SIMON PETER: TRAILBLAZER WITH SECOND THOUGHTS

There is much to say regarding Peter as the obvious choice to be the leader of the apostles that has already been said before. So I would just like to point out a few of his characteristics that have been somewhat neglected.

There are at least two things needed to make a good leader. Peter had only one of these. The first requirement is that a good leader must be a good follower. This is a lesson that many leaders and would-be leaders never learn to master. And it was obviously a problem that Peter wrestled with. Just to mention a few occasions when Peter clearly overstepped his bounds and went marching ahead of his true leader, Jesus:

Of course, there is the famous “Get thee behind me, Satan” episode where Peter actually argued with Jesus against His future death that would bring salvation to the world. (Matthew 16) I wonder whether Peter later in life ever thought back to his actions at that point and reflected what would have happened if he had had his way instead of Jesus having God's way.

At the Mount of Transfiguration, it is Peter who blurts out his intention to build three booths, one each for Elijah, Moses and Jesus. Peter totally misses the spiritual significance of what he has just witnessed as well as being totally off-base concerning the duration of the vision and the superior position that Jesus held in relation to the other two personages. (Mark 9)

Then there is the time when Jesus proceeds to wash the apostles' feet and Peter roundly pronounces that he will never let his feet be washed by him. (John 13)

At Jesus' arrest at the Garden of Gethsemane it is Peter who cuts off the ear of Malchus, which easily could have led to the arrest and probable death of all the apostles if Jesus had not intervened. (John 18:10-11)

You would think that Peter would have learned his lesson by this time, but in Acts 10 we see him again arguing directly with God when in a vision he was told to eat the unclean animals lowered down in a sheet. The only other biblical character that I know of who had such similar nerve was the prophet Ezekiel who refused to eat food cooked over a fire of dung, even though God was the one commanding it. In that particular case, God actually compromised in the face of the prophet's sensibilities. (Ezekiel 4) In Acts, it was Peter who eventually gave in and discerned the spiritual lesson God was teaching him regarding the way he had been viewing the Gentiles.

And that story points to a second important qualification for a good leader: recognizing when you are wrong and being able to admit it to others. When one does not have this ability, you end up with an egotistical dictator instead of a true leader. In regard to admitting your errors, Peter passed with flying colors. It is most evident in the foot-washing episode where Peter refuses to let Jesus wash his feet. But after Jesus' comment that in that case Peter will have no part in him, Peter replies, “Then Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and head.” (John 13:3-9)

It has often been said that a moving vehicle is easier to steer than a stationary one, and Peter certainly was a mover. And he was also willing, if somewhat reluctantly, to be steered by Jesus. There are two other interesting cases when Peter actually started off in the right direction, but then made an about face.

Of course, there is the time when Peter sees Jesus walking on the water, and then steps off the boat to try it himself. He begins full of faith, but soon loses it and starts to sink until Jesus rescues him.

After Jesus' arrest and during his trial, it was Peter along with one other disciple who followed right into the courtyard of the high priest when the other apostles had all scattered in order to save themselves. But Peter soon became afraid that his own identity as one of Jesus' followers would be exposed, causing him to deny the Lord three times. (Mark 14:66-72) But then he flip-flopped again by sincerely repenting and demonstrating it with his subsequent life devoted to Christ.

This inconsistent behavior that at least ended up well is repeated after Jesus' resurrection when Peter becomes one of the first Jewish Christians to carry out a ministry to the Gentiles and converts Cornelius and his family. (Acts 10) Peter actually becomes a prime spokesman for the Gentiles in front of the Jerusalem church. (Acts 11) However, later Peter withdraws from table fellowship with the Gentile Christians for fear of what the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem will think and Paul has to chastise him. (Galatians 2:11-14)

Concerning this inconsistency, Frank Goodwin notes: “This is the same Peter who could vow undying loyalty to his Lord, deny him, and repent, all in a few hours, who here forgets his boasted liberality and under the influence of the bigoted followers of James becomes a narrow Jew again for fear...The impetuous, vacillating, blundering, cowardly Peter is rebuked face to face by the righteously indignant Paul, that when he is 'converted,' if he is not not able to strengthen his brethren, he at least may not prove a hindrance to the cause of liberty.”

I actually think that the most accurate portrait of Peter outside of the Bible is when he appears in the guise of a tiny sword-carrying mouse named Reepicheep (try reading in backwards, leaving out some of the mouse squeaks) in C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – part of the Narnia Chronicles. He is always charging out ahead against all odds, and in the final book in the series, The Last Battle, he is the one at the gates of “heaven” greeting the other characters in the books.