A Life of St. John for the Young Part 14

Perhaps Joseph and Nicodemus recalled moments in the Sanhedrin when they whispered together, speaking kindly of Jesus, but were afraid to defend Him aloud; thus silently giving a seeming consent to evil deeds because timidity concealed their friendship. But at last the very enmity and cruelty of His murderers emboldened them as they met at the cross.

It is John who tells us that Jesus the night before His crucifixion went "where was a garden into which He entered," and who also says, "Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden." The one was ever more suggestive to him of a coming trial; the other of that trial past.

"There," in the garden--probably that of Joseph--John says "they laid Jesus." There also were laid John's hopes, which seemed forever buried when Joseph "rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed." What a contrast in his thoughts and feelings between the rolling _away_ of the stone from the tomb of Lazarus, and the rolling _to_ that of Jesus. The one told him of resurrection; but the other of continued death; for as he afterward confessed, "as yet" he and Peter "knew not that Jesus must rise from the dead."

Two mourners at least lingered at the closed tomb. "Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre" of their Lord, after they "beheld where He was laid." John's parting from them at that evening hour was in sadness which was to be deepened when he met Mary Magdalene again.

It is not easy for us to put ourselves in the place of John, as he turns from the tomb toward his lonely home. _We_ know what happened afterward, but he did not know what would happen, though his Lord had tried to teach him. He is repeating to himself the words he had heard from the cross, "It is finished," but he is giving them some difference of meaning from that which Jesus intended. He is walking slowly and sadly through the streets of Jerusalem, dimly lighted by the moon that shone in Gethsemane the night before upon him and his living Lord. We imagine him saying to himself:--"Truly it is finished: all is over now. How disappointed I am. I do not believe He intended to deceive me, yet I have been deceived. From early childhood I looked, as I was taught to do, for the coming of the Messiah. On Jordan I thought I had found Him.

He chose me for one of His twelve, then one of the three, then the one of His special love. What a joy this has been, brightening for three years my hopes and expectations. I have seen Him work miracles, even raising the dead. I have seen Him defeat the plots of evil men against Him, and did not believe any power on earth could destroy Him. I have watched to see Him the great and glorious King. But to-day instead of this I have seen Him crucified as the feeblest and worst of men. I do remember now how Moses and Elijah, when we were with them on the Holy Mount, talked with Him of 'His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.' But I did not understand them, nor even Himself when, just before we ascended the Mount, He told us 'how that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, ... and be killed.' I do not wonder that Peter then said to Him, 'Be it far from Thee, Lord,'

though the Lord was right in rebuking him. Can it be only last night He said, 'Tarry with Me.' How gladly would I do it now. But He is dead, and buried out of my sight. Oh that I might see Him rise, as I did the daughter of Jairus. Oh that I might roll away the stone from His tomb as I helped to do from that of Lazarus, and see Him come forth. How gladly would I 'loose Him' from His 'grave-bands' and remove the 'napkin bound about His face.' I know it was a mean and shameful taunt of His revilers when they said, 'If Thou art the Son of G.o.d, come down from the cross.' But why did He not do it? I remember how once He said concerning His life, 'no one taketh it away from Me.' But have not Pilate and the Jews taken it away? I shall never lean upon His bosom again. But this I know--He loved me, and I loved Him, and love Him still. The mysteries are great, but the memories of Him will be exceedingly precious forever."

[Ill.u.s.tration: JESUS APPEARING TO MARY MAGDALENE (Easter Morning) _B. Plockhorst_ Page 209]

Poor John. He forgot those other words of His Lord concerning His life,--"I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."

The Lord had done the one already: He was soon to do the other, though His sorrowing disciple understood it not. Meanwhile we leave him, resting if possible from the weariness of the garden and the palace and Calvary, during that Friday night, which was to be followed by a day of continued sadness, and that by another night of sorrowful restlessness.

_CHAPTER XXVIII_

_John at the Tomb_

"Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved.

"Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb.

"Simon Peter ... entered into the tomb.

"Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, ... and he saw and believed."--_John_ xx. 1, 2, 3, 6, 8.

"Let us take John for our instructor in the swiftness of love, and Peter for our teacher in courage."--_Stalker_.

"Oh, sacred day, sublimest day!

Oh, mystery unheard!

Death's hosts that claimed Him as their prey He scattered with a word; And from the tomb He valiant came; And ever blessed be His name."

--_Kingo. Trans. Hymns of Denmark_.

"Mine eye hath found that sepulchral rock That was the casket of Heav'n's richest store."

--_Milton_.--_The Pa.s.sion_.

Of the women who visited the tomb of Jesus on the morning of the Resurrection, John was especially interested in Mary Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, probably in his presence; thus giving him opportunity to see the marvelous change from a most abject condition, to grateful devotion to her Healer, perhaps beyond that of any other one whom He healed. John long remembered her starting on her errand "while it was yet dark." So he remembered Judas starting when "it was night" on his errand, of which Mary's was the sad result. One was a deed of love which no darkness hindered: the other was a deed of hate which no darkness prevented or concealed.

John had a special reason for remembering Mary. When she had seen that the stone was taken away from the tomb, it had a different meaning to her from what it did when she and John saw it on Friday evening. And when she "found not the body of the Lord Jesus," she imagined that either friends had borne it away, or foes had robbed the tomb. In surprise, disappointment and anxiety, her first impulse was to make it known--to whom else than to him who had sorrowed with her at the stone-closed door? So she "ran"--not with unwomanly haste, but with the quickened step of woman's love--"to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved." They were both loved, but not in the fuller sense elsewhere applied to John. Astonished at her early call, startled at the wildness of her grief, sharing her anxiety, "they ran both together" "toward the tomb" from which she had so hastily come. But it was an uneven race. John, younger and nimbler, "outran Peter and came first to the tomb." "Yet entered he not in." Reverence and awe make him pause where love has brought him. For a few moments he is alone. His earnest gaze confirms the report of Mary that somebody has "taken away the Lord." He can only ask, Who? Why? Where? No angel gives answer.

Still his gaze is rewarded. "He seeth the linen cloths lying." These are silent witnesses that the precious body has not been hastily and rudely s.n.a.t.c.hed away by unfriendly hands, such as had mangled it on the cross.

Peter arriving, everywhere and evermore impulsive, enters at once where John fears to tread. He discovers what John had not seen,--"the napkin that was upon His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself." John does not tell whose head, so full is he of the thought of his Lord.

"Then entered in therefore that other disciple also," says John of himself, showing the influence of his bolder companion upon him. Though the napkin escaped his notice from without the tomb, it found a prominent place in his memory after he saw it. Who but an eye-witness would give us such details? What does he mean us to infer from the "rolled" napkin put away, if not the calmness and carefulness and triumph of the Lord of Life as He tarried in His tomb long enough to lay aside the bandages of death. When he saw the careful arrangement of the grave-cloths, "he believed" that Jesus had risen. We are not to infer from his mention of himself only that Peter did not share in this belief. We can believe that Luke does not complete the story when he says that Peter "departed to his home wondering at that which was come to pa.s.s." As they came down from the Mount of Transfiguration they were "questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean." As they came from the tomb they questioned no longer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT _Old Engraving_ Page 224]

We long for a yet fuller record than that which John has given of what pa.s.sed when he and Peter were within the tomb. He frankly tells us that "as yet they knew not the Scriptures, that He must rise again from the dead." Neither prophecy, nor the Scriptures, nor the Lord's repeated declarations, had prepared them for this hour of fulfilment.

We imagine them lingering in the tomb, talking of the past, recalling the words of their Lord, illumined in the very darkness of His sepulchre, and both wondering what the future might reveal. At last they left the tomb together. There was no occasion now for John to outrun Peter. They were calm and joyful. There was nothing more to see or to do. "So the disciples went away again unto their own home."

"But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping." In these words John turns our thoughts from himself to her who had summoned him and Peter, and then followed them. After they had left the sepulchre she continued standing, bitterly weeping. She could not refrain from seeking that which she had told the disciples was not there. Her gaze was "at the very cause of her grief." "She stooped and looked into the tomb" as John had done.

From the infancy of Jesus to His death there was no ministry of angels to men, though they ministered to Him. "The Master being by, it behooved the servant to keep silence." But the angelic voices that proclaimed His birth, were heard again after His resurrection. According to John's minute description Mary "beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain." The angelic silence was broken by them both, with the question, "Woman, why weepest thou"--so bitterly and continuously? They might have added, "It is all without a cause." Her answer was quick and brief; and without any fear of the shining ones who lightened the gloomy tomb, and were ready to lighten her darkened spirit. Her reply was the echo of her own words to Peter and John, slightly changed to show her personal loss;--"Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him."--Am I not wretched indeed? Is there not a cause? Why should I check my tears?

To answer was needless. Were not the angels in the blessed secret which was immediately revealed? Were they not glancing from within the tomb, over her bowed head, to the gently moving form without? Did Mary become suddenly conscious of some presence as "she turns herself back, and beholdeth Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus"? His question seemed an echo of the angelic voices, "Woman, why weepest thou?" with the added question, "Whom seekest thou?" This was the first utterance of the risen Lord. In the garden, at this early hour, who--so thought Mary--can this be but the gardener? As such she addressed Him, "Sir, If _thou_ hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away." We can hardly restrain a smile when we see how the strength of her love made her unmindful of the weakness that would attempt to "take Him away."

"Jesus saith unto her, Mary." That name, that familiar voice, that loving tone, sent a thrill through her heart which the name "woman" had failed to excite. More completely "she turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni," with all the devotion of her impa.s.sioned soul.

Let us recall John's account of Mary's report of her first visit to the tomb, full of sadness--"_They have taken away the Lord_," and then in contrast place by its side his record of her second report, full of gladness--"Mary Magdalene, cometh and telleth the disciples, _I have seen the Lord_." The one was a mistaken inference; the other a blessed reality. Between these two utterances on the same day what revelations to them both. But the end was not yet.

"When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." So John describes the first meeting of Jesus with the disciples after His resurrection. He gives hints of some things of which other Evangelists are silent. With emphasis he notes "that day" as the day of days whose rising sun revealed resurrection glory. That "evening"

must have recalled the last one on which they had been together. Then the Lord had said unto them, "Peace I leave with you." But the benediction had seemed almost a mockery, because of the sorrow which followed. But now it was repeated with a renewed a.s.surance of His power to bestow it. Through fear of the Jews they had closed the doors of probably the same Upper Room where they had been a.s.sembled before. These doors were no barrier to His entry, any more than the stone to His leaving His tomb.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. PETER AND ST. JOHN AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE _Old Engraving_ Page 225]

As John alone preserved the incident of the pierced side, he alone tells how Jesus "showed unto them His ... side," and said to Thomas, at the next meeting, "Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side;" and how this was followed by Thomas' believing exclamation, "My Lord, and my G.o.d." With this and the Lord's beat.i.tude for other believing ones, John originally ended his story of the Lord, in these words,--"Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of G.o.d; and that believing ye may have life in His name."

_CHAPTER XXIX

"What Shall This Man Do_?"

"Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias."--_John_ xxi. 1.

"There were together Simon Peter ... and the sons of Zebedee."--_v_. 2.

"Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following."--_v._ 20.

"Peter ... saith to Jesus, Lord, and What shall this man do?"--_v_.

21.

The twenty-first chapter of John's Gospel is without doubt an addition, written some time after the original Gospel was finished. Why this addition? To answer the question we must recall the things of which the addition tells. They are of special interest in our studies of Peter and John.

In our last chapter we were with John in Jerusalem. From there he carries us to the Sea of Tiberias. He tells us that he and his brother James, and Peter, with four others, "were there together." They were near their childhood home, where they had watched for the Messiah, and where, when He had appeared He called them to leave their fishing employment, and to become fishers of men. They had been saddened by His death, then gladdened by His resurrection. He had told them to meet Him in Galilee. And now they were waiting for His coming. They were within sight of a boat from which perhaps some day they had fished. Peter, ever active and ready to do something, said to his companions, "I go a-fishing." As John had followed him into the tomb, he and the others followed him to the boat saying, "We also come with thee." Let John himself tell what happened. "They went forth and entered into the boat; and that night they took nothing. But when day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach: howbeit the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

Jesus therefore saith unto them, Children, have ye aught to eat? They answered Him, No. And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the mult.i.tude of fishes."

Once more we are to find Peter and John the prominent figures, and see the difference between them, John being the first to understand, and Peter the first to act. When John saw the mult.i.tude of fishes he remembered the same thing had happened before at the beginning of Christ's ministry. Looking toward the land, and whispering to Peter, he said, "It is the Lord." "So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his coat about him"--out of reverence for his Master--"and cast himself into the sea," and swam or waded about one hundred yards to the beach. The other disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net with the fishes. John remembered their great size, and the number "an hundred and fifty and three." He says, "When they got out upon the land, they see a fire of coals there." Did it not remind him of another "fire of coals" of which he had already written, kindled in the court of the high-priestly palace where "Peter stood and warmed himself," and near which he denied his Lord three times? If he did not recall that scene immediately, he did very soon.

Jesus invited the disciples to eat of the meal he had prepared. As they did so they were filled with awe and reverence, "knowing that it was the Lord." In the light of the palace fire, "the Lord turned and _looked_ upon Peter"--that only. But in the morning light on the seash.o.r.e, "when they had broken their fast, Jesus _saith_ to Simon Peter, Lovest thou Me?" Three times, with some difference of meaning, gently and solemnly He asked the question as many times as Peter had denied Him. On Peter's first a.s.surance of his love Christ gave him a new commission, "Feed My lambs." This was a humble work,--not so exalted as it is now--a test of Peter's fitness for Apostleship. He was ready to accept it; and thus he showed his fitness for the enlarged commission, "Feed My sheep."