After the darkness, dawning
And stir of the rested wing;
Fresh fragrance from the meadow,
Fresh hope in everything!
After the winter, springtime
And dreams, that, flowerlike, throng;
After the tempest, silence;
After the silence, song.
After the heat of anger,
Love, that all life enwraps;
After the stress of battle,
The trumpet sounding “taps.”
After regret and doubting,
A faith without alloy,
God here and over yonder–
The end of all things–joy!
When then Master first looked upon Simon, he saw him as he was, and saw him through and through. When a stranger comes into our presence, we see only his outward appearance. We cannot look into his heart nor read the inner secrets of his life. But the look of Jesus that day penetrated to the very depths of Simon’s being. He read his character. He saw all his life, what had been good, and what had been evil. “Thou art Simon,” he said.
But that was not all. Jesus not only saw Simon as he was – he saw also the possibilities that were in him, all that he might become, and this was something very great and very noble. “Thou art Simon – thou shalt be called Cephas.” Now he was only a rough fisherman, rude, unrefined, and uneducated, without ability, without power or influence, full of faults. None of the neighbours of Simon saw in him any promise of greatness. They never dreamed of him as attaining the greatness and splendour of character that ultimately he reached. But that day when Simon was introduced to him, Jesus saw all that the old fisherman might become in the years before him.
Page 1