Peter the Disciple and the God of Second Chances

St Peter, free on pixabay

I work at Chelmsford Cathedral as the newly installed Canon for Evangelism and Discipleship and what better model than St Peter when we're thinking about discipleship?

The first thing we learn from St Peter is that it’s normal to get things wrong, miss the point, not understand. Peter is so eager and keen as a disciple, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t make mistakes. The most profound and painful learning experience for Peter comes after Jesus’ arrest. Despite Peter’s enthusiasm, despite his confident claim that he will follow Jesus whatever the cost, he is found wanting at the time of trial.

The context for the passage from John’s Gospel that we are using (see below) is Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus after Jesus’ arrest. At three separate occasions and by different people Peter is recognised as one of Jesus’ followers and each time he denies that he is:

‘You are you not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?’ He denied it and said, ‘I am not’  

‘You are not also one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it and said, ‘I am not’

‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’ -  Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.

Peter denies Jesus as an act of self-preservation and in self-defence; it is only when he hears the cock crows that he realises just what he has done.

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.

For Peter, the enthusiastic and committed disciple, this revelation of his own betrayal and weakness is deeply shocking and painful.

Our own betrayals of God can be just as sudden, un-thought through and devastating. None of us wakes up in the morning and thinks, how can I deny God today? Rather, what happens is that, as for Peter, in the course of our lives we find out that following God is challenging, difficult, involves sacrifice and real commitment. It is only then that we make those betrayals.

Perhaps it’s when we persuade ourselves that the Bible might say we should tithe, i.e. give 10% of all that we’ve been blessed with back to God, through our giving to church and charity,  but we decide that’s completely unrealistic, it couldn’t possibly be a rule for today: 1% or not even tithing at all, is perfectly justifiable. Or, perhaps there is a person that we see who is behaving badly, but rather than hold them before God in prayer we condemn and judge them. Or, we carry a grudge in our heart against another person and fail to forgive them, even though Jesus teaches us to forgive one another as he has forgiven us. Or, we work ridiculously long hours at work because we think that we are in control, and everything depends on us, rather than giving our labour and our rest to God. It is in these and in similar ways that day by day we betray Jesus: we turn the other way when they come for him; when he is arrested and bears the wounds of love and compassion, we lie to ourselves in the depths of our hearts.

The good news is, that so did Peter- St Peter, the rock from whom Jesus built his church.  Jesus gives us second chances, and third and fourth…  Jesus doesn’t give up on us – he doesn’t lose his hope in us. With Peter we see this relationship played out in a profound way:

Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs. Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.

Jesus returns and asks Peter – a Peter who now knows and has seen the cost of discipleship - to re-affirm his love and commitment to him. The most wonderful good news about the resurrection is not only that Jesus comes back, but that he comes back not in anger and in judgment, but with words of peace, in order to reconcile and in order to restore us. Even more extraordinary still, Jesus, knowing how weak and prone to betrayal we are, still asks us to partner with him in building the church: ‘feed my sheep’ he says to the one who wouldn’t even admit to being his friend.

So, I wonder where you are in your relationship with God – where you are on your road of discipleship? Perhaps you are still unaware of the real cost of discipleship; perhaps you are just waking up to the ways in which you are denying Jesus in your every-day life; or perhaps you are ready to be asked again by Jesus: do you love me? And to hear the command: 'feed my lambs'. 

John 21:15-22

Jesus and Peter

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’

Jesus and the Beloved Disciple

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’