Simon Peter is perhaps one of the most enigmatic disciples of Jesus Christ.
He was for all practical purposes a leader among the disciples both during Jesus’ time and after His ministry on earth was over.
I am trying to look at different facets of Simon Peter’s character and the qualification he had to be a disciple or lead them.
Background-We get introduced to Simon Peter in the gospels ,by the sea of Galilee, casting a net into the sea, because he and his brother Andrew are. fishermen.
According to Charles Pope,’Fishing was not necessarily a lucrative profession but was considered honourable because it supplied an important part of the diet.
The disciples worked in the sea of Galilee which was a fresh water lake.
Fishing was a huge industry specially in Bethsaida (the fishery) and Magdala (the fish tower or dried fish).
Commercial fishing was done by nets. The fishermen’s life required courage ,firmness as well as patience.’
We come to know Simon Peter is married because there is an account of Jesus going to his house and healing his mother-in-law of fever.
Charecter
Simon Peter comes forth as one of the most colourful characters among the disciples who were with Lord Jesus in his earthly ministry.
Impulsive– Simon Peter’s impulsive nature comes through at various times as recorded in the gospels.
When the Lord Jesus comes across Simon Peter and his brother Andrew to follow him he immediately leaves his net and follows him.
Adventurous.– when Lord Jesus walks on water and the disciples get over their fear and recognises him,Peter wants to walk on water too ,so he tells the Lord, “Lord ,if it be thou ,bid me come unto thee on water.”
When the Lord Jesus bids him to come he walks on water to go to Jesus but when we sees the winds getting boisterous ,he was afraid and began to sink ,then he cries out ,”Lord save me “,and immediately Lord Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and rebukes him for having little faith.
Rash-When Judas Iscariot and the soldiers come to take away Jesus from the garden of Gethsemane,it is Simon Peter who takes out his sword and cuts off the ear of one of the soldiers.Jesus reprimands Peter and heals the man’s ear.
Child like-It was Simon Peter who in his child-like disposition asks one of the vital questions of Christian faith .
How often shall we forgive someone who offends us and enquires,”seven times?”
Jesus answers -“Seventy times seven”.
Clueless,shallow and ignorant-When Lord Jesus begins to reveal to his disciple as to how he must go in to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed and be raised again on the third day it is Peter who takes the lord aside saying “this should not happen to you”. That earns him a sharp rebuke from the Lord and his exact words to Peter was, “Get thee behind me, satan: thou art an offence onto me: For thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
At the Mount of transfiguration,When Lord Jesus takes Peter,James and John with him , and Moses and Elijah appears in the cloud with him,Simon Peter is the one to suggest building three tabernacles in the mountain for them.
It is from Simon Peter comes the question, “We have forsaken all, and follow thee,what shall we have therefore?
Rare flashes of spiritual insight+In Matthew 16 verse 15, When Jesus said to his disciples whom say you that I am?
Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the son of living God.”
To which Jesus answered ,Blessed art thou ,Simon bar – Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it on to thee,but my Father which is in heaven.
In Mathew 16 vs18 he says, “And I tell you that you are Peter,and on this rockI will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”.(NIV).
First hand affirmation of Christ’s deity-In the Mount of transfiguration when Elijah and Moses appear in the cloud and stands with Jesus,a voice from heaven affirms that , “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased,hear ye him”. The three disciples on hearing this were afraid.Peter was one of the three.
The same affirmation had come once before during Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist.
Miracle ,a way of life with Christ+Simon Peter was privy to all the miracles Jesus did. He not only saw the healing, feeding of the crowd, bringing dead man alive, calming the storm,walking on water ,etc but also saw so many miracles in the day-to-day living. For instance,one time when tax collectors come to collect tax,Jesus instructs Peter to go to the sea, cast a hook ,take up the fish and take the money from the fish’ mouth and pay the tax.Peter does just that.Life with Jesus was never ordinary .
Selective hearing and lack of spiritual insight+Jesus talks about his crucification and his resurrection to his disciples and Peter was amongst them.Just before his arrest ,he shares his burden with the disciples and he selects the three Peter, James and John to accompany him to the garden of Gethsamane.
He asked them to watch and pray.While he was wrestling in prayer and sweating great drops of blood,we see these disciples oblivious of what is to come ,sleeping.Twice he comes and wakes them but they continue to sleep.
False bravado and a broken man-When Jesus talks about his crucification and the effect it would have on the disciples,Peter is the one who declares his undying loyalty and says he will never deny him.
Jesus says, “Verily I say unto thee ,that this night before the cock crows,thou shall deny me thrice.”
When Lord Jesus is led away by the soldiers and some of the people around identify Peter as being with him,at three different times he denies being affiliated with the Lord and when he does it for the third time ,the cock crows and he remembers what the Lord had told him.He goes out and cries bitterly.
He loves the Lord-After crucification when the disciples go back to fishing,the risen Christ appears before them.From the sea ,when John identifies Lord Jesus on the shore,Simon Peter without any hesistation removes his cloak and jumps into the sea and starts swimming towards Lord Jesus.
To me it brought a picture of a little child running towards an absent parent in sheer joy ,all the heart aches and failures forgotten.
The gospel of John so poignointly records the event.
Jesus prepares dinner for them and after they have dined Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah,lovest thou me more than these?”
He answers, “thou knowest that I love thee.”
Jesus says to him,”Feed my lambs.”
For the second time Jesus asks Peter,Simon,son of Jonas,lovest thou me.
Simon replies,”Yea Lord ;thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus says,”Feed my sheep”.
For the third time Jesus asks Simon,Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
Simon Peter is grieved because he’s asked the third time and so he tells the Lord, “thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee”.
Jesus saith unto him,Feed my sheep.
When I look at Simon Peter’s life the love he had for the Lord was his only qualification but even more so the love the Lord had for him beyond all his failures,weaknesses and brokenness.
Simon Peter’s life brings to me the life changing revelation that Lord Jesus meets us where we are ,imperfect and broken.
It is hard to imagine that this same Simon Peter ,filled with Holy Spirit led the church of Jesus Christ to change the world forever.
The traditions say that in AD 64,Peter was martyred in Rome by emperor Nero but was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to die in the same manner as his Master.
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