Peter The Son Of Lightning Series

Some years back a young girl was caught out in a thunder storm

as she rode her bicycle. She made it to the top of the hill and then

headed down as fast as she could go. When she got home she told a

strange tale. Every time there was a flash of lightning blue flames

ran across her handle bars. Had it not been for the rubber tires on

her bike she felt she would have been electrocuted. This experience

is rare for landlubbers. But for men of the sea strange happenings

with lightening are common. The fiery glow of electricity is often

seen on the masts of ships, and other pointed objects. Pilots see it

on the wings of their planes also. This electrical discharge has come

to be called St. Elmo's fire, and it has a fascinating history. It all

ties in with our subject this morning because many Italian sailors

call it the fires of St. Peter.

In the account of the second voyage of Columbus, written by his

son, is this passage: "During the night of Saturday Oct. 1493 the

thunder and rain being very violent, St. Elmo appeared on the

topgallant mast with 7 lighted tapers, that is to say, we saw those

fires which the sailors believe to proceed from the body of the

saint." Seaman even developed poetry concerning this strange

electric phenomenon.

Last night I saw Saint Elmo's stars,

With their glittering lanterns all at play,

On the tops of the masts and the tips of the spars,

And I knew we should have foul weather today.

It is of interest that Peter is connected with these phenomena of

natural lightning; not only because of his being a fisherman and a

man of the sea, but because it fits his very nature. If James and

John, two out of the three in the inner circle of Christ's Apostles,

were called sons of thunder, then nothing could be more appropriate

than calling Peter, the third member of this trio, the son of lightning.

The Jews have a proverb that says, thunder and lightning are

inseparable, and this certainly holds true with the men Christ chose

as the foundation for his church. Lightning comes before the

thunder, and Peter was given first place as leader of the 12, even

over the beloved John-the son of thunder.

Peter is like lightning in so many ways. He is as unpredictable.

You never know when he is going to strike, and when he does he

follows the path of least resistance just like lightning. Alexander

Whyte says of Peter, "He was hasty, headlong, speaking

impertinently, and unadvisedly...Ever wading into waters too deep

for him...Caring little for conventional propriety, or for difficulties

locking his way, Peter acted on the rule, when in doubt, speak."

Peter's reckless tongue was like forked lightning, and nowhere

do we see it more clearly than in our text. Peter is the only one of the 12

who was so quick on the trigger that he fired back at the Lord

Himself with heated resistance.

Even in this setting where Jesus was filling the air with the most

beautiful message he ever spoke, Peter is living up to this name as a

son of lightning by creating all kinds of static. Jesus persisted with

Peter, however, for he knew long before Benjamin Franklin, the

lightning can be tamed. Lightning can be made into a powerful

force for good if it is harnessed and brought under control. We

want to look at the three stages Peter went through before the divine

lightning tamer brought him under control. First look at-

I. PETER'S REFUSAL. v. 8

Who but this flaming, impetuous son of lightning would dare to

give this heated response to his master-"you shall never wash my

feet!" If ever a man was deserving of being struck down by the

lightning of God's judgment, you would think Peter was well

qualified. All ancient people's looked upon lightning as the tool of

God's wrath. Zeus among the Greeks, or Jupiter among the

Romans, or Allah among the Moslems are frequently portrayed as

destroying their enemies with flaming thunder bolts from the sky.

In the Old Testament there are references to the Lord's use of

lightning. Psa. 144:6 says, "Flash forth the lightning and scatter

them." Psa. 97:4 says, "His lightnings lighten the world; the earth

sees and trembles."

Our text says all things were given into the hands of Christ. This

means that the lightning of God's wrath was also available to him,

and he could have met Peter's hotheaded refusal with a bolt of

judgment. Jesus does not handle things that way, however, for he

understands Peter's problem. Jesus does not deal with us according

to what we are, but according to what we can be when we are