"Go tell his disciples,
and Peter" (Mark 16:7).
"He appeared to Cephas" (1 Corinthians 15:5)
In our consideration of what
the Resurrection of Jesus meant in representative cases, we come
next to
Simon
Peter
There are two things that meet
us immediately we think of Peter. One is, how very human he is;
so like many ordinary people. The other is, his unquestioned
primacy amongst the Twelve. It is helpful and encouraging to put
these two things together, or to see them as together in this
man. Sometimes either one or the other side has been violated
with disastrous consequences. On the human side Peter has often
been 'played down' with a cheap epithet - 'Impulsive Peter'; just
as Thomas is dismissed with - 'Doubting Thomas'. Many people have
taken cover for their weakness by making "impulsive
Peter" their patron saint. This, as we shall see, will not
do, for to do that is to dismiss the meaning of the Resurrection.
On the other hand, Peter has
been so elevated as to be near infallible, the figurehead of the
Church; even the 'Rock' on which the Church is built.
Resurrection, when rightly understood as to its meaning and
effect, will correct both of these errors and extremes, and bring
Peter into his true place. To reach this understanding we have to
do with Peter what we have done with Mary Magdalene and Thomas,
and shall do with others; that is, see his category and analyse
his constitution to see what was necessary and then how it
happened.
The
Human Category of Peter
It is unnecessary to say that
the kind of people to which Simon Peter naturally belonged is a
very likeable kind. Sometimes you may smile at their blustering
and fussy ways; you may, at other times, blush for their
foolhardy claims for themselves; and there are times when you
feel that their impulsiveness creates uncertainty and reserve of
confidence. But, withal, they win your affection because they are
so transparent, free from inhibitions, and so well-meaning. They
have a surface gift of pleasing, although they often get
themselves into a terrible mess.
Anyone who is familiar with the
works of Charles Dickens will see Mr. Micawber as a good example
of this type and he has provided the English language with an
adjective, so that an over-confident person is described as being
very 'Micawber'.
These are the irrepressible
people. They face life blithely. Optimistic to a fault, they have
swift reactions to any rebuke or set-back. Almost always hopeful
and happy, they effuse sunshine. The party is dull and sluggish
until one of this kind arrives, and then it really begins. They
just cannot be hidden or suppressed. These people are excellent
advertisers and they can make an attractive show even of limited
goods. Yes, they blunder, but they are most irresistible when
they have covered themselves with confusion and are effusively
apologetic. Their passions are quick and they may blaze up in
apparent fury, but it does not last long; indeed, in a short time
you would think from their manner that nothing had ever happened.
These are the people who do all
the nicest things, especially after a lapse into the
disagreeable. They never mean one-hundredth part of the things
said by them in such lapses. They always make the best of things
and circumstances. Their favourite hymn - or sentiment - is
"Count your blessings". Introspection never beclouds
their spirits, and from the most pressing assaults upon their
sincerity they will instantly forget themselves and say,
"And this man, what...?" or "And what shall this
(the other) man do?"
If you want help in a forlorn
hope you will get it from these people, although it may be more
in word or spirit than in its solidarity. But when we have said
this and much more there is another aspect. It is true that the
type under consideration can rise to great heights of enjoyment
of life, they can drop into deep depression and even despair of
themselves. "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful
man" shows how Simon Peter, the otherwise self-confident and
self-assured, can suffer reactions. So, from great heights of
assurance they can plunge to deep depths of depression. Their
self-assurance makes them the people who take big risks without
counting the cost. This is why the epithet 'impulsive' has been
attached to Peter and his kind. He, and they, will take on
liabilities in their good nature which will almost drown them
later. Heedless risks are characteristic of these, and they will
therefore often be found to be in debt, but altogether free from
vice. To their ventures they will sacrifice the security and
comfort of those they love most. How good-natured they are! They
live to please, and yet they get themselves and their dependants
into troubled waters.
What does all this say as to
their real need?
For the purpose of our present
consideration of Resurrection meaning, it says very much, and
leads on to the tremendous thing that Resurrection effected in
Simon Peter.
It requires very little
perception to recognize that, with all the delightful and
attractive features of this category the fatal flaw is in their
lack of
The
Dimension of Depth
They are - let us be frank -
superficial both in their exhilarations and in their depressions;
their heights and their depths (?). Their confidence has a
shallow foundation. Their boasting will not bear the strain.
Their optimism will have to be fed by social occasions. Their
cheerfulness will not survive an atmosphere of depression or lack
of appreciation. Their fundamental need is of spiritual rigidity
and stamina. Their enthusiasms so often being short-lived need
the strengthening "supply of the Spirit of Jesus
Christ". Their rapidity of change demands a deepening of
their foundations. John Bunyan has given their classic example in
Mr. Pliable who, in the hour of real testing, fell into the
slough of despond and climbed out of the mire on that side
which was nearest to his own house.
This then is the kind which has
many more beginnings than completions. They often commit
themselves to a course which they cannot sustain, and from which,
in more mature consideration they would fain escape.
Simon Peter was an excellent
example of this type, and the end of his career before the
Resurrection shows to what lengths he will go to evade the
consequences of his own impulsive commitments or protestations.
We have said far less than
could be said on both sides of this makeup, its good and its
weakness, but we have said enough to make it clear that, to bear
the strain and the responsibility, the honour and the glory that
Peter came to inherit, something very real had to be done in him.
While the Cross was the
occasion and the means of exposing Simon, especially to himself,
and of bringing him to the depths of self-despair, it was the
Resurrection that saved him and supplied his lack.
Simon
Peter's 'Conversion'
From the words of the Lord to
Simon in which He told him of what was going to happen we gather
two things:
1. That there was a much deeper
meaning in Simon's defection and breakdown than just the natural
outworking of his temperament. It lies in that mysterious realm
mentioned not infrequently in the Bible and notably at the
beginning of the Book of Job. Satan is represented as having a
peculiar interest in the downfall of servants of God. Moreover,
he is represented as having some kind of access to God with that
interest. Further, he is represented as having a measure of
success in his quest, and obtaining a limited permission to
affect such servants. So we read of Jesus saying to Simon, "Simon,
Simon, Satan hath obtained thee by asking that he may sift thee
as wheat." That is the first phase. In some mysterious way
the terrible collapse of Simon in the denial of Christ was a
working of Satan, and it was to sift Simon as wheat. It was
similar to the experience of wheat when the flail gets to work
and it is relentlessly beaten out. What a shaking! What a
ruthless ordeal! But what is the effect? It is first to expose,
to make manifest and evident what is false and worthless, and
what is true and real. Then it is to put each into its category,
the one to go, the other to stay. But this ordeal is like the
ordeal of death, devastating and desolating.
2. Jesus had, however, in the
same mystery, known this quest of Satan and its partial or
controlled consent; but, said He, "I have made intercession
for thee that thy faith fail not". In other words, "I
have made a counter quest and asking, and mine has prevailed.
Simon, you will turn again (be 'converted') and when thou art
turned again, strengthen thy brethren". For the
strengthening of brethren it required something much more than
was in the old and natural Simon Peter.
The type which we have
considered, with all its social and human values, needs something
added to make the Peter of Pentecost of the subsequent court
of the murderous rulers; of the house of Cornelius; of the
tranquil sleeper in prison on the night before execution; of the
Council of Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem; and of the Letters
which go by his name. Something mighty had happened in Simon
Peter. What was it?
In His resurrection Jesus had
not only thrown out that other one of the quest against Simon;
this He had done: He, through His Cross, had released the very
life that was in Himself; that life with all its potentialities
of endurance and victory, and, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had
taken that life to impart to such as the restored Simon Peter, so
that he came to know what Paul was so fond of speaking about - "the
power of his resurrection".
Thus, Resurrection became the
horizon of new potentialities for men who so ignominiously failed
on the ground of their own makeup. The depth, the stamina, the
ability to go through the once-dreaded death, all of which things
were so conspicuously absent from the pre-resurrection man, were
added by union with Christ in resurrection, in the power of the
Holy Spirit. This union and its mighty virtues are - so the New
Testament teaches - the inheritance of every born-anew child of
God, to be claimed and appropriated by faith.