He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou me?”
Again Peter answered with an anguished glance of entreaty, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”
Again came the command, “Feed my sheep.”
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou me?”
Then Peter burst into a great passion [pg 189]of weeping, and wept as on the night he had denied his Master. “Lord,” he cried out, “thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee!”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” Other words spake he also which they that heard forgot no more either in time or in eternity.
Thus did Peter, the Galilean, who was also called Simon, son of John, answer his Master three times by Gennesaret water; and thus was the bitter memory of his three denials purged from his soul. Verily he loved much, and was therefore forgiven much. And to the end of his days he remembered right well both to cherish the lambs committed to his care by the Upper Shepherd, and to tend and feed the sheep both in fold and in pasture.
So it was that he no more spoke care[pg 190]lessly or slightingly to the little lad, Tor, but, counting him as a special charge from his risen Lord, he became to him even as a father.
And Tor, growing into manhood, learned many things both strange and beautiful from the world’s page; but he found nothing there to blot out the memory of the Man who had opened his eyes. To the end he followed the King, his Master, and Jesus, long since received into the visible heavens over Galilee, yet remained with him, a sweet and satisfying presence.
The End.