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Peter: Calling, Consecration and Crucifixion
The book of Acts is largely silent about Peter’s ministry, especially his later years. But silence is not an indication of inactivity and Peter’s life was far from stagnant. Beginning with Pentecost the church began a period of exponential and widespread growth. During this time of nascent expansion, Peter’s gifts proved to be invaluable to the church. His close ties to Jesus added weight to his ministry; Peter was with Jesus when he was arrested, saw him crucified, and saw him raised from the dead. His eyewitness testimony helped many to accept the gospel and was the means of spreading the good news throughout the empire.
But with great privilege comes great responsibility; Peter had experienced the gift of three and half years of close association with Jesus and the responsibility entrusted to him as a result spurred him to work with greater zeal.
The turning point in Peter’s life came during the aftermath of his denial of Jesus on the night before his crucifixion. Jesus had tried to spare Peter the heartache of what was to come, providing him a final warning in the garden just before his arrest. Sadly Jesus’ warning was also laced with a sense of inevitability and a gentle reminder to stand up and keep going.
“Simon, Simon, behold Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen you brothers” (Luke 22:31-32)
How many times in our lives has Satan demanded to have us that he might sift us like wheat? How many times have we yielded to his demands? And how many times has Jesus prayed for us, like a mother praying over a sick child in the dark hours of the night, rooting for us and pleading for us to survive the trial? Even though Jesus had an inkling that Peter would fail he offered him hope. Peter might fall but he would turn again and then instead of allowing discouragement and remorse to eat at him he was to look outward to strengthen the faith of his brothers.
Peter’s repentance after his fall was swift and deep. He grieved over his lack of faithfulness and the fickleness of his heart yet the entire experience taught him an invaluable lesson; to depend entirely on God and to turn away from depending on himself. Not until he had seen the depths of his weakness could Peter know the believer’s need for complete dependence on Christ. It was this experience that prepared him for the work that God had called him to do.
The only way any of us can truly overcome temptation is if we choose to distrust ourselves and rely wholly on God. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that; “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Verse 10 gives us the answer and the solution to the ingrained self-deception that lurks within us; “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, and give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds”
After his resurrection, Jesus restored Peter by the seaside. His thrice repeated question; do you love me? Broke the stranglehold of self-reliance on Peter’s heart and brought healing and restoration. It was then and only then that Jesus commissioned Peter for his work. He was not only to be a missionary winning souls for Christ but he was also to be an under-shepherd, guarding the sheep.
Peter was to be a missionary and disciple-maker, all in one. A role Jesus himself had prepared him for in the crucible of suffering.
When Jesus called Peter to the ministry he didn’t put him through a hazing ritual or weigh him down with an endless set of dos and don’ts. The only prerequisite that Jesus placed before Peter was encapsulated in his quiet question; do you love me? What does it mean to love Jesus? Is it a restless and fickle feeling, as fleeting and unpredictable as the wind? As 1 Corinthians 13 points out; love is a principle. Abiding and true, tenacious and tender even in the face of the worst storms. Jesus said to his disciples in John 14:15 “if you love me you will keep my commandments.” Loving Jesus means absolute surrender, absolute dependence, and absolute trust. This is what makes a believer an effective disciple and missionary for Jesus.
Peter’s ministry was powerful and effective. Not only did he preach the gospel and turn many towards Jesus he also trained believers to be effective missionaries as well. The primary focus of Peter’s ministry was his own people; he felt a calling to reach the Jews just as surely as Paul was called to reach the Gentiles. Despite this Peter did travel and in the later years of his ministry God prompted him to write to Christians dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia
It’s interesting that Peter wrote to some of the same Christians that Paul wrote to and yet there was no sense of competition or overlap. Each worker brings something unique to their ministry and believers are strengthened and encouraged by the work of multiple individuals. As Paul put it “I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).
After a life of fruitful ministry, Peter was arrested and imprisoned by the order of Nero in Rome, around the same time as Paul’s final arrest. Two of the early church’s greatest spiritual giants ended their ministry by preaching the gospel in chains, in Rome.
When Peter lay in his cell some of the final words that Jesus spoke to him would have flashed through his mind; “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish (John 21:18). Through these words Jesus gently prepared Peter for what lay ahead, specifically for how he would die.
As a Jew and an alien of the Roman empire, Peter wasn’t given the privilege of an easy death as Paul was. Instead, just as Jesus had foretold Peter was crucified on a Roman cross. Just before his death, Peter requested that he be crucified with his head downward and he was allowed this concession.
Peter’s life is a testament to the forgiveness and grace of God, his ability and willingness to restore and redeem, and his power to use even the most flawed vessel for his glory.
