My dear friends, I wish you all in the name of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. It is so nice to meet you all through blogger.com.I want to share my article with you which got published in a reputed Tamil magazine 'Samadhanathin Narcheithi'. As you all know,I am neither a scholar nor a writer.But I am a firm believer that'if you use tour talents for the Lord,He will be pleased enough to crown you with peace and happiness'.
As Jesus was walking alongside the Sea of
Galilee ,He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother
Andrew. They were fishermen and were casting a net into the lake.”Come follow
me”, Jesus said .”And I will make you fishers of men”. At once they left their
nets and followed him. (Matt 4:18-20)
Friends ,let us scrutinize thie above passage. The Lord
Himself ,invited Peter .Peter was neither
a landlord nor a noble man. He was just a petty fisher-folk whom the
Lord selected .He along with Andrew, James and John( fellow fishers, disciples
of Christ) teamed up and Jesus seemed to take a special delight in Peter. Let
us make a character study of Peter..
Firstly,it was his courage that distinguished him from other
disciples and made Peter a take-charge kind of guy .When Christ approached the disciples’
boat, walking on the water,it was Peter who got out of the boat and started to
walk on the water.(Matt 18:10)
Secondly,it was Peter who made the first public declaration
of the Lord’s true identity as the Messaiah(Matt 16:16).Thirdly, when Jesus and
his team was surrounded by the Roman guards on the night of our Lord’s arrest
,it was Peter who was brave enough to face them and he proved it by chopping
off Malchus’ ear.(John 18:10)
(And friends,only St.John has written that Peter chopped off
Malchus’ ear.St.Matthew ,St.Mark, St.Luke have written ‘a member from the
group’ chopped off Malchus’ ear)
These points give us a good certificate about Peter and his
character .But things change dramatically within a night before Jesus’
death.And one of the most unbelievable incidents was the denial of Jesus Christ
by Peter. Every one who read the bible would not have expected Peter to do such
a thing.
There are many views on this topic .Scholars have argued a
lot and there are also some people who consider Peter as an instrument of
devil. Friends whatever may be the discussions we must not forget that PETER WAS SELECTED BY OUR LORD JESUS
HIMSELF.
Peter was with Jesus when He was
teaching in the synagogues,
preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of
God and healing all kinds of sickneses and
diseases of the people.When Jesus
performed miracles and drove out the devils, Peter would have believed that this man was really
the Son of God.He might have even thought that Jesus was the MESSAIAH
for whose arraival they were all waiting. He might have thought that Jesus
would live long and deliver them from
the hands of Romans and become their unconquerable worldly emperor.
When Jesus was discussing with his disciples about His
flesh, His spirit, and the promised eternal life(John 6:58-65)some of his
disciples found hard to digest his
teachings and they backslided and
went away.(John 6:66) On seeing this, Jesus questioned his close and intimate
disciples whether they too wanted to
leave him(67). Peter was quick, in answering Jesus and he declared
"Lord,to whom shall we go?You have the words of eternal life."(68).
He asserted: “Also we have come to
believe and know that You are the Christ, the son of the living God."(69)
This reply was a very firm and a
convincing one showing his conviction.
Would you ever believe that the same mouth which uttered these words would disown our Lord three times? There was
another incident which we all remember.
When Jesus asked His disciples what they thought of Him, Peter immediately answered
that He was the Christ, the son of the living God(Matt 16:15-16).Jesus blessed
Peter and declared that he was the rock on which He would establish His
kingdom. On hearing this, Peter's faith would have certainly increased. The
words of Jesus would have encouraged and
pleased him beyond limits.
Things began to change when Jesus
started revealing many things about His death. When Jesus told
them that he had to go to Jerusalem, suffer,die,rise up on the 3rd day, Peter was not able to control his emotions.
He took Him aside, rebuked Him and said that “these things should not happen to
you”(21-22).
Peter told this because
he never wanted Jesus to die. Perhaps he did not believe that Jesus
would rise up again on the third day after his death.As a very simple person
Peter was never aware of the fact that God has a purpose in everything and that
His death and His resurrection should happen only according to His will and the
will of His Father. Peter did not want
to lose the person who had come to save
them all.
When the
transfiguration took place before Peter,James and John, Peter was the
first to ask Jesus whether they had to build three tents for everyone of them.
And when they heard the voice from the cloud: “This is my Beloved Son,in whom I
am well pleased. Hear Him" they were taken aback and shocked. The
disciples, mainly Peter, would not have expected such dramatic things.He would
have just gone with Jesus thinking that they were going for prayer, but it was
God's plan to prove that he was the Son of God.
Jesus wanted his disciples to see
with their own eyes His marvellous transfiguration which was totally a divine
experience.
This Peter, who had the chance to
witness all these happenings finally disowned Jesus three times.
When Jesus was arrested ,Peter was the
first to protest(as I said in my first article).When Jesus was taken to the
high priest,Peter followed Him at a distance upto the courtyard.(Matt 26.58).
Peter was so concerned about Jesus that he was
eager to know what was happening inside the house. He was alone, frightened and frustrated.
No other disciple was with him and his hopes about salvation and the
work that had to be accomplished by the
Messaiah ended in smoke.
It was at such a situation, Peter disowned Christ.As he was sitting out at the
courtyard,a servant girl accused him and said that he was also with Jesus. But
Peter denied the truth in front of all
assembled there.(Matt 26:69,70) Peter would not have expected this. He knew
that if he accepted it, and told the truth, he would be also arrested and kept
under custody for enquiry. So he
silently moved to the gateway. Here he
was seen by another girl who also told the people that Peter was also with Jesus. Peter denied this
too with an oath(Matt 26:71,72)
When the people accused him and said that he was also with Jesus, Peter threw a curse
at them and vowed that HE DID NOT KNOW
JESUS.(Matt26:73'74). Friends! Do you
know what happened? The
rooster crowed as our
Lord had rightly pointed
out earlier. Realizing
his betrayal of his dear Master
“Peter wept bitterly” (75). Peter would not have forgotten these things
till he died. Some preachers say that
when he was questioned, he denied Christ with all ferocity just to escape from the people. But this is
wrong. If Peter wanted to escape, he
would not have gone to the courtyard. He cannot be called a coward because he
was the first to attack Malchus
and cut off his ear. As I
understand, it was only God’s plan to teach him a lesson so that he would become
a firm rock on which the Church could be built. Has this not happened in
history? What do you say to this?.
jeffy.walter@gmail.com
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