note.” But, at all events, they obeyed, and obeying they received the result. The success may not always come. Often it does not come so far as outward thino:s are concerned; but the true success, that of knitting my hoart and will more closely to the heart and will of Jesns Christ, always does come. And when He chooses, and knows it to be best for ns, the empty nets will be filled, and we shall be amazed at the results of our toil.

Then, further, the risen Lord, directing and prospering the obedience of His servants, is recognised by the swift insight of love. John sits quiet in the boat, and, not because his eyes were clearest, but because his love was deepest, and his temperament reflective, he first pierced the veil, and found the Friend behind it. The same experiences happened to him as to the others. The same experiences happen to many of us, but some of us are blind, and some of us can see. They that see are they who love, and they who ponder. Ah! brethren, if we were only meditatively to reflect upon the facts of our individual lives, and that not only for the purpose of deducing from our past experience maxims that might guide our steps to earthly success, we should more frequently be thrilled with the startling joy of discerning, in what had seemed vacancy, the Presence, and in what had seemed a Stranger, the veritable Christ Himself. And when you and I can say, looking upon some event that to others seems to be common and earthly, “It is the Lord!” then crooked things are made straight, and rough places plain; and the heart is calmed, and the muscles are braced, and work is possible, and all vigour and peace pitch their tents in our happy hearts. The eye that sees the Lord amidst the whirl of earthly things, sees all that it needs for peace and power.

I need not do more than remind yon of the contrast that is so obvious that everybody can see it, between the disciple who is contented with vision, and the disciple, less strong in vision, but moved by the need for action. John said, “It is the Lord! “and that was enough for him. Peter had not seen that it was the Lord, but to know that it was, was not enough for him. So, picking up his fisher’s coat, and hastily girding himself with it, he floundered over the side of the boat in the growing light, and somehow or other, half swimming, half wading, and not knowing how, he got at last to the Master’s feet. What sent him on that unnecessary rush, when he might have sat in the boat and come with the rest? Partly temperament, the need of action, partly a touch of his old fussiness and wish to be distinguished as well as to be doing. But I think more than all, the remembrance of his fall, and of his secret interview on Easter Day. On the occasion of the first draught of fishes he fell at Christ’s feet saying:” Go away, for I am too sinful to be in Thy presence.” On the second occasion he cast himself at the Master’s feet, and clung to Him, saying:” Let me cling to Thee, for I am too sinful to be absent

THE SEA AD THE BEACH 73

from Thee.” And wliicli was the truer penitence? Let our own hearts tell us.

We have here —

II. The ToiLEEs and their Loed together on the Shore at the Meal.

We read that the rest of the disciples came in more sober fashion, bringing the boat with them through the hundred yards of distance. And when they landed they saw a fire on the beach, and the materials of a simple meal. There is no need to suppose a miracle; but if it were not a miracle, who lit that fire? Who brought the fish and the bread? Jesus Christ. You may draw symbolic meaning ont of the fact, but let us cling to the plain fact to begin with, that the hands which were pierced with the nails, and were to wield the sceptre of the universe, gathered together the brands for the fire, and brought there the bread and the food. It was just what the mothers or wives of these men would have done. It was just the thing that seven fishermen, fagged with a night’s work, wet with hauling nets, hungry with the keen morning air, needed most. And is it not, in its plain, prosaic form, the bearer of a great message for us — that Jesns Christ, our risen Lord, cares for every part of His servant’s nature, and for the smallest and the humblest of His servant’s necessities? The risen Saviour lays the fire, and brings the food for the toilers, and that fact was meant to

Ije, in transient form, a revelation of one part of the perpetual relations between our Lord and His disciples.

AVe may note, further, how here there is the servants’ contribution to what the Lord had prepared. “Bring of the fish that ye have caught.” Notice the fisherman’s instinct in telling the extent of the catch. John had been accustomed, in the old days, to lay out his fish on the beach and count them, and he did it that morning; and so shows us, I think, that we have here to deal with the word of a very sober-minded, unenthusiastic eye-witness, who, having it for his main object to speak about the manifestation of the risen Lord, was cool enough to count the fish before they carried some of them to the fire of coals. That is not much like a hot-minded enthusiast, who was the slave of some hallucination. The lesson taught us is that Jesus Christ accepts, and is glad to have given to Him, by our own act, the results which His counsel and His blessing have enabled us to achieve.

About the meal on the shore itself, I have but a word to say. We cannot but note its analogies to, and its difi’erences from, former incidents, such as the Lord’s Supper, for instance, or the meal at Emmaus, or the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, on the other side of the lake. But, passing these, note just two points. This meal suggests to us how that risen

Lord, even here on earth, will and docs care for the needs of His servants, and gives to them not only counsel in their toil, but refreshment after it. The consequences of our obedience become the food of our spirits, and they who hear Christ’s voice, and have toiled by His command, are nourished and sustained by the result of their efforts. It is the law for life: ^’ He that will not work neither shall he eat.” ^’ In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread.”

But this is more than a parable for earth; it is a prophecy for heaven. He on the steadfast shore welcomes His servants thither, from their toil on the tossing sea; and when they land they come not empty-handed, but bearing with them their works that “follow them,” and, as the prophet says, “they that have gathered it shall eat it in the courts of my holiness.” So, dear friends, it may be with us all, if we will. We, too, toiling in the night, may be aware of a Presence that sheds peace across the waters, like a moonbeam over a stormy sea. We, too, if we keep our ears open, may hear the counsel and command of His directing voice. We, too, if we obey that voice when we do hear it, may be surprised with longdelayed, and therefore the more joyous success, which will turn apparent frustration into triumphant fruition. But whether apparent success be granted to us or not, all faithful service bears fruit unto life eternal. And when He calls us from the wet nets and the pitching boat, on to the steadfast shore, we may come not empty-handed, but bearing in our hands results which are the consequences not so much of our toil, as of His blessing. He will accept these, and we shall eat of the fruit of our hands, and the Master Himself will gird Himself, and come forth and serve His servants.