Twenty-Four Carat Faith

Peter is one of my favorite Bible characters. He’s the one who always opens his mouth before his brain has switched into gear and that’s a failing I have a lot of sympathy with.

Remember when the disciples were alone on the boat out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and they saw Jesus walking toward them on the water? Matthew tells us that they were “scared out of their wits. ‘A ghost!’ they said, crying out in terror. But Jesus comforted them, ‘Courage, it’s me. Don’t be afraid.’ Peter, suddenly bold, said, ‘Master, if it’s really you, call me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come ahead.’ Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. ‘Master, save me!’” [Mat 14:26-30] He meant well, but he couldn’t follow through.

Not too long after that, Jesus asks his disciples that crucial question, “Who do you say I am?” And again it’s stout-hearted, clear-sighted, self-confident Peter who answers “him, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” [Mat 16:16] This is, of course, as we find out as the plot unfolds, exactly the right answer. And Peter could have left it right there and basked in Jesus’ approval... That’s where Jesus says, “God bless you, Simon Son of Jonah! You got that answer straight from God! You are Peter the rock, and this is the rock I will build my church on...” [Mat 16:17-18] But no, Peter - being Peter - has to keep on going. When Jesus starts explaining to Peter what being the Messiah, the Anointed One, really means, what with sacrifice and all that unpleasant stuff, Peter doesn’t like it. Peter tries to argue with Jesus. “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” [Mat 16:22] And that’s the end of his moment of glory. From one minute to the next Peter goes straight from being the recipient of Jesus’ approval to being the target of some pretty fierce criticism. “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” [Mat 16:23]

The gospels are full of Peter’s well-meaning blunders, and we really don’t have time to list them all, from not wanting to have his feet washed to falling asleep in the garden of Gethsemane to reaching for his sword when the guards arrest Jesus. But the one we all remember most clearly, and which Peter no doubt remembered and regretted bitterly for the rest of his life, are his three-fold denials while Jesus was on trial for his life. Only the previous evening he had sworn undying loyalty. “Even if everyone else falls to pieces on account of you, I won’t,” he had said. And when Jesus doubted his fervent protestations, he repeated himself: “Even if I had to die with you, I would never deny you.”

And yet he did.

All [the time Jesus was before the high priests] Peter was sitting out in the courtyard. One servant girl came up to him and said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean.” In front of everybody there he denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.’” As he moved over to the gate, someone else said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it, saying “I swear, don’t know the man.” Shortly after that some bystanders approached Peter, “You’ve got to be one of them; your accent gives you away.” Then he got really nervous and swore, “I don’t know the man.” Just then a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. [Mat 26:69-75]

Our hero. Simon Peter, the crumbling rock. That’s the man who wrote the letter we’re looking at today. He’s a man who knew about fear, and about failure. He knew the shame of broken promises. And he knew, better than anyone else, how the hearts of his people would quail when the pressures around them rose. And I suspect they knew he knew. They could listen to him, because he understood. But he also knew, better than anyone else, that not only would Jesus forgive their faintheartedness, he would also give them the courage to last through the night.

Let me explain what was going on. Peter was writing to a whole constellation of little churches in what is now Turkey, broken up into five Roman provinces. After Rome finally took over the area, after fighting over it for generations, one of the ways they brought it under the Roman cultural umbrella was by settling retired Roman soldiers on the land. There were great trading centers like Ephesus and Smyrna on the coast, and little towns in the interior like Lystra and Derbe. So there were long-time residents living next door to first-generation immigrants from all over the empire, from Scotland to Ethiopia, all worshiping gods as diverse as their languages and customs. And you know how it is when lots of different people groups with lots of different customs try to occupy the same space.