Peter

It’s Holy Week!  Or, as it’s more accurately called, it’s Pascha Week!  And I am glad.

Believe me, blog readers, I’ve been itching to write something thought-provoking for days.  Or at least something interesting (being deep is tiring).  But I just couldn’t put pen to paper! Well, fingers to keyboard.  But then I read something last night (or as we in the biz like to call it, the Eve of Tuesday) during Pascha service that I thought was pretty awesome.  And surprisingly, it wasn’t about Jesus.  Although I always love me some Jesus.

So this book I’m reading starts talking about Peter.  Actually, it dedicated a whole chapter to Peter.  And the title of that chapter was called “Peter’s Repentance.”  The author goes on to say that the turning point in Peter’s life was when he wept bitterly after denying Jesus 3 times (check Luke 22:61-62).  Then the author goes on to break Peter’s life into 4 discrete phases: Peter the devoted disciple of Christ; Peter living the life of self; Peter’s repentance; and then Peter transformed (what Christ made of Peter through the Holy Spirit).  And after reading this chapter, I understood Jesus a little more.

People always use David from the Old Testament whenever they want you to relate to someone in the Bible.  They say things like, “Hey, King David sinned.”  Or “Look at David’s faith when he fought Goliath.”  And for the most part, yeah, David makes me feel ok to be human.  But David also had a lot going on that was very unrelatable; for one, the whole king thing.  I’ve also never fought a giant…or a lion…or a bear for that matter.  And I’m pretty sure I didn’t sleep with anyone’s wife lately.  I could be mistaken, it’s been a long day.  And honestly, that’s why I love Peter.

Peter loved Jesus.  Peter was like Jesus’ number 1 fan.  “Hey Peter, leave everything and follow Me.”  “You got it Jesus!  I’m not really even sure who You are, but You got it!”  Peter makes promises to Jesus, Peter walks on water with Jesus.  Peter is the guy we all were at some point in our life with Christ.  Eager, naïve, up for anything.  But Peter got a little ahead of himself.  He started yelling at Jesus when Jesus tried to tell him He was going to die.  Peter told Jesus He would die for Him, and then Jesus laughed and said he would deny Him 3 times.  And it’s not until Peter “wept bitterly” and basically disappears for the rest of Pascha week (until He sees the resurrected Christ, and then takes a long walk on the beach with Him) do we get the Peter that we now refer to as Saint Peter.  And that’s pretty awesome.  It’s awesome that weeping bitterly, kind of like a little girl, is what gets you to the next level.

This week, Jesus goes through a lot.  But He only goes through it because of His love for us.  You can give me 800 theological reasons as to why He was crucified, but I know that this whole week is about His love for me.  And that’s what Peter had to realize, too.  Before, it was about kingdoms and prophesies and being part of Jesus’ crew.  But after Peter realized he was garbage without Jesus, then it became about love.  And you know it did, because Peter says it in John 21:17, “You know that I love You.”

So as we continue this fantastic week, I want to be like Peter.  I want to get rid of myself; take my ideas and expectations and logic out of the picture.  And instead, I want to really understand how much Jesus loves me.  Through His discipline, through His commands, through everything He has done and is doing to make me better, I want to feel how much Jesus loves me.  And then maybe I can write my own epistle or two.