Transformation
One must admire the courage of Peter after Jesus’ resurrection. On the beach Jesus is cooking breakfast for the disciples – John 21:1-14. Somewhere along the way, Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him and if so, then Peter must take care of His sheep – the children of God (Jn. 21-15-17). Afterward, Jesus describes the kind of death Peter will suffer as one of Jesus’ disciples (Jn. 21:18-19). His death will be that of a martyr. And then Jesus does what most salesmen would never do; he tells Peter to follow Him. Follow Jesus after being told the “rewards” of following would be an unkind death? That’s a hard sell.
But notice that Peter never says, “Yes, I will follow You.” He only acknowledges that he loves Jesus. In fact, he deflects attention to John and asks, “What about him?” as if to say, “Why should I have to be the only one who has to suffer?” (Jn. 21:20-22) Jesus then basically tells Peter not worry about other people. Don’t worry about His plans for others. The only thing that mattered was that he follow Jesus.
Why do I admire Peter’s courage? Because although he never said, “Okay! I’m ready to go! Let’s do it!”, we do know the rest of the story from the book of Acts and from other recorded history. We know that Peter committed his life’s journey from that day on to making Jesus known to others. Tradition tells us that Peter indeed suffered a martyr’s death. Peter’s courage is admirable because despite being given insight into an unkind future, he still followed Jesus.
I personally find great encouragement in Peter’s life. You know, his life didn’t change overnight as a result of Jesus’ resurrection. I am sure he still had fears of rejection as he had in the recent past. I don’t know if it was guilt or a strong conviction from seeing Jesus alive, but somehow this impulsive, impetuous man changed enough to follow Jesus with determination.
I just started a Sunday School class on the book of 1Peter last Sunday. To see this man in the gospels and then read his letters written some 30 years later shows an amazing transformation. God can change people. Let me rephrase that: God can change people when they follow Jesus. That really hits me. If I want to change, if I really want to be transformed, then I will need to take courage and follow Jesus. Transformation comes with following.
Jesus says, “Follow me!”
