St. Peter – A Prisoner of the Gospel
St. Peter – A Prisoner of the Gospel.
“It is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live. For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life… You must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever! Amen.” (2 Peter 1:13-14 and 3:18).
Saint Peter, the spokesman for the Twelve, the chief of the Apostles, a member of Jesus’ inner circle, the pillar of the early church. Jesus called Simon the Rock, Peter, (Matt. 16:18 and John 1:42), and the name was fully realized as Peter was indeed the stabilizing leader and spokesman of the infant Christian fellowship. Peter’s main claim to fame early on as a disciple was his inspired confession of Jesus as “Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” (Matt. 16:16). That confession of Peter’s was music to Jesus’ ears, and summarized perfectly the foundational belief of the expanding Christian community. Nobody could have put it any better. Peter’s natural impulsive bluster was soon transformed by the Holy Spirit into courageous and insightful leadership of Christ’s church. Peter may have been the rock of the church, but Peter himself will tell anyone that Jesus is the Rock. Peter was not self-deceived about who the true foundation was, naming Jesus the cornerstone, the living stone chosen by God. (1 Peter 2:4-6).
Peter was probably the closest friend to Jesus during their years together. He was brash, impulsive, impetuous, and yet was faithful to Jesus throughout their ministry. Peter was given the amazing privilege of being present at the Transfiguration. He once declared that he would never desert Jesus, and would rather die than abandon Him. And yet, there he was sleeping while Jesus suffered in the Garden. He couldn’t seem to do anything right that fateful night. With good intentions he took up a sword at Jesus’ arrest, and was quickly rebuked by Him. He promised to never deny Jesus, and he soon broke that promise by denying Him three times. He first denied knowing Jesus; then he denied being one of His followers; then he denied even knowing what those accusers were even talking about. After these denials, Peter went off by himself and wept bitterly in shame, humiliation and guilt. At this point, Peter was a big disappointment, to himself and to Jesus. Yet there was Jesus in mortal agony on the Cross, asking for the Father to forgive those who had a hand in His Passion. There is no doubt that Jesus had Peter in mind with a number of others as He prayed on the Cross, “Father, forgive them, for they doesn’t know what they are doing.”
Restoration. There at the beach after the Resurrection, some of the disciples were doing some fishing (John 21:15-19). Jesus was very intentional about undoing the damage of Peter’s denials. Jesus wonderfully, with insight and wisdom, gave Peter three times to confirm Peter’s love for Him. Did Jesus astutely plan on speaking with Peter with the smoke of the charcoal fire in the air around them? If smell is our strongest sense and what brings our memories to the surface, was the charcoal fire at the beach helpful to bring about Peter’s redemption, reminding Peter of how he needs his relationship with Jesus to be restored? Three times to profess his love, three times to be assured of Jesus’ forgiveness, three times to be restored, not only in Jesus’ eyes, but also in the eyes of Peter himself. Jesus gave Peter the chance to redeem himself through these three questions. Jesus removed the cloud of Peter’s denials, and in the process put the nails in the coffin of Peter’s shame. Jesus helped Peter to silence the crowing of the rooster that surely was blaring in his spirit. Jesus proceeded to display confidence in Peter, revealing that he believed in Peter enough to ask him to be the shepherd of the Christian community soon to develop in Jesus’ absence. Peter said Yes to Jesus… Yes, Jesus, I do love you; yes, Jesus, I will feed your sheep and lead your people. Yes, Jesus, I commit myself to serving you for the rest of my days. This is a profound story of Peter’s redemption.
Immediately after Peter’s restoration and re-commitment to Christ and the fledgling Christian community, Jesus said a rather unsettling thing to Peter, probably privately… Truly, truly, I say to you Peter, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you, and carry you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18). And then John informs the reader that Jesus said this to Peter to signify by what death he would glorify God. This prediction of Peter’s martyrdom by Jesus became true around 64 AD. Peter was arrested by the Roman Emperor Nero and sentenced to death. The executioners wanted to crucify him like they did his Master Jesus, but Peter refused. He didn’t feel he was worthy to die just like Jesus. So they bound him to the cross and hung him upside down, and he died soon thereafter. After Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s death, He then said the same thing to Peter that He said to him three years ago… “Follow me.”
Many years later, after a lifetime of faithful service to Jesus the Messiah, Peter finds himself imprisoned in Rome. He has been told by the Lord that he will face death soon. Peter wrote this, his second and last letter, knowing of his impending martyrdom. He decides to write what is most on his heart. “I know that I’m to die soon, the Master has made that quite clear to me. And so I am especially eager that you have all this down in black and white so that after I die, you’ll have it for ready reference.” (2 Peter 1:14-15, Message).
Peter’s thoughts in 2 Peter reflect his dominant concerns for Christian believers: growing and knowing, growth and knowledge. Peter focused on the need to keep growing in godliness, in moral excellence, in spiritual understanding. He consistently underlines the fact that the spiritual life is a process, that it is vital that a believer matures and grows deeper and wider. So Peter advises to stay in the truth and increase in knowledge of the Faith. Don’t listen to all these false teachers that seem to be everywhere. Continue to deepen your relationship with the living God. Peter had spiritual knowledge in mind when he started this last letter, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living the godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence.” (1:2-3).
Because there was so much false teaching circulating in the church about the Lord’s second coming, Peter addresses this topic to set the record straight. Peter has much to say about the sure coming of the Day of the Lord, and that we should look forward to “the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (3:13).
At the end of his final letter, just before he was martyred, what were Peter’s final thoughts? Once again… growth and knowledge. Grow in God’s favor and grace, grow in knowledge of Jesus. And finally, he utters words that are timeless, that all the angels in heaven sing eternally. To God alone belongs all glory, honor, majesty and splendor! Yes, Peter’s final words were exclamations of adoration and praise.