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Searcher of hearts1 can testify from His own observation that it is so.

But Jesus does not answer, as Simon perhaps expected, 'Yea, I know that thou lovest me.' Each protestation of love is simply followed by a demand for proof of its reality and permanence. Feed my lambs: tend my sheep: feed my sheep.2 The three charges are progressive, and include the whole duty of the pastoral office: a duty which extends both to the young and immature, and to the older and riper members of the flock; which embraces both the feeding of all with food convenient for them, and the guidance and government of the entire Church. So the Chief Shepherd of the sheep3 commits to the care of the disciple who professed to love Him the pastoral work, which by his fall he had forfeited. Simon is readmitted to this apostolate, and at the same time provided with a vast field of labour in which he must demonstrate his love till his life's end. For the sheep are not Peter's, but Christ's, and he must feed them because 1 σὺ οἶδας .. σὺ οἶδας . . πάντα σὺ οἶδας· σὺ γινώσκεις. Cf. Jo. ii. 23 διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν γινώσκειν πάντας καὶ ὅτι οὐ χρείαν εἶχεν ἵνα τις μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

2 βόσκε . . . ποίμαινε . . . βόσκε. Simon the fisherman must henceforth become Simon the shepherd; cf. 1 Peter v. 2, and contrast Lc. v. Io.

31 Pet. v. 4 ὁ ἀρχιποίμην. Just before we have ποιμάνατε τὸ ἐν ὑμῖν ποίμνιον τοῦ θεοῦ. The whole passage seems to be a reminiscence of the present scene; see p. 57, note 5.

they are Christ's and for Christ's sake, because he loves Christ.1 What the end will be, he is warned; it will be no visible reward for his work, but on the contrary, a final and severest test of the sincerity of his devotion. 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. To Simon, naturally impulsive and independent, accustomed, too, from his youth to the free life of the Galilean fisherman, which he had just begun to taste again, the very thought of anything like restraint or compulsion was odious; yet this also he must ultimately undergo for the Master's sake. When he had grown old in the exacting pastoral work now laid upon him, his life of unremitting service must be crowned by a violent death; his impetuous, fiery spirit would be called to submit itself to the rough handling of the jailor and the executioner. The scene itself is mercifully veiled in enigmatic words,2 but the writer of the 1Augustine: 'si me diligis, non te pascere cogita, sed oves meas; sicut meas pasce non sicut tuas; gloriam meam in eis quaere, non tuam.'

2 ἐκτενεῖς τὰς χεῖράς σου καὶ ἄλλος ζώσει σε does not clearly indicate crucifixion or anything more than captivity. As Dr. Sanday has pointed out (Authorship of S. John's Gospel, p. 269), 'the prophecy is attested as historical by its vagueness'; moreover, 'it speaks well for the conscientiousness of the Evangelist that he has not accommodated his description more closely to the circumstances,'

fourth Gospel, who survived S. Peter by forty years, on looking back saw in them a picture of the death by which that Apostle was called in his old age to glorify God. Simon Peter, as we learn from Tertullian,' was crucified under Nero; and we know also that when the time came, though his flesh doubtless shrank, as the flesh of the Lord Himself had shrunk, from the cross, his spirit embraced it for the Master's sake.2 So both his faith and his love were finally approved. But all this was as yet in the womb of time; meanwhile there was one duty which called him to immediate action. When he had spoken thus he saith unto him, Follow me. Once again, as in the first days of the Galilean ministry, there came the call which strikes the keynote of the whole Christian life. Peter had fallen, and must begin again, although in a new way and with larger aims.

It is characteristic of S. Peter that his thoughts should rebound by a quick transition from his own future to that of his colleagues; it was a relief to escape from the strain of intensely personal considerations, to divert attention from himself to another.3

1Tert. Scorp. 14: 'tunc Petrus ab altero cingitur, cum cruci adstringitur.' 2 Orig. ap. Eus. Η.Ε. iii. 1: ἐπὶ τέλει ἐν Ῥώμῃ γενόμενος ἀνεσκολοπίσθη κατὰ κεφαλῆς, οὕτως αὐτὸς ἀξιώσας παθεῖν.

3 Curiosity was another personal feature; cf. Latham, p. 265, who compares the incident in Jo. xiii. 24. Is S. Peter thinking of his own early fault when he warns Christians against being ảλλотρioεπίσκοποι ? (1 Pet, iv. 15).

The party had left the place where they had breakfasted, the Lord going first and Peter following, when Peter, turning round, saw John behind him. If he, Simon, were destined to such a life of constant service, to so bitter an end, what was in store for the disciple whom Jesus loved? There could be no doubt of John's love for Jesus, of its reality, or of its spiritual elevation; but how was it to be manifested to the world? Was he also to receive some great pastoral charge? Was he also, at the end of a long life of service, to suffer for the Master's sake? His impatience to know broke out into a rash question, of which the very form seems to have been preserved : Lord, what of this man?1 what is he to do? But Peter gained nothing by his curiosity but a rebuke, and a renewal of the personal command: If I will that he tarry while I am coming, what is that to thee? follow thou me3 Strange that the restoration of this great Apostle should need to be balanced, like the reward of his confession, by a stern reproof! He was still unable, as it appears, to bear anything which made him conspicuous; it brought self-importance, and as a

1 οὗτος δὲ τί;

2 ἕως ἔρχομαι: cf. Lc. xix. 13 ἐν ᾧ ἔρχομαι.

3 3 ́Thou' is emphatic (σú μoɩ ảñoλoúð¤); ‘as for thee, follow me— that is all.'

consequence, unseemly conduct. And it belongs to the Divine love of the Master not to spare reproof when it is needed, even as on the other hand He does not fail to recognize faith or love or repentance when any of these meets His eye.

The words in which the Lord rebuked Simon's curiosity threw no light on the future of S. John. They were understood, indeed, to mean that John should survive to the Parousia, and be among those who should not die but be changed at the Coming of the Lord. Possibly John himself had so understood them; but as the years went on, and it became apparent that the hope of an imminent Return must be abandoned, he saw that the Lord had in fact made no such promise, but merely asserted His purpose to deal with each disciple according to His will. It was no concern of Peter to know how He would deal with another of His servants; if John were called to live to the end of the age, that would not touch the question of Peter's career or of his duty.

It may be asked in what relation this interview stands with that which was vouchsafed to Simon on the Resurrection Day. On both occasions, it may be supposed, the Lord dealt with the situation created by Peter's fall. That event affected Peter on two sides of his life as a disciple, and as an Apostle. In the private interview on Easter

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