Quiet Talks on Following the ChristGordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Religion
Quiet Talks on Following the Christ
Gordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Christian life; Devotional literature
These disciples were now to have one of these added touches. It was a time
of sore perplexity. The crucifixion had left them dazed, stupefied. It was
wholly unexpected. They were utterly at sea, with neither compass, nor
steering apparatus of any sort. That Saturday to them was one of the
longest, dreariest, heaviest days ever spent by any one. They had all
proven untrue to their dead Friend, save one.
Then as unexpectedly came the resurrection. They're dazed again, this time
with joy. They haven't taken it in yet. To say that the two shocks, each
so radically different from the other, shook them tremendously, is stating
it very mildly. They don't know themselves. They haven't found their feet.
They haven't adjusted yet to their swiftly changing surroundings. They
don't know what next. They don't know what to do.
So the old impulsive Simon in Peter proposed something. Simon, the
unsteady, was much in evidence those days. Peter the rock-man hadn't
arrived yet. This was Simon Peter's specialty, proposing something. He
said, "Well, I'm going fishing." And the others quickly said, "We'll go
along." The mere doing something would be a relief. But they caught
nothing. It was a poor night. The morning brought only heavy hearts with
light nets and boats. They had failed at following; now they were failing
even at their old specialty, fishing. Couldn't they do _any_thing?
In the dim light of the breaking dawn there's some One standing on the
beach, a Stranger. He seems interested in them, and calls out familiarily,
"Have you caught anything?" And you feel the heaviness of their hearts
over something else in the shout "No." And the gentle voice calls out,
with a certain tone of quiet authority in it, "Throw over on the right
there, and you'll get some fish." And they cast the nets out again,
feeling a strong impulse to obey this kindly Stranger, without stopping to
think out why.
And at once the ropes pull so hard that it takes all their strength to
hold them. It's John's quick insight that recognizes the Stranger. With
his heart in his throat, in awe-touched voice, he quietly says, "It's the
Lord." That's enough for Peter. He takes the shortest way to shore. He has
some things to talk over with the Master. And as the seven tired men
landed the fish, they found breakfast waiting on the sands. Who built that
fire? Who cooked that fish? Who was thinking about them and caring for
their personal needs, when they were so tired and hungry? And when
breakfast was finished, there's the quiet talk together, about love and
service, while the sun is climbing up in the east. It is addressed to
Peter, but it is meant, too, for those who were so fleet-footed a few
nights before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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