Holy Week Perspective: Peter's Confession

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Peter's Confession

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

Matthew 16:24-25 (NRSV)

"Are ye able," said the Master

"To be crucified with Me?"

From "Are Ye Able" by Earl Marlett

One day, Jesus asked the Disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  They responded with some of the rumors that were circulating about Him at the time, that He was some prophet of old who had returned.  Jesus then asked them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Ever the first to speak, the disciple Simon answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."  Simon had high hopes that Jesus was the Savior his people had been awaiting for a long time - the one who would liberate them from their Roman oppressors.

Impressed with this audacious claim, Jesus gave Simon a new name, saying, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it."¹  Simon's new name Peter is derived from the Greek word pétros which means "rock."²

As the group headed toward Jerusalem, Jesus warned the Disciples that He would soon suffer and die at the hands of the powers that be and then be raised.  This was not something the Disciples understood, and it was not something Peter wanted to hear.  He took Jesus aside and said to Him, "God forbid it, Lord!  This must never happen to you."

Jesus replied, "Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."³  The disciple Jesus had named Peter was being called Satan.  In a short span of time, the rock on which Jesus would build His church had become the rock that would threaten to make Jesus trip.  Jesus then announced to the Disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

No doubt Peter and the other Disciples wondered why their long-awaited Savior would talk about crosses and dying.  Only wannabe messiahs ended up on crosses.  The true Messiah was supposed to defeat the Romans.

When Jesus and the Disciples reached Jerusalem during the week of Passover, exciting things started to happen.  Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, lampooning the Roman governor's procession.  The people welcomed Him, shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!"  Afterward, Jesus went to the temple, drove out the merchants and money changers, and proclaimed, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers."  He effectively threw the city into an uproar.⁴

A few days later, after Jesus celebrated Passover with the Disciples, He warned them that, on that very night, they would all abandon Him.  Peter spoke up and proclaimed that he would never desert Jesus.  Jesus then said to him, "Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times."

Peter reiterated his loyalty, saying, "Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you."⁵

That night, Jesus went out to pray, and an armed mob, led by one of Jesus' own, came to arrest Jesus.  One of the Disciples drew his sword and attacked someone in the crowd, but Jesus said, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."  The Disciples fled, and the mob took Jesus away.⁶

While the mob took Jesus to the house of the high priest, Peter followed at a distance, and, while Jesus stood trial before the high priest, Peter lingered outside.  Three times, people confronted Peter, claiming that that they had seen him with Jesus, and, three times, the Disciple who was once called "the Rock" denied that he even knew Jesus.  A rooster crowed, and Peter remembered what Jesus said hours earlier and how he had responded.  He went away and wept bitterly.⁷

So did Peter weep bitterly because, in his cowardice, he had lied to save his own skin?  Or did he weep bitterly because there was perhaps some truth in his lie?

Did Peter really know Jesus?

Peter was no coward.  I believe that, when he claimed that he was willing to die for Jesus, he actually meant what he said.  In one Gospel account, when the mob came to arrest Jesus, Peter is identified as the disciple who drew his sword and attacked.⁸  Peter was indeed willing to die for Jesus, but he had assumed that, if he were to die for Jesus, he would die for Jesus in battle.  It was not until he realized that there was not going to be a battle that he ran away.  He was willing to fight for Jesus, even if it meant losing his life, but he was not willing to lay down his life with Jesus.

When Peter boldly declared that Jesus was "the Messiah, the Son of the living God," he believed what he said with his whole heart, but he did not truly understand what his proclamation meant.  To Peter, the Messiah was supposed to be a conqueror, not a martyr.  Because of his preconceived notions, he could not accept what Jesus said, that the Messiah must suffer and die and be raised again.  If the One he was following had to endure such things, then what might he have to endure personally?

Like Peter, many of us are eager to declare that Jesus Christ is our personal Lord and Savior, but have we truly thought through the implications of this claim?  Have we truly contemplated what it means that, if we are to follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves and take up our crosses?  I think that many of us, like Peter, try to turn Jesus into something He is not.  We want Jesus to be a triumphant warrior and not a suffering servant, because we, His followers, would much rather fight and win than suffer and serve.  The truth is that nobody can truly take up his or her cross and follow Jesus without dying in some way.

If we, like Peter, realized that the assumptions we had made about Jesus were utterly wrong, would we continue to follow Him?

If we truly knew what it would cost to follow Jesus, would we be willing to pay it?

Do we, like Peter, need to confess that we don't really know Jesus?

The Gospel story reminds us that death, be it literal or figurative, is not the end of the story, for, after death, comes resurrection.  Jesus' story did not end with death, and Peter's story did not end with denial.  In one telling of the Gospel story, when Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him three times, He also says, "When once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."⁹  Jesus knew that Peter would abandon Him and deny Him, but He knew that Peter would be back.  He didn't call Peter "the Rock" for nothing.  Peter would indeed become a leader in the early Church, and, led by the Spirit, he would come to a greater understanding of who the Messiah really is and what it really means to follow Him.

May we who call Jesus Christ our Savior contemplate what it really means to be His disciples.  May we not be afraid to take up our crosses and follow Him through the cycle of death and resurrection, whatever that means for us personally.  And, when we fail, may we not be afraid to pick ourselves up and keep going.


Notes:

1. Matthew 16:13-20 (NRSV)
2. Wiktionary: Peter
3. Matthew 16:21-23 (NRSV)
4. Matthew 21:1-13 (NRSV)
5. Matthew 26:31-35 (NRSV)
6. Matthew 26:47-56 (NRSV)
7. Matthew 26:57-58, 69-75
8. John 18:10
9. Luke 22:32 (NRSV)

The Denial of Saint Peter was painted by Caravaggio around 1610.