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Thursday, August 09, 2007 Meditation Matthew 16:13-23 You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) Finally, Peter recognized who Jesus is and proclaimed him before all the other apostles. You can almost imagine Jesus crying out, “By Jove, I think he’s got it!” Peter finally grasped the stupendous fact that Jesus was not just a prophet or a wonder-worker but the anointed Messiah of God. And he didn’t come to this knowledge on his own. It came by listening to the Father’s voice. However, the fact that Peter had received a magnificent revelation about Jesus did not mean he understood everything about Jesus’ mission. Only a short time later, Jesus put this “Rock” of the church in the same league with Satan! Peter couldn’t grasp that the Messiah had to suffer and die like a common criminal. And, despite his having just proclaimed Jesus as the chosen one on a special mission from God, he couldn’t accept Jesus’ words about precisely how that mission was going to be completed. We should all be able to identify with Peter’s split personality. After all, we have the same kind of conflict within ourselves. We may know the truth about who God is and how we should live, but our words and actions don’t always correspond to it—not to mention our fundamental philosophy of life! The good news is that like Peter, we too are on a learning curve. If we keep trying to live by his inspiration, the Holy Spirit can gradually transform us. If we make it a practice to examine our consciences and repent of our sins, we will find ourselves more apt to fight temptation—and we will grow closer to the Lord. 1 Peter, written decades after Peter’s youthful mistake, is proof that God is capable of transforming us. In this letter, Peter not only speaks of “the sufferings destined for Christ” (1 Peter 1:11); he also tells his readers to rejoice to the extent that they share in these sufferings (4:13). This is the same Peter who said Jesus shouldn’t suffer—the same Peter who was afraid to come to him on the water, and who denied him three times. If he could change this dramatically, we should expect no less for ourselves! “Lord, thank you that you are as patient with me as you were with Peter! May I always be open to the promptings of your Holy Spirit, and may I grow more like you every day.” Numbers 20:1-13; Psalm 95:1-2,6-9 |
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