My Name is Simon Part II

Here is the 2nd installment of "From the Mouth of Simon (Peter)" Series.

In Christ,

Scott

There has long been a common debate in the Christian Church as to whether or not I was once a disciple of John the Baptist. Since my brother Andrew followed John’s teachings I have commonly been associated as an admirer of John’s wisdom. I will neither confirm nor deny the truth of these claims but rather substantiate the truth that my loyalties lie only with the son of God, Jesus Christ. This truth is certain; I am a believer, follower and disciple of Christ. It is accurate that I first learned of Jesus’ appearance by way of Andrew. (John 1: 29)Andrew’s first encounter with Jesus came while he was listening to John’s teachings. It was during one of John’s sermons that Jesus approached the crowd. At once John became aware of Jesus’ presence and proclaimed “behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1: 37-41)After hearing these words two of John’s disciples began to follow Jesus, one of which was Andrew my brother. Jesus turned around and said to them “what do you seek?” To which they replied “Rabbi, where are you staying?” “Come” he replied “and you will see.” So they followed him to see where Jesus was staying and they spent the day with him. It was after that time that Andrew took leave of Jesus in order to seek me out.

1st Encounter with Christ

Much as the fisherman of today can confirm, my work was hard and my days were long. The fruits of my labor were at times gratifying, yet at others unsavory. I was tending to my boat when Andrew approached me. He said Simon “we have found the Messiah!” Come with me and you shall see for yourself. It had been written that the son of man would one day come to inherit the earth. Although I must admit my brothers’ proclamation came as quite a surprise to me. I would be speaking untruthfully if I were to say I immediately understood and believed that of which I had just been told. But these words in fact had come from my own flesh and blood, a devout and holy man. I had to see the proclaimed savior for my own eyes. So together with Andrew I went to Jesus. Upon our arrival Jesus looked at me and said (John 1: 42) “you are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas.” (Which when translated means Peter). I was truly amazed by this man, not only by his mere presence but by the fact that he knew me by name simply by sight. Later while I was alone with Andrew I asked him if he had spoken to Jesus about me prior to our initial meeting. He stated he had not. I know it might seem odd to you that Jesus would rename me at our first meeting. But this is not unlike the current culture of bestowing a companion with a nickname as you would today. To me it was the least of the awkward feelings I had during my first encounter with Christ. It was more overwhelming to me to think I might be in the presence of God. I must confess that my transformation and true belief in Jesus as the Savior of man did not manifest itself at that very moment. In fact it took a few more encounters for it to take complete hold of me.

From Simon Peter's Mouth to our Ears

During a retreat in the midst of my RCIA fellowship we were placed into groups and were issued a passage from the Bible pertaining to the Resurrection of Christ. We were then tasked with first reflecting on the passage and then were asked to rewrite the accounts of Peter as though we were in his shoes. This little exercise had a profound effect on me. It helped me to more fully understand the word of God. Since the completion of my RCIA program I have taken this project a step further. I have decided to expand upon this little exercise and to write the entire depiction of Peter's life from his point-of-view. I have worked on this project on and off over the past few months. Below is a segment from this project. Please let me know what you think. I am interested to know if it is a worthwhile project (other than for my own edification) that others would be interested in reading. So here goes.

God Bless,

-Scott

My name is Simon; most of you may know me as Peter. My story is not new, in fact it has been told many times and in many places. It has been recorded in every language known to man. Many scholars from the past and present day have attempted to interpret the stories of my life. The most accurate portrayal of my life is depicted in what is known as the Holy Bible. I must acknowledge as a common fisherman to be held in such high regard nearly 2000 years after my life on earth is quite flattering. Although I played an important role in the history of mankind I am no more important than you who read my words upon these pages. There is only one man who should be revered and exalted and he is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is only through the boundless love and grace of our God that Jesus became man, lived and died for our sins. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

I come to you today not to dispel any myths or right any wrongs that have been spoken about me but rather to offer to you a personal reflection of my earthly life. I wish for you to understand my innermost thoughts and feelings. I pray for all of you each and every day in the hopes that you will find the true meaning of your lives and to help you understand that each and every one of you is in Gods good graces. It is through God and God alone that you will find eternal life. I lived in the time of Jesus and was one of a very few who was literally touched by the hand of God. My story is an important one but it is not simply a story but rather a history of mankind. Through these writings I will describe how I was transformed and came to see for myself Gods love and compassion of all of His earthly creatures. I will retell the stories which you have already heard and read from my own point of view. More has been written about me by others than has been penned by my own hand. In the latter years of my earthly life I wrote two letters now known as the Epistle’s of Peter. I will touch upon these letters a bit later, but most of this writing will focus on the stories of me as told by others. These stories are true and have an overwhelming relevance to the life and time of Jesus Christ. I will use the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John to tell my story.

Come again?

I am continually amazed by the teachings of Jesus. He tried his best to clearly explain his message to the group or individuals he was speaking to. Yet time and time again his lessons were questioned. “How can this be, Lord?” I have to laugh each time I read an account of Jesus’ teachings. Each time someone asks him why, or how, or what do you mean by that? I am reminded of the classic phrase from Arnold Jackson in the 70’s sitcom, Different Strokes. If you don’t intuitively know the phrase to which I am referring, grant me this opportunity to put it into context with today’s Gospel reading from John 3:7b-15.

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to him, Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout Willis?”

Now you catch my drift don’t you? There is a major difference between our own interactions with Christ and those of the people who interacted with him firsthand. We have the benefit of being able to dissect Jesus’ teachings and to analyze to the nth degree the point he was trying to get across. Another thing to remember is that Jesus interacted with a large cross section of people, many of whom where not highly educated individuals. Although I consider myself to be a somewhat intelligent person, even I struggle at times to grasp the true meaning of Jesus’ teachings. Fortunately for me I have a wealth of reference materials at my disposal to help me to discern the significance of his words.

Let’s go back to Jesus’ first statement “You must be born from above………so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Here he is referring to our baptisms where we are truly born from above. He is also alluding to the point when we all receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. As humans we are not truly aware of how the Holy Spirit enters our hearts, minds and souls, but we know it is within us all. Jesus describes this by saying “….the wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it goes…..”

Jesus never insulted his listeners, instead he changed the focus of his words and tried to shed new light on the subject by saying it another way. He could have just as easily moved on and begun to teach somebody else. Instead he understood that his words were hard for the human psyche to comprehend and so he proceeded to help his followers by providing them with a greater understanding.

In the case of Nicodemus, Jesus said to him “You are a teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony…..” In this Jesus was saying it is not that you do not understand but rather that you do not believe. In other words Jesus was saying “Nicodemus you need to let go and let God. For I am your salvation and only through me will you have eternal life.”

That isn’t so hard to understand now is it?

Doubting Thomas, Doubting Jesus

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas - Caravaggio (1573-1610)

It isn’t hard to understand that we, as believers should go through some periods of doubt concerning Jesus’ teachings. We were not fortunate enough to live in the time of his teachings. None of us were first hand witnesses to the miracles he performed or to the good word he spread. So are we sinners simply for the fact that at times we question the reality of our Lord and Savior? We are sinners for sure, but I am not certain it is because we challenge our belief system.

How hard is it to believe in Jesus? If we look closely at Sundays Gospel reading (John 20:19-31) which is the story of Thomas. Some of the disciples told Thomas “We have seen the Lord”, yet he was still in doubt. When he heard these words he said to them “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” These words come straight from one of the twelve. These are the words of a man who had spent the last three years of his life following Jesus and learning from his teachings. Yet he refused to believe, based on the accounts of the other disciples. He needed to see for himself firsthand that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.

So how do we believe what we have been told if a personal eyewitness struggles with such beliefs? Obviously we cannot witness the resurrection of Jesus for ourselves. All we have to go on are the accounts of others, in this case from the personal accounts of his twelve disciples. Is this hard for you to do? It depends on where you are in your life. For some of you today might be one of those days where your beliefs are strong. But for others of you today might be a bad day; one in which you have turned away from God. We all have these days and need to continually remind ourselves of God’s love for each and every one of us. This is where true faith comes in. Our faith is constantly tested. We test our own faith without the intersession of outside forces. When bad things happen to us we question our belief in God. When good things happen in our lives, we await the bad to follow. These thoughts and feelings are compounded when we read about or listen to people with differing view points on Jesus and God. As I mentioned in my last post, it is important that we understand why we believe what we believe. It is all the more reason why we should explore our faith and continually strengthen it by reading all we can about our religion. There are many historical references we can use to do just this. By understanding our faith completely we will limit the number of times when our faith is challenged. The more we know the more we grow.

It is important to believe not because we think it is the right thing to do but rather to believe because we know it is the right thing. Your God given freewill allows that your faith can waiver. Now is the time to use your freewill to gain a greater understanding. Jesus’ disciples have presented to you the stories of his life. Take this time to expand upon these stories and constantly strengthen you beliefs. Your faith is like a muscle, if you don’t exercise it it will begin to atrophy. But the more you exercise your faith, the stronger it will become and the closer you will be to God.

Amen.

-Scott