John 21:18

Verily, verily This peculiarity of S. John's Gospel (see on John 1:51) is preserved in the appendix to it [13].

wast young Literally, wast younger than thou art now. He was now between youth and age.

stretch forth thy hands For help.

shall gird thee As a criminal.

whither thou wouldest not To death. This does not mean that at the last S. Peter will be unwilling to die for his Lord, but that death, and especially a criminal's death, is what men naturally shrink from.

The common interpretation that -stretch forth thy hands" refers to the attitude in crucifixion, and -gird thee" to binding to the cross, is precarious, on account of the order of the clauses, the taking to execution being mentioned after the execution. But it is not impossible; for the order of this group of clauses may be determined by the previous group, and the order in the previous group is the natural one. The girding naturally precedes the walking in the first half; therefore -gird" precedes -carry" in the second half, and -stretch forth thy hands" is connected with -gird" rather than -carry" and therefore is coupled with -gird." Or again -carry thee &c." may possibly refer to the setting up of the cross after the sufferer was bound to it: in this way all runs smoothly.