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The Transformation of Peter

I suspect that most of us can think of someone in our own life who reminds us of the
apostle Peter. You know, that big, bluntly honest, impulsive guy with eyes that flicker
between those of a chastened puppy and an attack dog. He’s the one who shows sulky
remorse after being fired for an angry outburst at the office. Have you ever known
anyone like that?

Simon Peter was there with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry. According to Luke,
Jesus was teaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and Peter and his men were
washing nets. Jesus asked Peter if he could preach to the crowd from his boat. When
he was finished with his talk he told Peter to push off and hop in. He told him where to
lower the nets for a lot of fish. After initial skepticism (they’d already been out all night
with no luck), Peter agreed, and they pulled in so many fish that the nets were breaking.
Peter collapsed at Jesus’ feet and said, “Go away from me because I’m a sinful man.”

I’m pretty sure Jesus already knew that. But what was his response? “Don’t be afraid,
Peter. From now on, you’ll be fishing for people.” That’s where it all started. And from
there the voyage was wild, exhilarating, and more than a little choppy.

Peter’s the one who invited Jesus and the other disciples to his house for dinner even
though his mother-in-law was there sick in bed. I mean, think about that for a moment.
Would you have done that? “Honey, we have eleven guests for dinner!” All’s well that
ends well, and Peter’s wife undoubtedly felt less upset about the whole thing when
Jesus healed her mom, but I’m guessing it was touch and go there for a while.

Peter’s also the one who, when he saw Jesus walking on the water, said something like,
“Hey, Jesus if that’s you out there, command me to walk out and join you!” And then he
does! (At least until he looks down at the water and says, “What in the world am I
doing?”)

He’s the one who incurred Jesus’ anger by saying that he’d never allow him to be taken
and killed. “Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus said. And Peter earned Jesus’ sad, prescient
response when he said he’d never deny or abandon him, and from Holy Week it’s all too
fresh in our memories what happened on the night of the betrayal. Peter denied him
three times, and in the process reverted to some of his sailor lingo, if you know what I
mean. And of course his denials were fresh on the heels of attacking, with a sword, a
slave who was with the arresting party. I trust you get the picture. Peter is a big,
bearded, brash, blunt fisherman who turns on an emotional dime.

And in today’s readings, he features prominently, but look at what we’ve got! In fact,
that’s exactly what I’d like us to do for a few minutes this morning. Let’s look at Peter’s
words and behavior in the readings from the Acts of the Apostles and his first letter.
Because not only is there crucial teaching delivered with authority, but there’s evidence
of a pretty massive transformation in him which invites a closer look.
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Our first reading is from Acts, chapter 2. It’s less than two months after Jesus’
Resurrection, and the disciples are gathered together at a building in Jerusalem. Shortly
before they’d heard a sound like a great rush of wind, and they saw a very strange
sight. Something like tongues of fire alit upon many of them, and they started speaking
in other languages.

Naturally a crowd began to gather and they were bewildered because people from
many nations were there for the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, celebrating the harvest of
winter wheat, and many are hearing messages in their own native languages. I mean,
this is weird! And the crowd is growing.

It’s in this context that Peter emerges from the other eleven and begins to address
them. He says, “Judeans and everyone, listen up!” He says, “Let it be known to all of
Israel that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
(How’s that for an ice breaker?)

So, what’s Peter talking about? He’s talking about the crucifixion and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. Not only has God confirmed him as the promised Messiah, but as the
Lord. Kyrie. The Master who is worthy of their worship. And Luke tells us in this passage
that they’re cut to the heart! In fact this is a breath-stopping, connect-the-dots moment
wherein this great and holy man, who, in a grotesque miscarriage of justice, had been
tortured, humiliated and executed, (and this had been supported by masses of
Judeans). This man has been raised from the dead and his identity has been vindicated
for all the world to see. He is the awaited King.

The Judeans are cut to the heart, and are gagging on their own guilt. So they cry out,
“What should we do?” And Peter answers, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far
away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

Peter the preacher. Who would have guessed? A few weeks earlier he’d gone yellow
and denied Jesus three times. In utter shame and complete despair he went out into the
night and wept bitterly. It was all over. And on top of that, because of his Galilean
accent, there were some folks who were on to him. He was running scared. What could
possibly change a man so much in such a short time? A man who refused to speak the
truth out of sheer terror, and then a few weeks later he couldn’t restrain himself from
speaking the truth with threats still hanging over his head.

From the texts the only explanation that will suffice is a threefold one. First is that he
personally witnessed Jesus of Nazareth dead and then resurrected. He was the one
who raced John to the tomb on Easter morning when Mary Magdalene reportedly
breathlessly that it was empty.
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He was there when Jesus appeared in a locked room, seemingly out of nowhere, the
evening of that same day. It was then, that, for the first time, he breathed on them and
said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” That’s the second thing: the Holy Spirit. The rest were
there, too, except for Thomas. And Peter was there a week later when Thomas
assuaged his doubts by touching the healed wounds of the risen Christ.

But I think the key moment for Peter comes later yet. There’s a place on the northwest
shore of the Sea of Galilee where there are round stones interspersed with fine pebbles
and sand, in a stretch that lies between groves of shade trees. It’s a great place for a
picnic. It was just after daybreak, and Peter and the others had been fishing.

As they’re approaching the shore they see a man on the beach. The man calls out to
them to cast the net on the starboard side. They do, and guess what—the fish begin to
fill the nets. John shouts out, “It’s the Lord!” The painfully modest and abashed Peter
puts some clothes on because he was naked, and leaps into the water while the others
pull the fish-laden boat to shore. And there, as you know, Jesus invites them to join him
for a breakfast of grilled Galilean tilapia.

Nowadays it’s such a popular spot for pilgrims that there’s a sign whose graphics send
the clear message that neither swimming nor barbecuing are allowed on the beach.
(Killjoys. I guess too many tourists were getting selfies of grilling where Jesus grilled.)
But it’s there on that spot that Jesus asks Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, Do you love me?’
Simon Peter says, ‘Of course I love you!’ and Jesus says, ‘Feed my lambs.’ Jesus asks
the same question a second time, and Peter replies, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love
you.’ and Jesus says, ‘Tend my sheep.’ And again, a third time, Jesus says, ‘Simon,
son of John, do you love me?’ Perhaps feeling a little injured at this point, Peter replies,
‘Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you!’ and Jesus says, ‘Feed my
sheep.’

And then, with his big, gentle eyes, eyes that have known the fear and pain of a violent
death firsthand, and then welcomed the new daylight of life immortal, he fixes those
eyes upon Peter, and says, ‘When you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt
and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you’ll stretch out your hands,
and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to
go.’ (You may know that Peter later died the death of a martyr by being crucified upside
down, since he considered himself unworthy to be crucified in the same way as his
Master.) After this poignant prophecy Jesus says to Peter, ‘Follow me.’

Do you see what’s happened here? Jesus has done three things that have ignited
Peter’s transformation. First, he convinces him of the Resurrection, and convinces him
beyond any doubt that this is a sure sign that Jesus is the long-awaited King who has
come to redeem the world.

Next he breathes upon him and the other disciples and imparts to them the Holy Spirit
to live within them, and show them truth, and give them God’s love and power, along
with an unquenchable passion to share the good news of Jesus to the human race.
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And finally he gives Peter a commission to do exactly that. He had the Holy Spirit, but
he didn’t yet have his marching orders. Peter had denied him three times, and now
Jesus gives him the opportunity to overtly reverse the shame of his actions by asking
three times about his commitment. In so doing Jesus shows his complete forgiveness of
Peter, and entrusts him with the responsibility to, in the power of the Holy Spirit, care for
the sheep of his flock.

There’s a pattern here, and this pattern applies not only to Peter, but to each and every
one of us as well. I don’t in any way mean to pop any self-esteem bubbles here, but we
Christians can be a pretty rough and motley bunch. (Or am I the only one here who
occasionally incurs abrasions when my rough edges get sanded down?) This doesn’t all
just disappear when the Lord draws us to himself. Even the veteran apostle and
evangelist Peter had to be corrected when he insisted that Gentile converts be
circumcised and go kosher. The Lord doesn’t eliminate our personalities and make us
boring little clones. We’re still a little goofy.

Yet God wants to use each of us, in our own way, warts and all, and in His own way, as
artisans and craftsmen building God’s kingdom. We begin by investing belief in the risen
Christ and gaining citizenship in the kingdom through Holy Baptism. We continue as
Jesus’ apprentices, being trained by the scriptures and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
And then the Lord commissions us to become journeymen, following in Jesus’
footsteps, being willing even to experience tremendous hardship in order to claim the
prize at the end of the journey, when all is set right and love and life prevail forever.

Indeed, it was near the end of Peter’s earthly journey that he penned the words we
heard in today’s epistle reading. He’d become a key leader in the church. He’d stood
boldly and preached repentance and grace to the gathered crowd in Jerusalem at
Pentecost. He’d journeyed far and wide to spread the gospel, and is thought by most to
have been the first Bishop of Rome, the office we now know as the Pope.

Peter’s days are numbered as he writes to the faithful in Asia Minor (in what is now
western Turkey), in his first letter. In my mind’s eye I can picture his distant gaze
through a twilit window as he rests his quill and reviews scenes from his long ministry.
And when he returns to his writing, these are his words:

Live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were
ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, ransomed not with
perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ…who was
destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages
for your sake.

Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave
him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now that you have purified
your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love,
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love one another deeply from the heart. You’ve been born anew, not of perishable
but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

For Peter, the tumultuous disciple, the swirling winds of impulse have settled into a
confident, intentional and passionate faith. For him it all culminates in love and life within
God’s embrace. Peter has become a teacher, teaching Christ’s own heart in the power
of the Holy Spirit.

May we so set ourselves to believe and follow, that, like Peter, we also may feed
Christ’s sheep with the food of hope, and trust fully in the One who raised Jesus
victorious from the dead. Amen.