#2: Simon Peter, The Rock (Cephas)

 

Simeon son of Jona was born in Bethsaida, but most of his life he lived in Capernaum, he was a fisherman, and his brother Andrew was the ‘protokletos’ (the first called).  Peter was married, but his fishing mates were James & John. He was the key-holder of the apostleship and a pillar in the church of Jerusalem. For his prominent preaching and leadership recorded in Acts 2, he suffered imprisonment, but was rescued by an angel. It is likely that while in prison, he wrote his two letters we have today.  His human spirit was impulsive (Mt.14:28), but yet sometimes cowardly (Mt. 14:30, 26:69-74), he seemed to be hot-tempered (John 18:10) but also tender-hearted (Mt. 26:75). He also showed insight (Mt. 16:16), but was kind of dense at times too (Mt. 16:21-23). But despite his complicated character, once he witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, he was consistently courageous, but yet was still caught in hypocrisy, Ac. 5:27-30, Gal.2:11-13. This teaches us that our faith can grow and be reproductive, IF we are willing to accept the forgiveness God offers and be thankful for it, never forgetting our sin and how complicated and contradictory we can be, 2 nd. Peter 1:9.

On the secular side of history, a 2 nd. century Christian writer (Papias) tells us that Mark served as Peter’s scribe and wrote the Gospel of Mark based on Peter’s testimony. According to some stories, Peter’s death was a sentence of crucifixion and he requested to be crucified upside down, it may have happened as early as Nero’s reign (54-68AD). In early church history and secular artefacts, Peter, is usually symbolized by ‘keys’, representing his role in locking and unlocking the gates to the kingdom of Heaven. There were artists who tried to capture the influence of Peter by painting portraits and making stained glass art of his image. This was done by putting the face of whoever commissioned the artwork, as Peter himself. Artists Tiziano, Tintoretto and Rembrandt perfected this to glorify Peter, but God’s word doesn’t promote such glory.

Jesus called Peter to be a ‘fisher of men’, Mt. 4:19, he left his job to do this, Lk 5:11. He was one of the core three disciples Jesus spent more time with (James, Peter & John – Mk. 5:37, 9:2, 13:3 & 14:33) than the other disciples. Based on his confession of Jesus as The Christ, Jesus appointed him the key-holder of the Kingdom which would grow to prevail over any & all other forces, Mt. 16:16-19. However, despite this awesome responsibility, he was rebuked by Jesus for not focusing on the will of God and having more stronger desires for the will of man, Mt. 16:23. When the passion of Christ began, Peter was there, but yet denied him three times that night, Lk 22:31-34, Mt. 26:36-46. After the resurrection, Jesus instructed Peter to ‘feed his sheep’, John 21:15-19. This teaches us that God entrusts great work, to small people. It is His strength and wisdom we must depend on to do the will of God in our life, not our own.

† We cannot evangelise effectively, if we are not willing to make costly sacrifices, Mt. 16:23-27, Lk. 9:23.

† Jesus prayed for the apostles’ unity and growth, and left a double-minded man like Peter in the leadership position. We too are expected to lead people to Christ, and promote unity, even though we have many faults. Even though we may feel we have committed the ultimate crime in ‘denying’ Jesus, by failing to mention him sometimes, we too can be strengthened and forgiven, to grow and share our faith in doing the work of an evangelist.

† Peter was the apostle sent by Jesus to the Jews, (Gal. 2:8) therefore, he gave him the vision of a sheet of animals clean and unclean to be eaten (Acts 10:9-16). This should teach us to be totally without prejudice in our approach to evangelism, and our work to promote unity in the church.

† Peter or Petros can be a stone (Cephas – Syrian form) that is able to be picked up and thrown or broken, but the church would be built upon Petra, Mt. 16:18, meaning a boulder, ledge or rocky crag, usually used in reference to a rock formation. This is to teach us that Peter (Petros) was to be most like Jesus the PETRA in leadership, 1 st. Cor. 10:4. We as Christians can emulate this discipleship, giving people stepping stones, instead of being stumbling blocks. 1 st. Pet. 2:5-8.