The Collapse
Jerusalem ~30AD, immediately following the arrest of Jesus:
Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the
house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But
when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard
and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A
servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She
looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him."
But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.
A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are
one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied.
About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow
was with him, for he is a Galilean."
Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking
about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.
The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter
remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the
rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he
went outside and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62)
Most of you are probably familiar with this story of the
Apostle Peter who, after walking with Jesus for three years,
listening to the teachings, and witnessing the miracles, publicly denied
the Savior three times. Peter was undoubtedly the most
self-confident of the apostles, without a tentative or shy
bone in his body. Just hours before,
Jesus had told the apostles that they would all fall away
and be scattered. Peter's reply was that "Even if
all fall away on account of you, I never will".
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night,
before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."
But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will
never disown you." (Mt 26:33-35).
We then see the rest of the story in Luke 22 above.
Before we get to the restoration, let's ask the question,
"why did Peter fail?" There was certainly nothing
wrong with his intentions, but his confidence was misplaced.
He overestimated his own strength and courage, and
underestimated the weakness of his flesh (self). He
placed his confidence in himself rather than in God.
Another related reason for his collapse was that he failed to pray.
Remember a few hours before, when Jesus took Peter (along
with James and
John) into the garden with him and asked them to "pray that
they would not fall into temptation". While Jesus was
praying, Peter and the other two kept falling asleep.
I would image that if a wanderer came upon them, saw Jesus
anguishing in prayer, sweating drops of blood, while the
apostles slept peacefully, he would probably think that
Jesus was the weak one and that the others had it all
together; however, when the moment of crisis came, Jesus
calmly faced it while the other fell apart. Praying
can often be hard work than, but not as difficult as the consequences
resulting from lack of prayer.
The Rooster - Restoration Begins
So now we see Peter at the lowest point of his life.
He's feeling like his world has collapsed around him and
that he is unworthy of being restored to any kind of
fellowship with Christ. The truth is, we are all
unworthy, but God is faithful. The Scriptures are full
of cases where God responds to prayers for forgiveness or
cries for help (Daniel 10 is a great example).
In Peter's case, I think we receive a couple of glimpses of the
plan of restoration even before his moment of failure. (In a
real sense, we could say the plan was in place before time
began, but we're speaking experientially here of when the
plan is revealed). We first observe Jesus' statement to
Peter (also called Simon) that we find back in Luke 22 just
prior to his denial: "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked
to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you,
Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you
have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (v31-32).
I believe the second hint regarding Peter's future
restoration is the rooster itself. Why did Jesus
prophesize a rooster crowing rather than some other animal
or event? I think it was because of what the crowing
of a rooster signifies - the dawning of a new day.
Peter was to receive a brand new day, with brand new
opportunities.
I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what
prosperity is. So I say, "My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the LORD." I remember my
affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because
of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his
compassions never fail. They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. (Lam 3:17-23)
The Restoration - Peter's New Day
We now move forward to Peter's new day, a few weeks after the
resurrection of Jesus. Peter and others were out on a boat.
Peter was still down, figuring he'd blown it with God, so he might as
well go back to fishing. You can read the full story in the last
chapter of John (Ch 21), so I'll just summarize.
The men had fished all night and caught nothing. Jesus appeared
and called out from the shore, instructing them to cast the net on the
other side of the boat. When they did, they hauled in a big mess
of fish. Now John, having a good memory (a similar incident
previously occurred - see Luke 5), said to Peter, "It is the Lord".
Peter jumped out of the boat and swam to shore.
After eating breakfast, Jesus begins Peter's restoration. Since
Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus gives him three opportunities
to confirm his loyalty by asking Peter "Do you love Me?". During
this exchange, two different Greek words for "love" are used, agapas
and philo. Agapas (verb form of the noun agape), is the kind
of love that comes from God, sacrificial, and seeking the best for
others rather than ourselves. Philo or Phileis (both
verb forms of the noun Phileo), refer to a "brotherly love" or good
friendship. In order to fully understand this conversation,
we need to supplement the English translation with these Greek words.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son
of John, do you truly love [agapas] me more than these
[disciples]?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love [philo]
you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs" (Jn 21:15). Jesus asks
Peter if he loves Him with a supreme love and Peter basically replies
"Yes Lord, I like you. This is the same Peter who said weeks
before that "These other guys may run out on you, but not me".
Peter did not love Jesus any less than before, but now reality had set
in, and he realizes that a person cannot produce an agape type
love under his own power.
Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love [agapas]
me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love [philo]
you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep" (Jn 21:15).
Jesus drops the "more than these" phrase and just asks if Peter loves
Him.
The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love [phileis]
me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do
you love [phileis] me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you
know that I love [philo] you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.
(John 21:17)
I think we should notice a couple of things in the last verse.
First, we see that Peter is still hurting and knows he can't come up to
Jesus' standard of love, so Jesus came down to meet him where he was.
When we cry out to God, He doesn't expect us to do anything beyond what
he has equipped us to do, He will come down and meet us where we are.
Second, by saying "Feed My sheep", Jesus is inviting Peter back into the
ministry, and will do the same for us if we earnestly ask.
The Rest of the Story
For those unfamiliar with Peter and wondering whether he was actually
restored (and then some), all one has to do is read the 2nd thru the 5th
chapters of Acts. Here we see Peter preaching a sermon on the Day
of Pentecost which brought three thousand people to faith in Christ.
Then, standing before the Jewish authorities who had ordered the
apostles to stop preaching in the name of Christ, the same Peter, who
weeks before cowered before a servant girl and denied the Lord, now
boldly proclaimed "We must obey God rather than man" (Acts
5:30)! Then
after being severely beaten, The apostles left the Sanhedrin,
rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for
the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to
house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that
Jesus is the Christ (Acts 5:41-42)
Each of us has a different opportunity to serve God, but when we've
blown it, we must first stop attempting to rebuild our own lives with
our own strength. As the old saying goes, "If you find yourself in
a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging". When
our world has collapsed around us, God knows better than us how to
rebuild. Besides that, He also has much better tools.
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