Peter's Life - Before CHRIST and With CHRIST

 The Apostle Peter is one of the greatest redemption stories mentioned in the Bible which shows the transformation of LIFE BEFORE CHRIST, WITH CHRIST and Transition from Being the Disciple to The Apostle


Peter’s Life Before Christ: 

Peter was born about 1 B.C and died sometime around A.D 67. He was the son of Jonah and was the brother of Andrew, who was a Galilean fisherman. Peter comes  from the village of Bethsaida (John 1:44). He was a Married (Mark 1:30), Uneducated and Untrained man (Acts 4:13). He was originally named Simon (Jesus had changed name as Peter). Simon is a common name, from Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן Šimʻôn, meaning "listen" or "hearing".  

The fishermen of those days were usually considered mainly full of vigour and had boisterous tempers. They must have been somewhat fearless too because of the storms that come upon the Sea of Galilee were fierce and furious. There was a rough life, since fishing was a very physically demanding job. 

Peter, like all humans  before his calling, was a sinful man. In fact, we can see that  Peter realizes his sinful state and gives glory to the Lord before him by falling onto his knees and exclaiming, “‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’” (Luke 5:8) (After he saw they caught such a large number of fish. . )

Yet Jesus looked at this wicked man and said, “‘Don’t be afraid; from now on,  you will fish for people.’” (Luke 5:10). After His words, Peter and the other three dropped  everything, including their very identities as fishermen, and began a beautiful journey with Jesus. Peter continued to make mistakes again and again, but Jesus, as is His nature, loved Peter wholeheartedly and continued to use him in His kingdom’s work.


Peter’s Life with Christ:

As we know, Peter was the first disciple who was called by Jesus and also Peter was the first person to call Jesus the Son of the Living God – the Messiah (Luke 9:20). During Jesus' ministry, Peter was a man who wanted a mighty faith but faltered often. 

  • He stepped onto the rough sea to meet Jesus’ walking on water, yet even after taking a few steps safely, he began to doubt and plunged into the waves. In this passage, Jesus saves him saying “You of little faith” (Matthew 14:31)

  • Later, Peter even rebuked the Lord after He foretold of His death, saying, “Never, Lord… This shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22). But  at the arrest and trial of Jesus he denied Him three times before the rooster crowed by the next morning (Matt 26:69-75). 

Yet, Peter was considered as a  part of Jesus’ inner circle because there are quite a few incidents where Jesus allows only Peter, John, and James to be witnesses. Like, when Jesus raises a dead girl (Mark 5:35–43) “he did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James” (Mark 5:37). The second time was during the transfiguration, this was the time  where  Jesus’ physical appearance changed to reveal His divinity (Matthew 17:2) & Moses and Elijah appeared in “glorious splendor” before them (Luke 9:30), and the Father spoke from a cloud saying, “‘This is my Son, whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!’” (Matthew 17:5) and Peter was also an eyewitness  to the many miracles that Jesus performed from the day he started following. 

We can consider the fact that  when Jesus told them (Peter and Andrew) to “follow me” they simply walked away and left everything they had (all of their fishing boats, their fishing nets, and all the accessories that came with their trade) without a second thought (Luke 5:9-1) and the other fact is that all the three of Jesus’ closest disciples (Peter, James, and John) were fishermen.


Moral:

Peter’s close-knit relationship with Jesus proves that JESUS  longs for a pure friendship/togetherness  with His followers—normal people…..like Peter, like you and me. Seeing how Jesus took an uneducated, doubting, denying and a sinful man and loved him infinitely gives us an assurance that Jesus loves us as well as he did for Peter.

The very changes that happened in Peter’s life was the growth we could see in his journey further from being a disciple to the Apostle.  

to be continued…..




 


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