John 21:18

THE RENEWAL OF ST. PETER

‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.’

John 21:18

Peter, with all his advantages, fell; he denied his Master. He was forgiven, but he could not forget. Yet he learnt that the pain of that memory had its part to play in the purification, the renewing, the strengthening of his character.

It is a greater evidence of the power of Christianity that Peter should have died a martyr than that Saul, the fierce inquisitor, should have become the St. Paul of the great hymn to charity.

I. The one thing Peter wanted is told him.—At first reading this suggestion that he would die a martyr seems a harsh one, but it was probably the one thing which could have restored his self-respect, He is reassured of his capacity for heroism. For the fears of a good man are not allayed when he has saved his skin, nor is his inner sense of shame wiped out by repentance. Peter knew that he had been a coward, and the more keenly a man repents cowardice, the more terribly is it borne in upon him that he may do the same thing again. Peter had protested that he was ready to die, and having refused to die, he has done with protestations. ‘Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee,’ is all that he will say. Christ makes the protestation for him. He will be ready, Christ assures him, to die any death, and the last terror is lifted from the soul of the man who, tradition tells us, voluntarily increased the sufferings of his own crucifixion. No wonder that when our Lord called to him to follow he was ready to follow both to prison and to death.

II. This, indeed, is forgiveness and renewal.—He does not wish to know that he has been excused the penalty; he is willing, nay, desirous of paying that if he can atone; he has been thwarting the Divine purpose; can he do anything to counteract the past, and so feel that he is now at least in harmony with the Divine will? Yes, he has been a coward, but he may become a martyr. His Lord’s faith in him redeems him from despair, sets him again in self-respect upon his feet, and remains a continual inspiration from which he shall never again fall away.

—Rev. F. Ealand.

Illustration

‘ “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than these? Feed My sheep.” Do we love Christ; then does our love drive us to feed sheep or tend lambs? Have we “girded ourselves” to some task in which our own profit is not concerned? have we committed ourselves to any cause, so as to give others a chance to carry us whither we would not? Let us not accept that miserable view of a layman, that he is a mere non-clergyman, a negative thing, a man unfettered by creeds and articles and definitions—that is but a poor idea of a layman. A layman is a member of the laos or people of Christ, and as such he is like his brethren of the clergy, both free and bound, free and yet the servant of Christ, in Whose service alone he can find true freedom.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE TWO GIRDINGS

Sometimes, and not unfrequently, this happens; the scheme on which the hearts of a few wise men are set seems to be gaining ground year by year, and then, who knows how, from beyond the world, as it seems, there comes over the people a wind of some new enthusiasm, and the ideals so sedulously pursued seem by comparison insignificant and the old watchwords cease to attract, and the reformers themselves are carried with more or less reluctance on wider ways not of their own choosing. So it was with St. Peter, and so it is still. How deep an echo must these words of our text find in the hearts of statesmen who have been anything more than opportunists!

The thoughts suggested for our consideration shall be these two simple but none the less important ones—

I. That under Divine Providence we have each a work to do for God, each a station and duties in the Divine society; some sheep to feed, some lambs to tend.

II. That the way in which we can best do this work, while it must task our own utmost capacity in wisdom and power, is yet (because it is under Divine power and wisdom) subject to changes beyond our calculation, which confound the wisdom of the wisest and lay the greatest power in the dust.

—Rev. Canon Beeching.

Illustration

‘The Divine Master is here bringing Himself into personal relations with His great and chief Apostle. It was not, as when He appeared to the ten in the upper chamber, when words of peace and of solemn commission were addressed to all—“Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” These words were spoken to St. Peter amongst the rest, and we are told, too, that there was a special and private interview vouchsafed to him alone: “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared unto Simon.” And we cannot doubt that then words of reconciliation, words of pardon, words of peace were spoken to the Apostle who had betrayed his Lord. But now, in the eyes of the Divine Master, something more is needed. St. Peter had lost that lawful self-confidence that was necessary to the fulfilment of the apostolic office; he who in the strength of his character, he who in the warmth and sensitiveness of his moral nature had taken, naturally, the foremost place amongst his brother disciples, must needs have lost that position of eminence and of dignity, having thrice denied Him. And so does the Divine Master will to restore, and to reassure him, and so, on the shore of the lake, after the long night had been spent in fruitless endeavour in the fishermen’s craft, and when, in obedience to the Divine Master, the miraculous draught of fishes had taken place, He addresses Himself personally to St. Peter in the presence of the rest.’