Article April 27, 2009 Issue

A FRESH STRETCH OF BEACH

BY ROBIN HOAGLAND

Few things are as clean and inviting as a Cape Cod beach in early spring. Each walk begins on a pristine stretch of sand. Every footstep (and misstep) from the day before has been erased by the ebb and flow of another high tide.

As I leave my first tracks in a new direction, I find myself thinking of another spring on another shore many years ago. The mental picture is vivid. Swimming to land is a man burdened with guilt. His save-his-own-skin rashness had abandoned a best friend at a moment of greatest need. Waiting to greet him is that same friend—with a breakfast ready to share.

What turmoil Simon Peter must feel as he steps out of the water. He has denied he knew Jesus. He has forsaken the work he was called to do. But Peter's anguish and self-condemnation gently give way to the irresistible joy of seeing the risen Christ.