IX. THE EPIPHANY TO THE SEVEN. Unsuccessful Fishing. John xxi. 1-3. No one can read the accounts of the great The Forty Days without being struck with their mysterious character. Where was the body of the Risen Lord during this period? In Heaven? On earth? Did He divest Himself of it altogether? All we know is that, ever and anon, now here and now there, He suddenly made miraculous Epiphany of Himself. And now the Apostles are back again in Galilee, in the neighborhood of beautiful Gennesaret, perhaps sojourning in Peter's house at Capernaum. Bound together by the ties of a blessed acquaintance, and especially by the memories of a holy colleagueship in the Apostolate, these Galileans naturally keep close companionship. Here, then, by the side of that Gennesaret where in earlier days these fishermen had so often cast their nets, do we find them again. Probably we should not go far astray were we to imagine them speaking of the past and forecasting the future; recalling Parable and Miracle, Crucifixion and Resurrection, Epiphanies of Jerusalem and Galilean Mount; wondering whether they should ever see the Risen Lord again, or what they themselves should do. One day, as seven of them are talking and debating, now hoping for the best, now foreboding the worst, Peter, whose practical sense makes him keenly alive to the fact that he is in a world where he must eat in order to live, exclaims, "I go a-fishing." Peter is a magnetic character, and his example is instantaneously contagious: the others exclaim, "We also will go with thee." The names of five of these seven we know: Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, James and John-sons of Zebedee and Salome; possibly the two others were Philip and Andrew. Entering their boat, they cast their net hour after hour, but all in vain. Day creeps into evening, evening into night, night into morning, and still they cast and cast and cast, and still they catch nothing. Even so it is with us in our fishing for souls if Jesus Christ is not with us. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the keeper watcheth in vain. At length, as the dawn breaks, the Risen Lord Himself stands on the shore. For some reason or other, they do not recognize Him. Perhaps it is because they are not expecting Him, and it is still morning twilight and they can not see distinctly. Perhaps it is because some change has come over His risen body like that which on Resurrection Sunday had prevented Mary Magdalene and the two disciples journeying to Emmaus from readily recognizing Him. In all events, Jesus Himself stands on the beach, but the disciples know not that it is Jesus. A friendly voice comes to them from the dim shore: "Children, have ye anything to eat?" Translating the question into our English idiomatic equivalent, it is as though the Stranger asked, "Boys, what luck?" "None," answer the weary fishermen. Again the friendly voice is heard: "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and ye will find." Disheartened by their ill luck during the night, they readily enough accept the Stranger's suggestion, and cast their net as He directs, and, behold, they are not able to pull it in for the multitude of the fishes. Among these seven fishermen are at least three-Simon Luke v. 1-11. Peter and James and John-who, many a month before, had toiled all night long on this same Gennesaret and had taken nothing, but who, at the command of the suddenly appearing Nazarene, had pushed out into the deep and let down their net for a draught, and inclosed a great multitude of fishes, so that their net began to break. When, therefore, on this second occasion, obeying the command of the Stranger to cast their net on the right side of the boat, they, after toiling fruitlessly all night long, are suddenly unable to draw the net on account of the multitude of the fishes, John, who had been present on the former occasion, and whose perceptions are quickened by the instinct of love, exclaims, "It is the Lord." No sooner does Peter hear that glad word than, with the impetuosity so characteristic of him, he plunges into the lake and swims toward his dear Master. Meantime the other disciples row ashore (it was only about a hundred yards distant), dragging The Reinstatement of Peter. John xxi. 15-17. Matt. xxvi. 32. along the heavy net. Arrived on the strand, they find to their surprise a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread. But although the Lord has graciously prepared in part a repast for His weary disciples, He would have them blend their toil with His gift, and therefore He saith to them, "Bring of the fish which ye have now caught." Peter draws the net to land, full of great fishes— a hundred and fifty and three; and, although there are so many, yet the net is not broken. Jesus saith to them, "Come and eat." A holy, silent awe pervades the group. Not one of them for very reverence dares ask Him, "Who art Thou?" knowing that it is the Lord. He graciously draws near, and, as in days of yore, takes the bread and the fish and gives to them. And now occurs one of the most pathetic incidents in Sacred Story-the Reinstatement of Simon Peter. Observe how everything has tended to prepare the fallen Apostle for the holy scene: This mysterious meeting by Gennesaret in Galilee, again fulfilling the promise uttered on the night of the betrayal, "After I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee"; this miraculous draught of fishes exactly answering to that former miraculous draught, when Peter was first called to the Apostolate; this fire of coals in the gray dawn answering to that brazier of coals in the palace of Matt. xxvi. 69- Caiaphas, when, in the morning watch of the cock-crowing, Peter had thrice denied his Lord; this tender greeting by the Risen Lord, as though denial and apostasy had never occurred-all this must have touched Peter's heart to the quick, and Luke v. 1-11. John xviii. 18. 74. made him exquisitely sensitive to the scene about to follow. That scene is described thus: When they had finished their meal, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?" Peter saith to Him, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee." Jesus saith to him, "Feed My lambs." He saith to him again the second time, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?" Peter saith to Him, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee." Jesus saith to him, "Feed My sheep." He saith to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Lovest thou Me?" and he said to Him, "Lord, Thou knowest all things: Thou knowest that I love Thee." Jesus saith to him, "Feed My sheep." Each clause of this exquisite narrative demands special pondering. "Simon, son of Jonas." Observe: the Lord Simon, Son of does not say "Peter"; He says-" Simon, son - of Jonas." The choice of this designation is Jonas. touchingly significant. For it was not as Peter, Matt. xvi. 17, 18. son of Rock, but as Simon, son of flesh and blood, that he had denied his Lord. And therefore it is as Simon, son of flesh and blood, that that Lord' now addresses him in unspoken remembrance of his fall. The more he loves the Divine Man, the less is he Simon, son of Jonas, the more is he Peter, son of God. Not many days hence, amid the flood of the Pentecostal Baptism, Simon, child of flesh and blood, shall be solidified into Peter, Rock of God. Then shall be brought to pass the prophecy spoken at his conversion to Jesus Christ, |