The Lake Shore
Return to the Sea of Galilee. Jesus reveals Himself. The
FEAST ON THE SHORE. CHRIST’S ADDRESS TO PETER. He BEPONES HIM IN THE APOSTOLIC OFFICE.” FOLLOW THOU
“The storm is o’er — and hark! a still small voice Steals on the ear, to say, Jehovah’s choice
Is ever with the soft, meek, tender soul:
By soft, meek, tender ways He loves to draw
The sinner, startled by His ways of awe:
Here is our Lord, and not where thunders roll.”
“He loved St John exceedingly, but it was by Peter that he was exceedingly beloved.” — Chrysostom.
“In the interview that follows, the Lord addresses Himself to Peter alone. All the past is buried in oblivion: forgiveness begets love: much forgiveness, much love. The fallen Apostle is restored: the Shepherd’s crook is again put into his hands -the Martyr s crown is suspended over his head. Z>r Candlisk’s Scripture Miscellanies.
“There was no Apostle who appeared from this hour so remarkably by the power of Divine grace to have overcome the natural frailties of his temper and disposition as St Peter.” — Blunt.
“Peter was now ‘converted:’ converted from self-confidence to humble distrust of his own strength. He must have been now qualified, at least by a general firm reliance on his Master, for his destined office of administering consolation and support to the other Apostles — * strengthening his brethren.’ He was prepared to live the life and to die the death of a Martyr in his Master’s cause.” — Archbishop Whately.
ME.”
—KeUe.
E owe to the Fourth Evangelist a new and most touching chapter in the life of Peter, and one which, as we shall come to note, forms an important key to the position he afterwards assumed in the Infant Church. The 21st chapter of St John’s Gospel has been regarded by scholars as an appendix or postscript. The surmise has even been ventured, that in his last abode in Ephesus, when laid on his death-bed, the season when memory is often peculiarly vivid, and when scenes and visions of the past stand out with photographic detail, he either transcribed himself, or dictated to another, an episode we should not willingly have missed from the sacred canon. It has been further surmised, that the
l “If we c*U John i. 1-14 the Prologue, this we might style the Epilogue of hie Go,peLw — Trench. main and immediate object the aged Apostle bad in view was to contradict the rumour of his own immortality — the saying that had gone abroad, and gained wide acceptance among the Brethren,” that he should not die “(v. 23). This he does at the close of the chapter. But as he recalls the spot where Jesus had spoken words which had thus been misinterpreted —” If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee I n (v. 22) — all the memorable accessories of the scene so rose like one of his own apocalyptic visions before his dimming eye, and especially those in connection with his earliest and dearest human friend and fellow- Apostle, that he bequeathes this precious codicil to the Church of the future. It has been noted also, that the saddest event that had darkened in past years the prospects of the early Christians had been Peter’s violent death. But his aged surviving brother was able in this, the closing chapter alike of his life and of his writings, so far to calm the agitated minds of those mourning so irreparable a loss, by testifying that the addition of Peter to the noble army of martyrs — nay, even the manner of his death — was no matter of capriciouschance or hapless misfortune — but the event had been foreseen, or rathe* appointed, by Him whose verywords came to his own dying remembrance fresh as when they were spoken (v. 18). And better than all, what seemed to be the Church’s loss would in other respects be her gain; for assurance was given that by that appalling death he would “glorify God” {v. 19).
Ur Macleod well remarks that there is “a lesson here taught to tho Church of the untrustworthiness of even apostolic traditidns, seeing that fo the very lifetime of the Apostles a false tradition had gone abroad regarding the death of St John Eastward, 265. / :.
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But not to anticipate. We are once more summoned in thought to the Sea of Tiberias. Since we last .followed the footsteps of Peter there, the mighty debt of ransomed millions had been paid; glory had been secured to God in the highest, peace on earth, and rood- will to men! We do not wonder to find that the disciples have retraced their steps to their native sea, when we recall the announcement referred to in the preceding chapter, made first by the angels and repeated by the Lord Himself, that He was “to go before them into Galilee,” and that there they were to see Him.
It would be, then, shortly after the termination of the Passover festival they would thus return to their northern home; probably immediately after this second £a8ter day. We naturally love those localities which have been specially consecrated to us by early and hallowed associations. By that Lake shore they had listened to their Lord’s earliest utterances of matchless wisdom — there they had been summoned by Him to undertake their great Embassy. Wherever Peter and his broth era of Bethsaida and Capernaum turned their eyes, its undulating beach must have been fragrant with His name and presence. Capernaum rose before them with its crowded memories of power and mercy. Yonder were the bifurcated peaks of Hattin, where the most wondrous of discourses was uttered; — yonder was the plain, flushed now with the full loveliness of Spring, where the Sower had sowed; — yonder in the far north was the green tableland where the barley loaves were dealt out as emblems of mightier spiritual blessings; — yonder, hiding itself amid sterner nature, was the scene of demoniacal conquest; there, yet again, was the bleak mountain-oratory, where the Lord of all this wondrous panorama poured out His soul into the ear of His Father. And when night fell, and the stars looked down at one moment from their silent thrones, and the next were swept from the heavens by the sudden blast, the Apostle-fishermen would remember the august form of Him who trode these very waters, and the voice that mingled with the moanings of the tempest, saying “Fear not, it is I; be not afraid.”
Can we doubt that these solemn and manifold remembrances would now oft tune their lips on their lonely night-watch; — that day after day they would be thus interrogating one another as to the one absorbing expectation, “Where shall we see Him? “” When shall we again hear His longed-for voice V He is faithful who promised that He would meet us here again. “Even so; come Lord Jesus, come quickly 1” Other six of them — James and John, Thomas, Nathaniel, and probably Andrew and Philip — have followed the example of Peter, who said “I go a fisbiug.” It has been remarked that we are not warranted to infer from these words the abandonment of hope in Christ as Messiah and the permanent resumption of the old secular calling, but simply the resort to former occupations in order to furnish them with what was needful to supply their daily necessities. Circumstances had now altered. They had no longer a common purse to provide for these necessities, and it was incumbent on them therefore to resume their boats and nets, leaving their future destination in the hands of their loving Saviour. Accordingly the old sail is unfurled, and they have been out on the Lake the livelong night. But their toil, as on a former occasion, is uurecompeused.
THE LAKE SHORE.
Morning begins to streak the mountains of Naphtali — distant Hermon is unveiling bis diadem of snow. The lark was singing bis early song and the flowers inhaling their earliest perfume. In the appropriate words of the Christian poet, who bad the picture of the Galilean Sea before him as he wrote the in —
“Slowly the gleaming stars retire,
The eastern heaven is all on fire;
The waves have felt the unrisen sun.
Their matin service is begun.”
As they approach within a few cubits of the shore, in the grey dawn of that morning light, a Figure attracts their eyes. We are not informed as to what particular part of the Lake the interesting scene and meeting which follows occurred. We could not help, in sailing past, associating it, as suggested in “Sinai and Palestine,” with the rim of broad and pearly sand at the shore of El-Tabijah — a spot which would be silent and secluded enough at that early hour. “The early dawn had broken, revealing as it does every cleft and broken cliff in distinct proportions all down the rocky sides of its enclosing hills. On the beach stood the solitary Figure, and through the stillness of the morning air, not yet disturbed by the waking hum of the surrou tiding villages, came the gentle voice calling in the manner of the East, * Children, 99 1 “They knew not that it was Jesus 1” That first friendly word He uttered might have told them all! Yet still they recognise Him not 1 They regard Him as a chance “early traveller.” It seems a strange thing, as it has been well remarked, that they did not almost immediately “discover the presence of Christ, inasmuch as the whole was so manifestly a repetition of that former event, by which the commencement of their ministry had been signalised when He called them to become Ushers of men.’”1 Their eyes, however, are holden: He appears but as a passing wayfarer whom curiosity has drawn to watch the mooring of the boat on the shingle. He inquires if they have any fish captured that might serve for a morning meal 1 “Have ye any meat V* Strange that the recognition still fails. The question might have recalled to them many a hallowed hour among the hills and valleys of Galilee, when, after a hot day of toilsome journeying and teaching, they gathered at sundown in the cool of the evening for their frugal repast, ere retiring to rest: ancL when He who was dependent for His own human necessities on what His disciples were able to procure in the shape of victuals, oft doubtless put the same question, as they reclined on the grassy turf which served alike for couch and table —” Children, have ye any meat? “They answer despondingly that they had none! The mysterious stranger bids them” cast out on the right side of the ship.” The result was so vast an enclosure of fishes — no less than 153 — that they were unable to draw it to land. The quick-sightedness of love discerns the Divine Presence — the similarity of the present with a former occasion has led the beloved John — “him of the eagle ^ye* — to scrutinise more closely the person of the Speaker. Catching up the music of that well-known voice, he is the first to reveal the joyous secret, whispering it first with half- trembling lips into the ear of his chief associate, “It is the Lord!” Peter, with his old impetus
l MacLaren’s Sermons, p. 183.
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osity and fervour, girts around him with his “zummar” (girdle) his loose fisherman’s tunic of which he had divested himself for. work,1 springs into the sea and swims a hundred yards to shore, in order that he may cast himself soonest at the feet of his Great and Good Master. What a rush of thought must have come upon him with that place, that hour, that voice! How vividly it must have recalled a similar season, when at the first miraculous draught he flung himself at the Divine Teacher’s feet confessing his sinfulness. How it must have brought to his mind his vows of heart and life consecration on these same shores: and not only how poorly they had been kept — but how miserably they had been broken! Far more than on that first occasion had he reason to say, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
The other disciples follow at leisure in a small boat, — the larger vessel being unable to reach the shore from the shallowness of the water — dragging with them the net with its encumbering load. “When they recognise the Lord,” says Chrysostom, “again do the disciples display the peculiarities of their individual characters. The one, for instance, was more ardent, but the other more elevated — the one more eager, but the other endued with finer perception — on which account John was the first to recognise the Lord, but Peter to come to Him.”2
Who can describe the profound emotion of that meeting? It is simply and artlessly told in the gospel
i It was that same kind of upper garment which the soldiers at the Cruci. fixion cast lots for after they had divided among themselves the rest of our Lord’s apparel. In Peter’s assuming of the tunic, Ambrose sees an act of Decoming reverence to his Master.
* Chrysostom Horn, quoted by EUicott. story. No strong or exaggerated effects are inserted by the Apostle to mutilate the simple grandeur of the picture. “If ever a narrative,” well remarks Dr Macleod in the description of the scene in his travels, “shone in its own light of divine truth, it is this one. Its simplicity and pathos, and its exquisite harmony with all we know and believe of Jesus, invest it with an interest which must ever increase with its study.” 1 Not a tear, not a word, not a question is recorded. Nay, in significant silence they confront The Holy One: — “None of the disciples durst ask Him, Who art Thou 1 knowing that it was the Lord.”
How different was the latest similar meeting I How great the contrast with the recent Paschal Feast in the upper chamber, where all was unrestrained fellowship; — where the disciples unburdened their inmost thoughts in freest intercourse. But even the Master now, for a while, seems to say nothing. There was a reason indeed for the silence of one of the guests who had been ready at other times to initiate the conversation, but all the others seem for the moment awe-struck in that august Presence. If there be an interchange of words — these must originate with Him. They recognised the mystic glory of His resurrection-body; and though uuchanged in all the sympathies and realities of His humanity, they were conscious that they stood to Him in a new relation, and therefore maintained towards Him the profound reverence of silence. Even when that silence as we find after the meal, is broken, there is an arrest put on all vain questionings and idle speculations — “What is that to thee” — “If I will.”
But there was a strange — it may be a miraculous
i 44 Eastward,” p. 265.
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—provision ready for them at that landing-place. A fire, the fuel of which was probably the drift-wood brought down by the upper Jordan, and which may still be seen strewing the beach, was
“Kindled by no mortal hands, *
“some fish from the lake were laid thereon, and bread,” The feast had been prepared by their adorable Lord. Ere inviting to partake of it, however, He bade them pull their nets to land. Peter in a moment complied with the request, “dragging it up. the shelving bank, and spreading it upon the white margin of the sandy beach; ‘* 1 and it is specially noted that full as the net was, and that too of “great fishes,” it was brought on shore, unlike the former one, unbroken.
‘’Come and breakfast” was the brief invitation tendered and accepted. The Master and His seven disciples surround that lowly board; “Jesus came, aad took bread, and gave them, and fish likewise.” 2
“We sat down,” says the same interesting traveller from whom we have previously quoted, u under the shade of the rocks, and one of our boatmen walked knee deep into the lake with a little net; in a few minutes he had a dozen fish, each about the size of a mackerel; the other man collected two or three sticks and built up a little pile over a morsel of charcoal, on which he
i Stanley’s Sermons, who notes that “the scene is marked by the word aiyiaXos; one of those spots where the shore of the lake descends to the water-side, not in a steep grassy slope but a white sanded beach”
* The same writer just quoted, in his sermon preached by the Sea of Tiberias before the Prince of Wales during his tour in the East, thus remarks ou the similarity between that “Feast on the Shore,’ and the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper: — “Some of the oldest pictures in the Roman Catacombs represent the Holy Communion under this very figure; — not the twelve disciples but these seven, with the thin round loaves as of Arab bread, and the fishes lying beside them, as from this Sacred Lake,” p. 56. placed the fish; .... it was interesting for us to have them thus cooked, remembering the ‘fire of coals’ (charcoal) and the ’ fish laid thereon,’ and the blessed invitation of the Risen Lord to His Apostles, ‘Come and dine,’ while we could look round at the very mountains and lake that had met His own human eyes and feel that we were indeed seeing the same objects, breathing the same air, and treading the same shell-covered shore that our blessed Saviour Himself had done.” 1
This is not the place to dwell on the deeper inner and spiritual meaning Of the symbolic feast, in which Peter was immediately to have so deep an interest. I cannot forbear to quote the beautiful words of the ablest expositor of that miracle: ‘As that large capture of fish was to them the pledge and promise of a labour that should not be in vain; so the meal, when the labour was done, a meal of the Lord’s own preparing, and “upon the shore” was the symbol of the great festival in heaven, with which, after their earthly toil was over, He would refresh His servants, when He should cause them to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom. And as they were bidden to bring of their fish to that meal, so should the souls which they had taken for life be their crown and rejoicing in that day, — should help and contribute to their gladness then, 2
The feast is followed by a solemn and touching interview between the Lord and the Apostle-guest in whom we are most interested. Peter’s downfall had, indeed, been humiliating. We could not have wondered, if, covered with confusion at the thought of his recent treachery, and
1 Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines, p. 62. i Trench on the Miracles, p. 462.
THE LAKE SHORE.
refusing ever again to meet the glance of his injured Master’s eye, he had fled back in terror to Galilee, and hid himself for very shame, in one of its most secluded hamlets. But what will not the consciousness of devoted love brave and overcome? Never more convinced than now of attachment to that Lord he had deeply wounded, he is the first of all the seven to throw himself at His feet and implore His forgiveness. It were strange too, had it been otherwise; or rather, when He who sent the special message — “Go and tell Peter” — is standing before him in peerless majesty in the morning light, can we wonder that, unable to repress the outburst of his grateful feelings, he is seen plunging into the water, cleaving the waves with his brawny arms that he might be the first to reach the land!
The feast was partaken of in silence; — but when concluded, the risen Lord is the first to speak; and Peter’s name is the first on His lips. The latter had, on the evening of the Resurrection- day, in common with his brother Apostles, received the world-wide commission to “disciple” all nations. But having more grievously apostatised than the others, it was needful that his reinvestiture with the Apostolic authority and office should have greater publicity. He had been forgiven in private — that secret interview to which we previously adverted, had probably put the seal of gracious pardon on an erring past; but it was needful also, that in presence of his brethren as the representatives of the Church, he should be formally reponed in the position from which like Judas he had by transgression fallen.
The fishermen Apostles, we may remeiaber, were previously addressed figuratively through the occupation with which from youth they had been familiar — their nets being taken as typical of the Gospel Church, and the fish enclosed, of the living souls they were to capture. Our Lord, however, now changes the metaphor. He passes to one with which these villagers of Bethsaida, amid the abounding green slopes and pasture-lands which bordered their lake, must have been equally familiar. Perhaps where they now were, a flock of sheep might have been seen browsiug on one of the adjoining mountains: these may at the moment have attracted the eye of the true” Shepherd of Israel M as they emerged at that early hour from their fold. Be this as it may, the old figure which David loved so well, when he sang of the Shepherd-love of God, is now taken by the Good Shepherd to instruct His own Disciple. The figure of the net spoke emphatically of the magnitude of the ministerial work. Now He proceeds to unfold the principle or motive by which that work could alone be successfully prosecuted, and the method of attaining the great final recompense.
How does our Lord address the erring but penitent Apostle? — “Simon, son of Jonas.”
Simon / He had surnamed him after his noble confession at the coasts of Csesarea Pbilippi, “Peter, the Rock.” But the Rock that should have manfully braved the storm had become the brittle reed, shattered by the first blast of temptation. His conduct bad belied his loud protestations, and forfeited the nobler title. His Lord, therefore, goes back to the simple name of his old fisherman life — the one which He employed on another occasion already noted, when a fall seemed imminent — “Simon, Simon! Satan hath desired to have thee that he might sift thee as wheat.” Or again, as may be remembered, when he was found slumbering at his
THE LAKE SHORE.
post, instead of being, as he ought, the wakeful attendant and guardian of the Great Sufferer, “Simon, sleepest thouf” (Mark xiv. 37.)
‘We read of one of the Caliphs,’ says Dr Trench, happily illustrating from Eastern manners the significance of this change of name, * that he used to give his principal officers an honourable surname suited to their qualities; when he wished to show his dissatisfaction, he used to drop it, calling them by their own names; this caused them great alarm. When he resumed the employment of the surname, it was a sign of their return to favour. This passage helps us, I think, to enter into the significance of the “Simon, son of Jonas” here.’ 1
And while there is a thrice-repeated name, there is also a thrice-repeated question, “Lovbst thou Me ] n A knowledge of the original brings out tender touches of meaning in this remarkable passage which are not discerned in our English translation.8 There are two entirely different words in the original Greek which are rendered in our Bibles by the word” lovest M (agapas and pkilris). The first time the question is asked by our Lord it is the word agapas which He uses; — a word which denotes more a feeling of general reverence, honour, respect, than any intense personal attachment Peter in his reply employs a different term (philo). His sensitive heart would doubtless be wounded to think that his Lord saw needful to use what implied a less ardent affection. He therefore in his reply adopts not the word his Master had done — (for that would inadel Trench on the Miracles, p. 464.
See Notes in Alford and Trench in loco. quately have expressed his feelings) — but he takes the one indicative of deep personal love.
“Honourest thou Me more than these?”
“Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that Thou art dear to me.”
Jesus puts the question a second time; but still continues to use the less fervent word. He would still perhaps remind the penitent of past boasting and profession and failure.
“Honourest thou Me 1 99
Peter, however, will not abate the avowal of a deeper affection; conscious of the reality of his love, he still clings to his former expression (philo).
“Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that Thou art dear to me.99
And now the Great Master, despite of the remembrance of former expressions of allegiance which had grievously failed, can resist no longer the ardent profession of His attached disciple after this double avowal of thein. In putting the question for the third time, He changes His former word for the one of deep personal love —
“Am I dear to thee?”
“Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that Thou art dear to me.” 1
There can be no doubt as to Christ’s intention in the tbrice-repeated question. He wished by reminding of the three/old denial, to convey to His servant a gentle threefold rebuke. He could not have done so more impressively; while in the addition He makes to the first query,” Honourest thou Me more than tltese f 99 there is
i The stronger of the two words is that used by the Jews at the grave of Uiarus, “Behold how He lovvi him” (tytAei).
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an equally manifest reference to that occasion when, in a self-sufficient boastful comparison of his own moral heroism with that of his fellow-disciples, Peter had said, “Though all should be offended because of Thee this night, yet will not I” (Mark xiv. 29).
Simon heard the first two questions unmoved; but when for the third time it was uttered, the questioned. Apostle “was grieved.1* He began to suspect there must be some good reason for these implied doubts. He knew that the loving heart which so interrogated would not unnecessarily wound him; that his gracious Lord would not utter a needlessly unkind word or question. Could it be that He who knew all things, might see foreshadowed some future denial, which led Him to receive these ardent protestations with such caution f Could it be that his heart, which had so deceived him in the past, was to prove a traitor-heart again, and that he would have to renew his bitter weeping over the humiliations of a still sadder fall?
It was, however, the very grief his Lord desired. He wished to humble him, to annihilate his self-confidence and self-sufficiency.
That our Lord’s reiterated appeal had the intended effect we cannot doubt It read a lesson the Apostle never forgot to his dying hour. We may regard this interview, indeed, as a crisis in Peter’s history-r — the date of a new development in his inner life. The proud self-sufficient dispiple becomes, from, this day onward, a little child. He conies forth from the furnace into which his Lord had cast him,’ purified as gold — humbled but really exalted. We see in his very reply to the threefold question the germ of this new grace of future poverty of spirit. His answer in former times would probably have been “I know that I love thee.” But Jesus has taught him a different estimate of himself. He appeals from his own untrustworthy heart, to that of the great Heart-searcher, “Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that thou art dear to me.” His Lord had asked him as to the relative intensity of his love, whether it was now according to his former boasting estimate of it — “more than these.” The humbled Apostle takes no note of the comparison. His silence is its own interpreter. There was once a time when he would have been arrogant enough to say, “Yea, Lord; none can honour Thee or love Thee as I do.” But the remembrances of the past and the rebukes of the present, have seated him in the dust He can only make the confident appeal to Him who knew the heart, as to the sincerity of present resolutions, and the depth of present attachment ‘It was once my feeling and my boast,’ we may imagine him saying, * that I was bold enough for anything. But I am covered with humiliation, and my sins of pusillanimity and apostasy are blackened with aggravations I shudder to recall. I dare boast no more. I can say nothing as to the dependence to be placed on my devoted ness. Fitful in the past, it may be fitful still; but at present, Lord, it is with no sembled lips that I declare, with Thy scrutinising glance upon me, Thou knowest that I love Thee.9
“He loves and weeps — but more than tears
Hare sealed Thy welcome and his love;
One ’ look ’ lives in Him, and endears
Crosses and wrongs where’er he rove.”
Jesus forthwith proceeds to reinstate him in the
1 See Maurice on St John.
Apostolic office. Anew He affixes the seal on his previous high commission, “Feed My lambs,” “Feed My sheep.” And here too there are three, or rather five, different words, though they are translated by two only in our version: “Feed My little lambs, “” Shepherd My sheep,” “Feed the choicest of the flock.“1 Jesus had listened to his protestations of love. He accepts them; and in token of acceptance He tells His disciple to go and act a shepherd’s part to the Church purchased with His blood. His words are equivalent to saying: ‘Simon, if you indeed love rne, make proof of the reality of your love, not by your words but by your acts. Prove by newly baptized zeal and unremitting labour that I have not unworthily confided in your resolute assertions.’” The peculiarly Hebrew imagery,” it has been observed,” is dropped; the particular features of the Rock and the Keys, and the binding and loosing, which were to be exemplified in his rule of the Palestine Church, disappear; and we have instead the more universal metaphor with which the readers of this Gospel must have been already familiar from the parable of the Good Shepherd.... It is at least a striking coincidence and illustration of this passage that there is no part of the New Testament (with the exception of John x.) where the image of the Shepherd is so prominently brought, forward as in the 1st Epistle of Peter, where almost the very words of this passage are repeated — (1 Peter v. 2-4) — ‘Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the Chief
1 See Alford and Tregellen Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.’” 1
Jesus not only receives the once erring Apostle, but even in rebuking him, what tenderness, what unutterable gentleness, is mingled with that rebuke! We quite expect, after so black a catalogue of guilt, a reprimand of corresponding severity. When the words are first uttered — “Simou, son of Jonas” — we expect to hear the enumeration of his bygone sins: — his arrogance, his presumption, the oaths and curses and cowardly desertion. But we see” the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very
1 Stanley’s Sermons on the Apostolic Ag9, pp. 139. 140.
* The following obserrations of the same thoughtful art-critic, from whom we have previously quoted, are curious and noteworthy: “There is something singularly unadapted to the reading of the eye in this incident. Art requires action.’ Here there is none, except by one figure addressing another. ... It therefore might be predicted that this subject remained unthought of in Art before the dogma of the Supremacy of the Roman Church arose, and also during those times when that dogma was not questioned. We therefore look backward for the appearance in Art of
the charge to Peter,’ to a particular period in the history of Christianity, as men look forward to the appearance of a comet at a particular junction in the heavenly bodies. And we find it accordingly emerging above the horizon at the close of the fifteenth century, and completely above it in the reign of Leo X.: also first seen in works of importance in the locality most suited to its presence — vis., in theSistine Chapel of the Vatican. Perugino’s fresco of the charge to St Peter still exists On the right hand wall, and Raphael’s cartoon of the subject is one of the series originally intended to adorn the lower part of the same walls. In both these, and generally in all representations, the giving of the keys is added to the subject of the char/e; or rather, in point of art, it may be said to supersede it; for this assertion of a dogma, under the form of the giving and taking of a conventional implement, shuts out all remembrance of the Scripture narrative. This is especially the case with Raphael’s cartoon, which suffers by comparison with its fellow works; for after standing before the Death of Ananias, the Preaching of St Paul, and others, which bespeak the olosest adhesion to the spirit of the Sacred text, the eye turns away with more than indifference from these actual sheep and these gigantio keys which have no possible point of congruity except that of an equal departure from the laws of Art and the simplicity of the Gospel.” The same writer farther notes, what no ob-
’ servant eye cau fail to recognise, that the remaining ten Apostles’ figures in the cartoon, which are without any distinguishing action, are masterpiece! of composition. — &x Mrs Jameson’s Soared and Legendary ArL
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pitiful and of tender mercy.” He knew well that that wounded spirit did not require to be needlessly lacerated. There is no direct reference therefore to the past, no catalogue of former errors dragged afresh to the light of day. Like the Shepherd in the parable of The Lost Wanderer, in silent love “He lays him on His shoulders rejoicing, saying: Rejoice with Me, for I have found My sheep which was lost”
When Peter writes these verses in his old age, who but himself must have filled the foreground of the picture — “Love shall cover the multitude of sins,? (I Peter iv. 8); “Ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1 Peter ii. 25).
Nor is it unworthy of note, that not only does the Great Master from this hour preserve a significant silence regarding Peter’s fall; but it is a beautiful illustration of the generous love and affection which animated the breasts of his fellow Apostles, that never once afterwards, in all the record of their dealings, did one of them ever ungraciously recall the past, ever once taunt or upbraid their brother for his former failings and inconsistencies. In a true spirit of Christian courtesy and delicacy, the sad story of the denial and the curses seems buried in everlasting oblivion.
Jesus having calmed the spirit of His ardent disciple by the assurance of forgiveness and reponement in the Apostolic office, proceeds to predict his future martyrdom: — that after serving Him in the vigour of manhood, he would in old age have his bands nailed to the cross; — “girded” too, or bound to it with cords, as was the manner in that cruel death — and thus give the costly and unmistakable proof of his avowed love, by shewing what great things he was willing to endure for his dear Lord’s sake. As the words have been well paraphrased in a sermon preached on the very shores: “Verily I say unto thee, when thou wast young, when thou wast a fisherman’s boy on the shores of the Galilean Lake, thou girdedst thyself in thy fisher’s coat, and walkedst over these hills and valleys, whither thou vmddest: but when thou shalt be old, as years and duties and infirmities increase, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, even on the cross of martyrdom, and another — the Roman executioner — shall gird thee with the bonds of imprisonment, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not, even to the place where thou must glorify God by thy death.” 1 It must have been unspeakably comforting to Peter to listen to these declarations, even although they predicted a baptism of suffering. They would assure him, at all events, that he was not again to prove a renegade and coward in the hour of trial. Jesus had warned him of his approaching fall, and His intimation had come too sadly true. Now, however, the same lips declare that he was to “glorify God” by being faithful unto death. Moreover, that it was “when he was old” all this was to happen; so that he had before him many years of active service and devotion in his Lord’s work. When the sickle came, he would be cut down as a shock of corn fully ripe — he would. fall a veteran in the field.
“Follow thou Me.” The privileged son of Jonas seem* to have obeyed literally this last injunction. As the Divine Master walks along the sandy beach, the footsteps of His devoted Apostle are behind him. At that same moment Peter hears or sees the Beloved
Stanley’s Sermons in Palestine, p. 69.
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Disciple following, and with his thoughts fall of his own destiny as just declared by the lips of Omniscience, he puts the question regarding one who, as we have seen, had been knit to him as the soul of David was to Jonathan (v. 21), “What shall this man do?” or as it has been rendered, “What shall his lot bel” He has never been like me a traitor and renegade. There has been no failure, as in my case, in his love and allegiance. Will he on that account be exempted from my baptism of suffering, and go to heaven, not, as in my case, in a chariot of fire, but on the wings of loving angels? We would fondly believe that the question was thus prompted; not, as some have thought, by mere idle curiosity, but from the ardent love he bore his best human friend in the past, and who was destined to be his fastest friend in the future.
Jesus, with a gentle rebuke, reminds him of his personal duty, “What is that to thee, follow thou Me.”
if He had said ‘He may have a ‘different niche to fill in My Temple — a different lot in the shepherding of My sheep. He may be called to lead the flock in the quiet valley beside the green pastures and the still waters — whilst thou mayest be summoned to the mountain-heights to battle with the storm and encounter the wolves. He may have to undergo years of lonely banishment and silence, serving me by recording heavenly visions, or by days and nights of rapt devotion — whilst thou art in the thick of the open fight, storming the citadels of Jewish prejudice and Gentile unbelief. He may have his eyes closed by loving hands in his own home — whilst a ruffian throng may hound thee to the most tragic of ends. But what signifies to thee or to him the nature of these diverse appointments — whether for life or for death. Ye can both serve Me; the one it may be by active work, the other by passive obedience and suffering; the one in the seclusion and exile of a lonely isle, the other by meeting in street and market place the frowns of bigot Jew and Pagan Roman; the one in a death that is like i taking of rest in sleep the other by a repetition of the scene at Golgotha. To every man there is his assigned work, what the unbelieving world has mis* named as “destiny.” Do thine bravely, whatever it he: — leave to Myself My own dealing and appointment with My own Beloved Disciple —” Follow thou Me.w ’
Th£se are the last recorded words spoken by Jesus to Peter. How he treasured them in his heart of hearts we shall ere long see evidenced by noble deeds. He was, a few weeks before, braced up for a new life of devotion and service by Christ’s look of rebuke, pity, forgiveness, love. This was a second strengthener of his reviving fortitude. “Out of weakness” he was now made still more strongly prepared to “wax valiant in fight, and to turn to flight the armies of the aliens,” He gladly and heroically resumes the cross, and
With brightening heart he bean it on,
His passport through th’ eternal gates,
To his sweet home.’’
With this scene on the shores of the Northern Lake may be said to close the period of the Apostle’s training for the great work of the future. His composite character, in which naturally there were so many mingled elements of good and evil, is now finally, so far as a fallible nature could be, purged of the latter. By his various humiliations and rebukes, he cornea
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forth from the furnace as gold doubly refined. All presumption, loud protestation, and arrogant bravado are henceforth at an end. His armour has been proved. Now that he is soon to dispense with his Lord’s presence, — with his whole character elevated, he is to enter the battle alone, and by unceasing labour and godly patience and endurance to upbuild the walls of the Gospel Zion.
“Meanwhile, however,” to use the words of another,” let us look for a moment at the simple fulness, and the exact suitability of this closing chapter of St John’s Gospel to the plain necessities of the case. Something was obviously needed. Peter had fallen most deplorably — most perilously fallen — but yet not quite irretrievably. Still, had this closing chapter of St John not been written, we could hardly have borne to read the first three chapters of the book of the Acts.. We should have been startled, and almost shocked, at Peter’s forwardness in Acts i. 15, and iL 14. We should have said, ‘Surely we might have expected, for a time, a little more reserve, a kind of shaniefacedness, in him who had so recently declared, before many witnesses, ‘I know not the man.’ But this 21st chapter of St John places everything in its destined position.... Christ bad met him as the prodigal had been met. The ring is put upon Peter’s finger, and the shoes on his feet. Most distinct and emphatic, most full and complete, is the restoration of the penitent to his former place. Thrice had he sinned, and thrice shall he be pardoned, recognised and anew commissioned. The entireness of the restoration is seen in this, that no one has ever dared to breathe a syllable of surprise when, at the opening of the Church’s history iii the Acts, we find Peter at once assuming his accustomed place, as an Apostle, and a warm-hearted, prominent, and earnest servant of Christ.,,,1
In the one sublime closing act, Peter’s name is not specially mentioned. But that he formed one of the most eager and earnest of the spectators, we cannot for a moment doubt. On one of those silent heights of the Mount of Olives to the north of Bethany so familiar to him, and which are at this day clothed with fig, almond, and carob, or possibly on one of those secluded eminences overlooking the Hosannah road, the scene of the only earthly triumph of the divine King, a nobler, though unseen triumphal procession was about to ascend to the gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem. What a solemn and momentous gathering! The Master confided to His chosen followers His last words, that the Gospel of the Kingdom was by them to be carried to “thenttermost jmrts of the earth v As His final personal word to Peter was “Follow thou Me,” so here He gives him, £Long with the others, the limits of that “following.” Their footsteps were to tread, not the sacred ground of Palestine only, which had hitherto formed the horizon’ of their thought, — but they were to go on their Godlike errand, from nation to nation, from kingdom to kingdom, from shore to shore, until Christendom be another name for the world. “With His disciples around Him, standing on a mountain top, heaven above and earth below, He thus proclaimed His kingdom 1 All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth:” here was the King. * Go: ’ here were the ministers and army, — an embassy of peace. * Teach: ’ here the weapon, — the Word of God. * All nations: ’ here the
l “Life and Writings of St Peter,” pp. 9», 95.
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extent. ‘Baptizing them in the name of the Fattier, ami of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ’ here the badge of citizenship. ‘Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: ’ here the statute law. ‘And lo, I am with you: * here the royal presence and glory of the kingdom. ‘Always unto the end of the world: ’ here its duration.” 1
And so in the Ascension-cloud, what Chrysostom calls “the royal chariot,” He was parted from them in the act of breathing a divine benediction; and with hands extended in blessing, He was borne higher and higher from their sight.2 In no bosom of the transfixed assemblage during these thrilling moments would there be a greater rush of conflicting emotions, than in that of the Son of Jonas. His gracious Master’s voice, never more to be heard in this world, would seem to ring louder than ever in “the ear of the soul” the imperishable words “Lovest thou Me,” “Follow thou Me.’’ In that moment of uncontrollable emotion, he saw through his tear-dimmed eye, in common with his bereft brethren, a vision of angels. Delegates from the upper sanctuary had sped down with the message of consolation to the orphaned band,” Ye men of Galilee,
1 Arthur’s “Tongue of Fire,” p. 9.
The recorded meeting with “the 500 brethren at once,” in Galilee, does not specially full to be noticed in connection with Peter s life. The meeting we know took place on som>? mountain. It may have been the Mount or Beatitudes or Mount Tabor - or the same spur of Hermon which formed the scene of the Transfiguration. Whether the last named may have been the h.Ulowed spot of this farewell convocation or no, Lange notes the following points of similarity and contrast between the two memorable scenes: — “The two agree in kin«i. ‘I here Peter confessed ‘Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God:’ here, a disciple-band of more than five hundred believing souls, fall in adoration at the feet of the risen Lord. There Christ confirmed Peter’s confession as a revelation from the Father: here, He declares all power is given unto Me in heaven and upon earth.” — Lai, get Life of Christ. why stand ye gazing up into heaven 1 This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven “(Acts L 1 1). It is evident that these balm- words of comfort had the effect of soothing their hearts and drying their tears. The thought of present duty, and the prophetic announcement just listened to, which so vividly recalled His own words, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself,” reconciled them to the “little while in which they should not see Him.” Accordingly we read, “And they worshipped Him, and returned (it has been thought probably on a Thursday evening) to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God” (Luke xxiv. 52, 53).
Can we doubt that the hero heart and retuned lips of Peter would lead the strain? That while others of the timid band might well be downcast under so unutterable a bereavement as that of the withdrawal of their Lord’s earthly presence, this Luther of the infant Church would wake the Temple-court with the song, “God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved, — The Lord shall, help her, and that right early V9 Often had they entered that Temple before, cheered with the presence of their Master; and in one sense their plaint might have been” Ichabod — the glory has departed; 99 — but “Again a little while and ye shall see Me” was the promise with which He had cheered their drooping hearts; and “though now they saw Him not, yet believing, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”