John 21

John 21:15

His Lambs Feed my lambs.—John 21:15.One evening a minister was leaving a sheep farm in the company of the farmer. There was a big threatening cloud in the sky, and just as they reached the gate the farmer turned back to call to his son, “Take great care of the lambs! There is a storm coming.”When Jesus was going to leave the earth, He was anxious that the lambs should be well looked after, so He said to Peter, “Take care of the lambs.” He Himself would still be looking after the lambs and caring for them although they could see Him no longer, but He wanted them to have a human friend also, whom they could see and who would care for them.Now, of course, you know who the lambs are. The lambs are the boys and girls. The sheep are the fathers and mothers, but the lambs are the children. Later, Jesus told Peter to feed the sheep, but He put the lambs first.I wonder why Jesus put the lambs first.

Well, I think there were three reasons.And the first was because He loved them so much. Jesus loves everybody with a love so big and so tender that we shall never understand it till we go to be with Him in Heaven; but I think He loves the children in a special sort of way because they are so pure and innocent.

The grown-up people often despised and rejected Him when He was in the world, but the children gathered round Him and looked up into His kind face, and listened to His words, and the little children who knew Him on earth never forgot their Friend.Then I think Jesus put the lambs first because He pitied them so much. They were so weak and helpless and they needed His care so badly. They needed His strong loving arms round them to protect them from harm and danger.Another reason why He put them first was because He valued them so much. Soon they would grow up to be sheep, and the whole future of the flock depended on how they were fed and cared for.Jesus wants all the children to be His lambs. He is the Good Shepherd and He loves them and wants to keep them safe. All the children can be His lambs if they wish to.Away at Amoy, in China, there lived a little Chinese boy who had learned from the missionaries about Jesus and His love.

His father also had heard the good news and had become a Christian. One day the little boy came to his, father and told him that he wanted to be baptized.

But the father thought that perhaps the boy was not old enough to understand all that it meant to be a Christian, so he told him that he was too young to be baptized. What do you think the little fellow replied? “But Jesus promised to carry the lambs. I am only a little boy, so it will be easy for Jesus to carry me.” Don’t you think he was a very sensible little boy? You are never too small a lamb for Jesus to carry.Do you know, little children, that Jesus is called by the same name as you are? He is called a lamb—the Lamb of God, who offered Himself up on the cross so that you might all become His lambs and go to live with Him forever.All in the April evening,April airs were abroad;The sheep with their little lambsPassed me by on the road.. . . . . .The lambs were weary, and cryingWith a weak, human cry.I thought on the Lamb of GodGoing meekly to die.Up in the blue, blue mountainsDewy pastures are sweet;Rest· for the little bodies,Rest for the little feet.But for the Lamb of God,Up on the hill-top green,Only a Cross of shameTwo stark crosses between.(Katharine Tynan)Will you ask the Lamb of God to make you His very own lamb?

John 21:20

The Beloved Disciple The disciple whom Jesus loved.—John 21:20.In most families where there is a little brother or sister some years younger than the rest that little one is the family favorite or pet. There was a favorite in Christ’s large family of twelve disciples, and I don’t need to tell you that his name was John. Why was John Christ’s favorite disciple? Why is he known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”?Well, I think there are three reasons. The first is, that John was the youngest of the band. He was very likely just a boy when Jesus called him to leave all and follow Him.

The Bible speaks of “James and John, the sons of Zebedee,” as if the elder brother took care of the younger.Then John was Christ’s cousin—so was James, for that matter. Salome, their mother, is supposed to have been a sister of Mary, Christ’s mother.

Some of you know what a great friend a cousin can be.But perhaps the biggest reason why Christ loved John so much was that John himself loved Christ so dearly. John was absolutely devoted to his Master. And because he was so devoted he came to understandChrist’s heart and know Christ’s mind better than any of the other eleven. You know how it is with yourself and anyone whom you love very deeply: you can almost read each other’s thoughts, you can see into each other’s hearts. You understand what your friend feels and your friend understands what you feel without being told.John had been a follower of John the Baptist before he became a follower of Christ. He was one of the two disciples to whom John the Baptist one day pointed out Jesus, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” These two disciples, we are told, turned and followed Christ and spent that day with Him in His own home.

And because of that one day spent with Christ, John was ready to follow Him to the end of the world. He went back to his work for a little while; but when Christ came one day to the seashore where he and his brother James were mending their fishing-nets, they both arose at His call and followed Him.John was Christ’s favorite, but I think he was Peter’s too.

Peter, with his great warm heart and ready tongue, took a fancy to the eager boy who worshipped the Master so. And Peter, James, and John it was who formed the inner circle of Christ’s disciples—those whom He chose to be with Him on very special occasions. They were with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, they were in the room when He brought the little daughter of Jairus back to life, they were beside Him in the Garden of Gethsemane.Now a great many people have pictured John as a very gentle, almost faultless youth, but there they have made a mistake. John had his faults like everybody else. When Christ first knew him he was passionate, jealous, ambitious, and narrow-minded. Indeed so hot-tempered were John and his brother that Christ nicknamed them “sons of thunder.” But John lived three years in Christ’s company and he became another John.

John the “son of thunder” disappeared and in his place appeared John “the apostle of love,” the apostle whose favorite saying to the end of his long life was, “Little children, love one another.”After Christ’s death and resurrection, John stayed a good deal in Jerusalem—he had Christ’s mother in his care, you remember. But he and his friend Peter did a lot of preaching together, and many adventures they had.We lose sight of John in the Book of Acts and we have to go elsewhere to learn what became of him.

It is said that he settled at Ephesus for many years. Then there arose a persecution of the Christians under the Roman Emperor Domitian, and during that persecution John was banished to the small bare island of Patmos in the AEgean Sea. Patmos was an island with a state prison such as existed on the Bass Bock in the days of the Covenanters. It was while in Patmos that John had those wonderful visions of a new heaven and a new earth which we call the Book of Revelation.When Domitian died, John, it is believed, was released. He returned to Ephesus and there he spent the last of his days. There also in his old age—for he lived, they say, to about a hundred—he wrote that marvelous story of Christ’s life which men call “the Gospel according to St.

John.” It is the most beautiful of all the Gospels, for it shows us more clearly than any of the others the very mind and heart of Christ. And what enabled John to write his beautiful Gospel was the same thing that made him Christ’s favorite disciple — love.

And if we too would learn anything of the mind or heart of Christ for us there is only one way—John’s way—the way of love,Would you like to hear one of the many stories which they tell of the apostle in his old age? It is the story I like best, because it shows John following Christ still.On one occasion when he was preaching in a city near Ephesus the apostle noticed in the church a fine and noble-looking youth. His heart went out to the lad, and he entrusted him to the special care of the pastor of the church. For a time all went well. The pastor fulfilled his charge and instructed and baptized the young man. But later he relaxed his care somewhat, and about the same time the youth fell into evil company.

He went from bad to worse, till at last he joined a band of brigands, whose chief he became.Some time after, the apostle revisited the city and asked the pastor of the church what had become of his deposit. “Thy deposit!” stammered the pastor, for he knew of no money which he had received from John. “Yes,” said the apostle, “I demand the young man whose soul I entrusted to thee.” “He is dead,” said the pastor with tears. “Dead!” cried John. “Of what death did he die?” “He is dead to God,” replied the pastor, “for he became so wicked that he was forced to flee to the mountains where he is now a robber chief.”When John heard this, nothing would serve him but that he must go immediately in search of the young man; so procuring a horse and a guide he set off for the mountain fastnesses where the robbers dwelt. Ere long he fell into the hands of their sentinels, and of them he demanded to be led at once to the chief.But when the chief saw John he was so overcome with shame that he turned to flee. “My son, my son!” cried the old man, stumbling after him, “why dost thou flee from thy father?

Have pity on my halting steps. And fear not. There is yet hope for thee. I will stand with thee before the Lord Christ; if need be I will gladly die for thee as He died for us. Stay; believe it is Christ that sent me.”The young man stopped, listened, flung away his weapons, trembled, wept, and throwing himself into the arms of the aged apostle implored his pardon. The apostle tenderly raised him, talked with him, prayed with him, and did not leave him until he was restored once more to the Church.That is the story I like best of John, the beloved disciple, for it shows him loving and seeking and saving the lost, as Jesus did before him.

John 21:21

Curiosity-Boxes What shall this man do?—John 21:21.If anybody were to ask me what I thought the most striking thing in the character of boys and girls, do you know what I should reply? Well, I think I should answer, “Curiosity.” Boys and girls are always wanting to know things, they are always asking questions. Of course grown-up people want to know things too, but if you counted the number of questions a grown-up person asked in a day and the number a small boy or girl asked, and compared the two lists, I think you would find that the small boy or girl had asked at least ten questions to every one asked by the grown-up. No wonder that children are often called “curiosity-boxes.”Why is it that boys and girls are so curious? Well, I think God made them curious so that they might learn things. Have you ever looked into the eyes of a baby?

They are just one big question. He seems to be wondering about everything.

And as soon as he begins to be able to put words together he asks questions. It is just his way of learning all about the big world into which God has sent him.Now when some of us older people were about as big as you are, our fathers and mothers used to believe that children should be seen and not heard. I don’t know that there wasn’t a certain amount of wisdom in that, but the result was that a great many questions we wanted to ask were never answered, and we had to wait and wonder till we could find out the answer for ourselves. I don’t think your fathers and mothers are often like that. I fancy they are quite ready to let you ask questions, and that they generally reply to them when they can. But I want you to remember that there are some questions in regard to which you will have to wait for an answer till you are older.

Sometimes father and mother refuse to answer our questions and we have to take them on trust and believe that they know best.Some people talk about curiosity as if it were a wrong thing, but that is a mistake. Most of the big inventions and discoveries are the result of curiosity.

Men have wanted to know and prove things, and they have searched and experimented until they were successful. If people had not wanted to find out more than they knew already we might still be savages living in dens and caves. So you see curiosity is not a bad thing in itself. But it may be used in bad or foolish ways. Shall I tell you some of those ways?Well, first, there is the curiosity that wastes itself in small things that are of no possible account or use. Did you ever hear the story of the man who was so inquisitive that he could never rest till he knew the why and the wherefore of everything?

One dark night he was walking home from an evening party and he saw a lamp-post with a sign on the crossbar. It was too high up for him to read in the dark, so he “shinned” up the lamp-post, evening dress and all.

What do you think was written on the sign? “Wet paint!”Now, sometimes boys and girls ask questions just for the sake of asking, and when I hear them I always think of that man who scaled the lamp-post. Only it is generally others who suffer by their curiosity and not themselves. A witty man once said of a certain inquisitive friend, “Talk to him of Jacob’s ladder, and he will ask the number of the steps.” And there is often just about as much sense as that in the questions some little people ask.That kind of curiosity is rather silly, but after all, it does not do very much harm to anyone except that it rather annoys those of whom the questions are asked. But there is another kind of curiosity, which is really harmful. It is undue curiosity about the affairs of other people.That was the kind of curiosity Peter showed in our text. Jesus had been telling him that one day he should die for his Master’s sake, but Peter was not content to know about his own future, he wanted to know, too, what was going to happen to his friend John.

And Jesus rebuked him. “What is that to thee?” He asked; “follow thou me.” “I am well able to look after John,” He seemed to say: “trust his future to Me and don’t waste your time or energy wondering what will happen to him. Your real concern is to follow Me.”Now some people are never happy unless they know all about their friends and neighbors.

They are always poking their nose into the affairs of others and trying to find out all their secrets. This is a very mean kind of curiosity; there is something very sneaky about it. Don’t have anything to do with it. Never search other people’s drawers, or read their letters; never listen to conversations you are not intended to overhear, or try to find out the weak spots in your neighbor’s character. Be above that sort of thing.But there is a still more dangerous kind of curiosity —the curiosity concerning evil. It was that curiosity that led Eve astray, and it is the same curiosity that has led men and women and boys and girls astray all through the long centuries.There is a sort of risk and excitement about this curiosity that attracts.

People don’t want to be bad, but they want to know by experience just a little about badness. They think they are quite able to take care of themselves, and they just want to see how far they can go and come back safely.Well, I want you to remember two things.

First, a great many never come back. Their first taste of evil acts like poison. It is like a match set to a haystack. Soon the whole stack is in a blaze.Livingstone tells us about a clever dragon-fly in Africa which catches its prey by appealing to its curiosity. When it is in the grub stage it feeds upon ants, and it catches them by putting its head into the ground and waving its tail in the air. The ants come near to examine this strange sight and are immediately seized by the grippers with which the tail is furnished. In the same way a great many people have been ruined just by going to see what evil is like.And, second, those who do return are never quite the same again. You can’t touch pitch without having your hands soiled.

You can’t associate with evil without being a little less pure. If you do come through safely it will nevertheless leave its mark on your mind and heart and will, and your most bitter regret all your days may be that you ever had anything to do with it.God gave us that gift of curiosity, boys and girls, so that we might learn things wise and good and true. Be curious about things that are worthy of your curiosity. Be curious about the highest things. Be curious above all to know more of God and of His love, and He will reveal Himself to you and teach you all that it is good for you to know.

John 21:25

The Biggest Biography And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written.—John 21:25.I wonder how many of you could tell me what a biography is? A biography is just a history of somebody’s life. Sometimes, when a great man dies, a friend or acquaintance writes an account of his life and that account is called a biography. Our text says that, if Jesus’ biography were written, it would occupy so many books that the world would not contain them. That seems a very extraordinary thing to say, does it not? I wonder what it means.Well, first you must understand that this is an Eastern way of speaking.

People in the East don’t speak or think quite as we do. When they want to impress a certain point very much on anybody’s mind, they put it in a striking way.

They exaggerate it so as to make it appear real and vivid. John had been trying to tell something of what Jesus said and did, and when he came to the end he found that he had just put down a tiny fragment of all that his Master had accomplished. If he had done it thoroughly he would have had to note every look and word and act of Jesus, for everything that Christ said or did was worth recording. And he would have had to relate all that Jesus said, not only to the disciples, but to everyone He ever met. So in a sort of despair the apostle exclaimed that if all the things Jesus had done were written, the world itself would not contain the books that should be written.Sometimes we think we should like to know a little more about Jesus and we are sorry that more was not written about Him. We should like to know a little more about His boyhood.

We have only one story about that—the story of His visit to the Temple at Jerusalem when He was twelve years old. We should like to know what He said to the children when He took them in His arms, or when He watched them at their games.

We should like to know more about the sick people He made well, and the bad people He made good.Some years ago there was found among the ruins of an Egyptian city one page from a book containing sayings which were supposed to have been uttered by Jesus. All over the world people were interested and excited about it, and long articles were written on the subject in many of the chief newspapers and periodicals. Fancy all that interest about one page, and try to imagine what excitement there would be if a whole new Gospel were found!But after the newness of the discovery had worn off perhaps we should think no more about the new Gospel than we do about the four Gospels we already have. I wonder if we really value them as we should. Do we read them and know them as we ought? God has given us just four short Gospels, but He has told us in them all that we really need to know about Jesus.

He has told us enough to show us how much we need Jesus’ help, how much Jesus loves us, and how He lived and died for our sakes. He has told us enough to lead us to love and follow Jesus.

I wonder if we are really learning all that those four stories teach us.There is another thing I want you to remember. The writer of this verse was nearer the truth than he knew. For the work of Jesus did not end on earth. Will you look at the very next verse after our text— the first verse in the Book of Acts? St. Luke, who wrote the Book of Acts, speaks to his friend Theophilus about a “former treatise” which he had written. That “former treatise” is just the Gospel of St. Luke, and he says that in it he told all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day in which He was taken up to Heaven.

That means that Jesus’ work on earth was just a beginning; it was just the beginning of what He has been doing in the world ever since; and if all the things were written down that Jesus has done since He went back to live with His Father in Heaven, the world itself would not contain the books that should be written.What are some of the things Jesus has done in the world?Well, first He has changed the natures of millions and millions of people. He has made bad people good, restless people patient, cruel people kind, rough people gentle, angry people self-controlled, selfish people self- sacrificing, hard people loving, timid people brave.And then He has brought light into many dark places. The world was a very dark place when He came. People were dying without hope, and because they had no hope beyond the grave they said, “Let us eat, and drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we die.” But it was only a very small number who could enjoy life, for a great part were miserable slaves, and of the rest many were so poor that they could do little more than just exist. If one man received an injury from another he never rested till that injury was avenged, because nobody had taught men to forgive. The poor, and the weak, and the helpless were downtrodden and oppressed, because nobody had taught men to love.But Jesus brought light, and love, and joy, and hope into men’s hearts.

By His life and death He gave them new views of life and death, and new ideas of duty. And the light He brought is still shining; and it will shine brighter and brighter until it has lit up all the dark places of the earth and all men come to know Him and to love Him.And then Jesus has worked through those people whom He has filled with His love.

He has put it into their hearts to think and feel for others, and to help the suffering and the sad.Let me tell you how a little girl helped. She lived in a cottage by the side of a country road. Near her home was a convict prison, and every day the prisoners marched past her cottage to their work in a quarry some distance away. They were chained together and were accompanied by six warders—two in front, one on either side, and two behind.Now the work in the quarry was very hard, and in the summer-time the convicts used to return in the evening looking hot and tired and dusty and depressed. The little girl felt very, very sorry for them and wondered what she could do to help. One evening a brilliant idea struck her.In her garden was a well of sweet, cool spring water.

She ran for a bucket and filled it at the well. Then she carried it out to the road and waited.Soon she heard the sound of the men coming— tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp.

On they came, and when the officer in command saw the child standing in the middle of the road with her bucket he called to her to stand aside. But she held her ground and the officer yelled out “Halt!”Then very timidly the little girl asked, “Please, may I give your men a drink?” The officer was so surprised that he gave a gruff “yes”; but when he saw how heavy the bucket was he ordered two of the prisoners to help her to carry it.All down the line she went, and wherever she went a wonderful change came over the faces of the men. One said, “Thank you, missy”; another exclaimed, “God bless your blue eyes!”; while his companion added, “and your kind heart.” One man who had a little girl of his own at home lifted her up and kissed her, and then put her down quickly and looked straight ahead.Every evening through that hot, dusty summer the child was at her post on the road. And every evening the men stopped and drank from her bucket of water. They came to see in her, not just a little girl with blue eyes and fair curls, but the very likeness of Jesus Christ Himself, and their hard hearts were wonderfully softened.That little girl was adding her bit to the biography of Jesus. Boys and girls, are we?