One of the great ones

There is a man coming out of the Shadowlands, and all of the heavenly host has fallen silent as they watch him come. He is tired--worn out, in the most literal sense. His hair, once full and brown, is sparse and white. His hands, once smooth and strong, are wrinkled, torn, and shaking. He walks slowly, limping, and pain is in every step. The silence among the angelic crowd begins to be broken by whispers, because he is not unknown in these parts, this thin, wrinkled old man. "Look at him! Look at this man, so tired and frail. See him walk on, though it pains him every step! See his eyes, fixed unwavering on something he cannot even see! Look at what he has done! He has fought in the great War, and his wounds are the wounds of a warrior. He is so tired, because he has run so hard and gone so far. This is what the King looked like when he was in that far country." That is what the angels whisper, watching the man from the Shadowlands.

The man hears none of this. He still walks, but his limp is more pronounced. He stumbles more often, and it takes him longer to get up. Finally there comes a fall from which there could surely be no rising--but he never hits the ground. Another hand, scarred like his own, catches his and pulls him up, and the voice that spoke the world into existence says, "Do not be afraid. Your journey is over." The voice that could have shattered the heavens and earth alike is quiet and gentle, and the words, though they have been heard countless times before, still bring a thrill of amazement to the unseen audience. The King has come to welcome his servant home, and as he speaks, the man begins to change. His hands grow strong again, and his legs grow firm. The weariness falls from his frame as he moves with an easiness he has not felt in years. The man who stands before the King is not quite the same as he who fell--he has been renewed.

The man sees the holes in the hands clasping his, and even when he turns his face away he sees the holes in the feet before him. He begins to fall again, not from weakness but from reverence, but again the King bears him up and sets him on his feet. "John," the King says, and the man jerks to hear his name. "Be proud! Be joyful! For you have fought the good fight, even after your hands had lost their strength. You have finished the race, even when every step was agony. And you have kept the faith, even when your body and your very mind failed you, and the world turned dark and confusing. Well done, good and faithful servant. You have surely earned your crown of righteousness."

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From Simon to Peter to... Satan?

Today's blog is on Mattew 16:21-23. So, Jesus and his disciples have just had a really good session (see my previous two notes). Sometimes, he'll tell them something and they'll completely miss the point, so he has to go back and explain it them all again. This time, though, things have gone pretty well. That's probably why Jesus chooses this time to start telling the disciples "that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." He's letting them know what is going to happen to him when they go to Jerusalem, and he's also telling them that it is all necessary: "He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things."

Peter, though, doesn't like it. He takes Jesus aside from the rest of the disciples and rebukes him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." A nice thought, right? He's telling Jesus not to be so pessimistic, and he's probably a little afraid that it might be true--he does love Jesus, after all. All in all, at the first read nothing in his statement seems to warrant Jesus' reaction: "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." To call this "harsh" would not do it justice. I can imagine Peter stumbles back, disbelief and hurt in his eyes, and the other disciples stop talking among themselves to stare at Jesus' angry expression and wonder: did I hear that right? He was so happy with Simon--I mean, Peter-- earlier, and now he just called him Satan?

I've heard it said that theology and knowledge of God is unimportant, that not only the most but the only important thing is to "just love Jesus." This passage emphatically demonstrates that this is not the case. Because Peter does love Jesus. He walks across the waves to get to him, he fights armed Roman guards to save him. Peter loves Jesus, and his comments to Christ stem directly from that love. Imagine that a loved one, going to the doctor for unknown pain, insists that the cause of the pain is fatal and that he/she will be dead soon. You would tell them to stop talking like that, even if you thought it might be true, exactly because you love them so much that you don't even want to think that such a thing might happen. That is what Peter's doing, but he gets slapped down. Hard.

Peter's rebuke of Jesus, and Jesus' counter-rebuke, stems from Peter's rejection and ignorance of what Jesus has just told him. Jesus gives him knowledge about himself--I'm going to die soon, and this has to happen-- and Peter refuses to acknowledge it. He has willfully remained ignorant of what Jesus has just told him. Not only that, but (unknown to him) he is also echoing what Satan told Jesus when Jesus was in the wilderness.
So, Matthew 4:1-11. Satan comes and tempts Jesus in the wilderness. The last temptation is when Satan takes Christ to a very high mountain and "showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Now, Christ is already going to get all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. He knows, and Satan knows, that God's plan for Christ calls for his death. Satan is giving him a pretty tempting offer: you don't have to die. You can have the kingdom without the cross. Take the easy way out. That, in effect, is what Peter is tempting Christ towards as well. Suffering? "Far be it from you, Lord." Death on a cross? "This shall never happen to you."

So, Peter, speaking out of misguided love and willful ignorance, gets rebuked harder than anyone else in the gospels. Jesus knows how hard he rebuked him, and so his next words are an explanation--essentially, "this is how it has to be." He says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Basically, "I am going to suffer, and I'm not going to run from it. You will also have to suffer if you want to follow me."

There is also another small lesson here. Nowhere is there an apology for hurting Peter's feelings. Peter's feelings deserved to be hurt. Jesus rebuked him and let him know why he was rebuked, but he did not apologize for doing something that needed to be done. However, he didn't hold it against him either, because just 6 days later he picks Peter to accompany him before the Transfiguration (the topic of the next blog).

Addendum:
I've heard it suggested that Peter was actually possessed by Satan when these things happened. I do not believe that to be the case for the following reasons:
1. There is nothing in the passage to suggest possession. In all other passages involving demonic possession, the possession is clearly established.
2. The explanation given above is more than sufficient to explain Peter's rebuke of Christ (not wanting the death of a loved one to be spoken of or thought about) without resorting to actual possession to explain it.
3. Christ calling him Satan is explained by Peter unwittingly mirroring Satan's temptation of Christ (as explained above). Peter is unknowingly tempting Christ in the same manner Satan did.
4. The last thing Christ says in his rebuke of Peter: "For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." Even in his rebuke, he is teaching Peter. Not only is he teaching him, but he is expecting Peter to learn. In every other instance of possession, he speaks to the demon, not the person. Here, he is talking to Peter as a man, not as a demon or demon-possessed person.


This post was written in 2010. And in 2014, I published my very own book, Simon, Who Is Called Peter. It's a First-Person narration, meaning it gets you inside the head of Jesus' most notorious disciple. However, it's also extensively footnoted, referencing dozens of commentaries and scholarly works on the life of Peter. CLint Arnold, Dean of Talbot School of Theology, calls it "an account that is both faithful to the biblical text and engagingly expressed," and Darian Lockett, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, describes it as "a comprehensive portrait of Peter that is delightfully and skillfully woven together with the fabric of the New Testament." If that sounds like something you'd like to read, check it out!

Your name is Peter now.

Alright, last note was a little dry, but that's just because the really cool stuff is right here. Let's get to it.

Jesus continues, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Before, he addressed him as "Simon Bar-Jonah," for the quite simple reason that that was his name. His name was not Peter. His name was Simon.

Let me remind you of how he is first introduced in Matthew: "Simon (who is called Peter)."(Mat. 4:18) The gospels were written some time after the resurrection of Christ, and Peter would be well known. The name of Simon, however, may well not have been, since he is only ever referred to as Peter (or Cephas, the Greek version of Peter: see Gal. 2:9-14) after the events of the gospels. Hence his introduction in Mat. 4:18 basically says "Simon (now known as Peter)".

Back to the verse at hand. "You are Peter." Effectively, "Your name is Peter now." He has just changed Peter's name here. How crazy is that? He does it right after Peter's confession of him as Christ, and not only the Christ, but the Son of the Living God. This is the first time in Matthew that Christ's status not only as Christ, as annointed by God, as messiah, is stated in conjunction with his divine status as the Son of God, and the revelation and acknowledgment prompts a literal name change. This could easily be seen as a precursor, a taste, a look ahead, at an event Jesus references in Revelations: "To the one who conquers... I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it."(Rev. 2:17). It's not a perfect parallel, but the parallel is definitely there-Peter has, in his confession, conquered, and as a result has received a new name.

Now, both the old name and the new name have incredible significance. Simon, in Hebrew, means "he has heard." And indeed, as Jesus points out, he has heard--he heard the Father reveal who Jesus was. Here's the crazy part--he fulfilled his old name. He heard what he was meant to hear, and now he gets a new name. Neither of the names are just sounds, meaningless noises that have nothing to do with him--both of them are important. The new name is not a name chosen out of thin air. Jesus has a specific purpose in mind. "You are Peter," and then you look at the footnote and see, "Peter sounds like the Greek word for rock." "you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

So, basically, it goes like this. "Blessed are you, Simon, because as your name suggests, you have heard the Father tell you who I am. Now that you have fulfilled your old name, you are Peter, a rock, and on this rock I will build my church." Now, this is where it can get tricky, because sometimes we good evangelicals get uncomfortable when it's suggested that we may not all be equal in the church, that there may be some people who are higher up and others who are lower. As I said in my previous note, I don't have the time to properly research the various arguments and the original Greek and all that, but from what I gather, the reading that makes the most sense is the intuitive one, the one where Jesus, having just specifically changed someone's name from Simon to Peter with the express purpose of having a name that "sounds like the Greek word for rock," is telling that person, "on this rock (you, the person whose name I just changed to "rock") will I build my church." And this, for the purpose of this note, is what I'm trying to say.

Let's remember who Peter is. Peter is the guy who tried to walk on water--and sank. The guy who rebukes Jesus and is then compared to Satan. The guy who denies Jesus three times after swearing to never leave his side. That's who Christ chose to build his church on. The guy without perfect faith, the guy who acts without thinking, the guy who lets his flesh get the better of him sometimes. The guy that all of us can relate to, because we are all that guy. The church was built on Peter, and it is guys just like Peter who make up its floors, its walls, its... other metaphorical components. In a way (and I'm not quite sure at this point how literal a way I want to make it), all Christians could be called Simon at one point. Once they hear, then they become Peter, the rocks on which and with which Christ builds the church.

This post was written in 2010. And in 2014, I published my very own book, Simon, Who Is Called Peter. It's a First-Person narration, meaning it gets you inside the head of Jesus' most notorious disciple. However, it's also extensively footnoted, referencing dozens of commentaries and scholarly works on the life of Peter. CLint Arnold, Dean of Talbot School of Theology, calls it "an account that is both faithful to the biblical text and engagingly expressed," and Darian Lockett, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, describes it as "a comprehensive portrait of Peter that is delightfully and skillfully woven together with the fabric of the New Testament." If that sounds like something you'd like to read, check it out!

You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God

Before I begin this next note, I need to stress that this is going to be a much more shallow read than I would like. When I have more time and energy, I may come back and revisit this with the proper research and study. There is so much in this passage that I cannot hope to bring out any more than a small portion right now.

We're looking at Matthew 16:13-20 here. In most of your Bibles, it's probably subtitled "Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ" (unless you're like one of my friends who blacks out the subtitles with a sharpy). So Jesus and his disciples arrive in Caesarea Philippi, a largely pagan area. I've heard it suggested that he does this to escape from the crowds and the pharisees that are constantly following him around, and if so, it works. For some time now they've been absolutely swamped with people, and Christ, perhaps, wants some peace and quiet in which to teach his disciples.

So they're in Ceasarea Phillipi, and he asks his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" The "Son of Man" is himself, clearly. Also, when he says "people," he means everybody, not just the learned, the pharisees. He's asking, "Who do the common people say that I am?" And the disciples answer, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." The first view is demonstrated by Herod in 14:2, who thinks John the Baptist has come back to life. The next reflects a belief that Christ is not the Messiah himself, but the forerunner for the Messiah (a role actually fulfilled by John the Baptist himself). As for Jeremiah... not really sure about him. But in any case, one thing is for sure--the people do not know who Jesus is. Their answers are confused and incorrect.

Then Jesus asks, "But who do you say that I am?" The emphasis here is clearly on the "you"--those other answers were wrong, but what do you think? And now it is not the disciples in general who answer, but Peter specifically--once again, Peter has singled himself out. His reply is quick and to the point--"You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." No hedging, no "I think..." or "Maybe..." Peter knows. Only a short time ago he saw this man walk on water, felt him grasp his hand and pull him out the waves when he was drowning. Peter's seen him feed first 5,000, then 4,000 people with a few scraps of food. Peter has been with Christ, experienced what he can do first-hand.

And you have to love Jesus' reply. "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Let's break this down. Jesus is not blessing Peter. He is observing that Peter has, in fact, been blessed. And how does Jesus know that Peter has been blessed? Because he knows who Jesus is. He's saying, "Simon, God has blessed you, because he has revealed who I am to you." And Jesus is rejoicing that His Father has revealed this to Peter--it's even possible that Jesus prayed for this very revelation to occur.

So, originally this note was about twice as long, but that was too long for a single blog post, so I'm breaking it up. The next post will cover the next aspect of Jesus' response to Peter.

This post was written in 2010. And in 2014, I published my very own book, Simon, Who Is Called Peter. It's a First-Person narration, meaning it gets you inside the head of Jesus' most notorious disciple. However, it's also extensively footnoted, referencing dozens of commentaries and scholarly works on the life of Peter. CLint Arnold, Dean of Talbot School of Theology, calls it "an account that is both faithful to the biblical text and engagingly expressed," and Darian Lockett, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, describes it as "a comprehensive portrait of Peter that is delightfully and skillfully woven together with the fabric of the New Testament." If that sounds like something you'd like to read, check it out!