The Redemptive Power of the story of Peter

Peter is an intriguing and curious character in the New Testament. He is one of the founding fathers of the early church of Christ; a leading disciple in the ministry of Jesus Christ. In addition to this though, he was also a very flawed man. He displayed characteristics of racism, pride, self centeredness and anger. He was one of two disciples who betrayed Jesus, the one we know how the story ended but Peters betrayal was the greatest propellers for his service to the kingdom of God.

His story is incredibly rich. He was, notwithstanding his flaws that were apparent even to Jesus when they walked together, an excellent example of how regret can invite us to live and experience the redemptive power of forgiveness of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. The part of his story I will focus on is Matthew 16:13-20: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+16%3A13-20&version=AMP

There are two critical observations that I’ve noted: First, Jesus renamed Peter the “rock”. The second is, some time after Jesus gave him this name Jesus foretells at the Last Supper that one of his disciples would deny knowing him (not saying Peter specifically, but referring to him). Everything in between was Peter living his God ordained life, making mistakes and assumptions but ultimately evidencing the vision that Jesus Christ foretold of his life, that he would be the rock in the kingdom of God.

Peter walked intimately with Jesus Christ. He had a very personal revelation of Jesus that enabled him to confess Jesus as “the Anointed One”, the Son of the Living God even whilst others misdescribed Jesus as “John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets”. At this point Jesus gave Peter the greatest exhortation by saying to him:

“Blessed [happy, spiritually secure, favored by God] are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood (mortal man) did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades (death) will not overpower it [by preventing the resurrection of the Christ]. 19 I will give you the keys (authority) of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind [forbid, declare to be improper and unlawful] on earth [e]will have [already] been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose [permit, declare lawful] on earth will have [already] been loosed in heaven.”

He gave Peter the keys to heaven and this was sealed in secret between themselves.

Even after all of this confidence Jesus had and communicated to Peter, he goes on to do the strangest thing. He denies even knowing Jesus, not once but 3 TIMES. The weirdest thing for me is that he catapulted in his rejection of Christ, to the smallest provocation from a teenage girl who recognised and called Peter out as one of the disciples. This “accusation” didn’t come from anyone influential or an authority figure but from a child. We will remember that on the very occasion when Jesus foretold of this betrayal, he had actually warned his disciples of the trying times they will go through in their path, example being tortured by declaring his name. Peter was there. Jesus did this to prepare them. In his pride and self confidence Peter boldly told Jesus that he would never ever deny him. Yet as the first test that presented itself he falls. There was none of the bravado he displayed at the Last Supper. He went on to deny Jesus two further times.

And then, the rooster crowed. Peter very quickly realised what he had done and was immediately filled with regret - he was left mortified and bitterly devastated - “he wept bitterly”.

The part of the story that I love however is how Peter responded to this emotional/spiritual paralysis. Yes he fell, he was filled with grief and trauma but notwithstanding all of this, he fell forward. His walk with Jesus allowed him to know that he is forgiven and has the full grace and mercy of God flowing through him. He had to quickly understand, for his sake, the meaning of redemption. He emerged stronger and emboldened and he used remaining life doing wondrous works for the kingdom of God.

The stronghold of pride and self assuredness that Peter had broke that day. He developed a great sensitivity to the love of God and the duty that was impressed on his heart. His remaining flaws became illuminated to him. However, this time, he could quickly recognised them for what they were and did not respond from a place of prideful arrogance he once had before. Example is the deep seated racism Peter was socialised in. It was absolutely necessary for Peter to be crushed by that regret, to undergo some thing so momentous to break that pride in order to enable him to recognise the voice of God when it revealed to him the bigger picture and purpose God had for His kingdom. If Peter did not quickly overcome the discrimination he had against the Cornelius, a Gentile who was a well respected man who loved the Lord, this racism would have shut out the kingdom of God from a whole section of the population, being the Gentiles. This would have been costly, especially in the early days when the Church of God being established. See story here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+10&version=NKJV

So:

Everything we go through in life and the wounds we often carry are clearly there by special design, usually to keep us humble in our outlook in life. Peters regret actually served him. It served as a constant reminder that he actually has no choice but to rely on Gods hand and His leading in his life. Anything based on his human condition can only lead to a life of guilt and shame. Also the display of regret showed Peter to actually have a solid moral compass that allowed remorse in his heart when he has done wrong and the humility to allow the Grace and Mercy of God to operate in his life to bring out a purposeful sense of duty. Its woeful when you live a life that does not even allow you to see wrongful actions when we have done them.

Peters story is an excellent example of how the darkest moments in our lives can actually propel us to absolute greatness.

In Awe

Ntswaki