I've developed an interest in learning about the different people from the Bible.
One character I find fascinating and interesting is Peter, (Simon, son of John). Now, I am not a scholar or theologian, so pardon me if I gets some things wrong. But in this blog, I hope to be able to portray my own thoughts about Peter.
Peter, in a nutshell: from my personal readings of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), he is a very explosive character. He's got a good heart but he often put his foot in his mouth. He often says what's on his mind, whether it comes out right or not. (But then, I think Jesus valued all answers and made them learned from their actions and responses.) He was a fishermen by trade and most fishermen were vulgar in nature. You can also imagine him being a very strong guy, because a sea-faring life is often rough. Think of him as this big bulky guy, sailor dude. Okay, maybe even to add some insult, Jesus changes his name from Simon to Peter. The origins of the name Peter actually comes from the female form petra (greek?), meaning "rock". Jesus really puts him in his place (so you think you are a man, let me give you this girly name.) So, just think, Simon the fisherman (a manly mans job), leaves his trade, gets a name like Peter, which is male form of petra, follows Jesus and gets himself in all kind of situations. Read on...
Since it's quite a challenge to find every single story of Peter, I am going to just highlight some of the stories.
We first meet Peter when Jesus was walking around, recruiting for his entourage of disciples. Luke 5:1-11 and John 1:35-42 both have more details accounts of Jesus meeting Peter (where Matthew and Mark only mentioned Jesus saw him and his brother Andrew first). (And please note, Luke 5 and John 1 are different accounts of Jesus meeting Andrew and Peter.) After Jesus said to the brothers, "be fishers of men; follow me", both Andrew and Peter left everything behind (boats, nets, hooks, maybe their lunch in the boat) and started following Jesus.
We next see Peter in Matthew 14. To recap the story, Jesus and the disciples wanted to cross the sea, so Jesus told the disciples to go ahead and jumped in the boat while Jesus dismisses the crowd. To catch up, Jesus walked across the waters as a storm was brewing and everybody was like, what the heck!? Peter cried out, "If that's you, let me walk across the water towards you." Jesus told him to come but when Peter first stepped onto the water, he panicked. (Okay, visualize, big guy, been in very rough situations in the sea...) Kind of an interesting image, right? This guy who has survived a few storms is afraid to walk on water towards Jesus. Okay, so walking on water is not always a typical thing to do, but none-the-less, it was pretty cool. Jesus told Peter "You of little faith. Why do you doubt?" Jesus told Peter to man-up.
There was a story where Jesus asked, "Who do you think I am?" Peter promptly answered, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." Jesus then tells Peter one of the most famous things most Christians should know by now, "You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church..." (There's a debate whether Peter is the first church leader based on this scripture verse. There is a comma after "Peter" for a reason...) Yet immediately following this story, Jesus predicts his death and Peter went into denial, "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!" Jesus rebuked him, saying that Peter has the mind of a man. (Matthew 16)
Then, Peter denied Jesus 3 times. I think most people know this story: Peter says to Jesus that he will never leave him, that he would die along side Jesus. But after the disciples scattered after Jesus's arrest, Peter denied him three times before the rooster crowed. (Matthew 26)
There were many parables told in between these stories, which Peter pretty much says something in each of these. Some were responses that Jesus was looking for. Others were responses that reveals a lot of Peter's human character, which is not bad. Just shows he's human with a good heart.
The final story I want to share is in John 21:
"17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 I
tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went
where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to
go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved
was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus
at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
This lesson actually has been on my mind a lot lately. Prior to verse 17, Jesus has asked Peter 2 other times, "Simon, do you love me?" In all three questions, Jesus addressed Peter as Simon. Simon the Fishermen. Not "Peter". (Remember where you came from. Don't forget. By the way, you get your name back...) And if we ever knew Greek, it would read more like "Do you phileo me? Do you really phileo me? But for real, do you agape me?" Jesus asked Peter if he deeply loves Jesus. Now, before, Peter had denied Jesus three times. Yet, Jesus knew Peter's heart. Peter is human but genuine. Jesus would not have asked the question of love three times if Peter were anything else.
I relate to Peter. Actually, I think we all do. Peter might be the biggest mess-up Jesus could ever picked as a disciple. He has said the "wrong" things, have made the wrong decisions, had done a lot of stupid things. And like Peter, many times in my own heart, following Christ is too hard and complicated. I say the wrong things, I do the wrong things. And there
are many distractions in the world. Like with this story, Peter is comparing a friend to himself. Jesus says, "What is that to you? Why do you have to compete and compare
and try to be like them? And how is he like you?" But what Jesus continually told Peter is to "Follow me" from the time of the recruit, until this last lesson. Jesus taught Peter faith to walk on water, hope that Peter got a second chance, and an agape love that is unconditional. Jesus knew Peter had a big heart; Jesus never stopped teaching him because he knew Peter will do great things once he understood what it took to follow Christ.
