Peter’s Journey From Faith in Jesus To the Faith of Jesus: Betrayal and Restoration– Peter Reaches the End of Himself

During the Last Supper with Jesus in the Upper Room, Peter proclaims that he will die with Jesus. In response Jesus says to Peter, “No, you will do the opposite. You will deny me three times”. Later that evening or very early the next morning, Peter experiences the most profound moment in his life with Christ thus far. What Peter experiences, how he reacts, and what Christ does next for Peter and all His disciples are important lessons about faith and a life in Christ for us.

Jesus leads His band of unremarkable men down into the Kidron Valley, up the other side, and into the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. There He asks Peter, James, and John to keep watch while He prays. They fall asleep. Twice. Finally, Judas arrives leading a detachment of temple guards, officials from the Chief Priest, and some elders, carrying torches, lanterns, and weapons. Peter impulsively steps forward to protect his friend, but acting from his flesh makes the wrong move. He draws his sword and attacks the servant of the High Priest. It could be worse: he cuts off only the man’s right ear. Bad aim. Immediately Jesus commands Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?” (John 18: 11 NIV). Then Jesus says, “Permit even this” (Luke 22: 51 NKJV), reaches down and touches the right side of the man’s head where his ear was, and heals him.

Time out. Jesus, right in front of everyone, heals this man’s ear!! Heals his ear?!! I assume that Peter cut the ear off of the man’s head. That is what Scripture says. Peter “struck the servant of the High Priest and cut off his right ear.” No ear – gone! And then Jesus bends over him, touches the man’s head, and in an instant heals him. What does this mean? My guess is that it means that Jesus restored the servant’s ear! The servant has a terrible wound on his head, bleeding profusely; the next second he has an ear again. This small detail of the Passion story is rarely mentioned in Good Friday sermons – at least the ones I have heard. But to me, this ranks right up there on the miracle-scale with raising Lazarus from the dead. And now they march Jesus off to be crucified because He claims to be the Messiah! Yikes. Did they not all just see what Jesus did? Anyway, back to Peter.

Like at Caesarea Philippi and on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter is trying to take matters into his own hands. I can understand Peter’s motives in the Garden – his love for and loyalty toward Jesus manifesting in this emotional and impulsive response – typical of our outward man. But when we operate in our own power, the right thing to do as we see it is often not the right thing to do from God’s perspective. Peter is acting from this self-life in the kingdom of the world – the things of men; not the Kingdom of God – the things of God.

Disaster! In a few minutes Peter’s life with Jesus seems to come to an end in darkness and chaos. The garden lit up by torches, light flickering, long shadows, guards marching in, weapons clanging as they walk, surrounding Jesus; and seeing Judas, his companion of 3 years, kiss Jesus; whacking off the ear of the servant; one final, miraculous healing; and then Jesus being bound and led away. And the last word Jesus spoke to Peter that night was the rebuke: “Peter, you don’t know what you are doing. Stop! Put your sword away.” Perhaps Peter thought, “When am I ever going to get it right?” His night is about to get a lot worse.

Peter and ‘the other disciple’, who I guess is John, follow Jesus from a distance. All four Gospels describe Peter’s denials. John does not describe Peter’s reaction when the rooster crowed the third time. Matthew wrote that Peter wept bitterly. Mark wrote that Peter broke down and wept. In both Matthew and Mark, Peter called down curses on himself. But it is Luke’s description that is the most powerful for me. Here is what Luke wrote:

“Peter replied, “Man I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. 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”(Luke 22: 60 – 62 NIV).

It was a terrible, horrifying night for Peter. Darkness, cold, flickering flames, distorted shadows on the walls of the courtyard, and then his denials – three times! Peter collapsed under the pressure. His self-reliance and self-confidence were shattered – he even cursed himself! All his promises, all his boasting, all his efforts to prevent this night from happening were blown away when Peter turned his back on his friend. To make it worse (and better?), Jesus turned, singled out Peter, looked straight at him with a look that Peter will probably never forget. It is as if Jesus was saying: “Do you remember what I said? All that I said to you? Don’t forget that I also told you to not let your heart be troubled, to trust in the Father, and to trust in Me.” Implicit in this command is a promise: “I will never leave you or forsake you”.

I think this was part of Peter’s misunderstanding of Jesus’ ministry. He misunderstood the mission of the Messiah — he saw it from the Jewish point of view; he ‘knew’ Jesus was the Messiah, but he failed to understand or believe the supernatural promises of Jesus, especially the promises of being raised to life. One part of faith is believing in Jesus. Another part of faith is believing the promises of Jesus. It is this part of faith that is the source of our hope. Peter’s tears, in part, were tears of despair and hopelessness.

Peter wept for more than his despair. His tears were tears of shame, guilt, fear, loss, failure, and remorse. In that moment his outward man was shattered, just as Jesus had intended from the day He met Peter. Peter’s willfulness, his impulsiveness, his hyphenated self nature were draining out of him, tear by tear, as he wept in the middle of that cold night, alone and defeated. Peter had come to the end of his self-life. In fact, in Church tradition, Peter’s tears have been called tears of repentance. Now Peter, emptied of his false faith, could receive the greatest gifts God had to give him – true faith, the love of the Father, permanent residence in the Kingdom of God – and most amazingly Christ in him!

By the way, it wasn’t only Peter who abandoned the Master. With the exception of John, the other disciples scattered also.

This apparent defeat of Peter and his Master would turn into victory a few days later. Terrified of the Jews, fearful for their own lives, the disciples locked themselves in a room together in Jerusalem – probably the same Upper Room. The resurrected Jesus materialized in their midst. After saying “peace be with you”, Jesus breathed on them, saying “receive the Holy Spirit” and gave them power to forgive sins. Now Peter could receive the Holy Spirit in his inward man – the outward man was shattered, the way was open. From now on the outward man would be under the authority and control of Peter’s spirit — his inward man — in union with the Spirit of Christ.

“Receive the Holy Spirit.” Four words describing an event of cosmic scope and power – an event that would lay the foundation for Pentecost and the power of the Holy Spirit for all people who truly follow Jesus. They remind me of God forming Adam. “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2: 7 NIV). Peter’s self-life is dead. His outward man was broken in that courtyard. Peter – broken, ashamed, afraid, alone, but I believe repentant – receives a new life. That life, the life of Jesus, could not enter into Peter’s inward man where the Holy Spirit lives until the outward man was broken. Peter becomes a new creation, a new living being. Now he will never be separated from Jesus, because Jesus, his Lord, Savior, and Friend lives in Peter and Peter is in Christ. Peter is a Kingdom man.

There was one more thing Jesus needed to do to restore Peter and seal the true faith – the faith of Jesus – that he had received when Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into Peter and the other disciples.

Peter and some other disciples left Jerusalem and went back home. They had seen the resurrected Jesus, but had no idea what to do next. So, they did what came naturally to them before they were called by Jesus. They went fishing. Early in the morning, while they were in a boat just offshore, a man appeared on the shore and shouted the same words Jesus had spoken to Peter three years before, in the same place: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find fish” and like before they caught so many fish they were unable to haul in the nets. Peter recognized Jesus, jumped into the water, and swam to shore – exuberant, enthusiastic. What a joyful reunion, which amazes me. Peter, somehow, had gotten past the denials of his friend.

It was here, on the shore of the Lake where Jesus and Peter had walked together so often, in what must have seemed like a lifetime ago for both men, that Jesus spoke words of healing, comfort, instruction, and value to Peter. Three times: “Peter do you love me. Feed my sheep”. Jesus was telling Peter, “It is ok. I know you love me. I am trusting you with a big job. I know that you will not let me down.” Jesus is telling Peter, “I am putting My faith in you.” These are words of value and life. Jesus is completing the transformation of Peter, making him whole, and forming in Peter the man God created him to be. That is the meaning of restoration. Scripture tells us that we love Him because He first loved us. Perhaps Peter had a new faith in Jesus because Jesus first had faith in Peter.

I believe that it is in this moment that the transition from Peter’s false faith to his true faith was finished; Peter’s true repentance was complete.  In this moment Peter experienced his own resurrection! First crucifixion and now restoration and resurrection; now he would live the abundant life, a life of power and obedience, a life of freedom; a repentant life. Jesus, in Peter, would do for Peter what Peter had been unable to do for himself – trust, love, and depend on Jesus selflessly and wholeheartedly. Because it was no longer Peter trying to have faith in Jesus in his own power and will; Peter’s faith in Jesus is now the faith of Jesus in Peter. That is true faith. It is in this faith, the faith of Jesus in us, that we can wholeheartedly believe all of the promises of Jesus. It is this faith that is the source of our hope and the wellspring of love for ourselves, others, and God, in us.

That is the Good News. When we repent – when our outward man is broken – and enter the Kingdom of God through grace, we receive the gift of the same Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Christ – that entered Peter’s spirit in that room in Jerusalem and later at Pentecost. Our faith is not just faith in Jesus. We have been given the faith of Jesus. And not only the faith of Jesus, but the joy of Jesus, the peace of Jesus, the power of Jesus, the hope of Jesus, the righteousness of God in us (1 Corinthian 1: 30, 31; 2 Corinthians 5: 21), the mind of Christ; and most importantly, the love of Jesus. It is a love that can now flow out of us into a hurting and broken world, bringing the same healing and freedom to others that Jesus gave to Peter. And not healing for the sake of healing. Healing for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

Of course, Peter’s journey is our journey also. Maybe not exactly, but close enough.

John