Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Peter is on the shore with Jesus

Friday, April 21, 2017

From John 21
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea.

Peter's personality fits into what is called the "gut" triad of the enneagram (the numbers 8/9/1). Rather than reaching out for validation from outside (like 2/3/4s) or retreating within to find identity and safety (like 5/6/7s), Peter moves back and forth. On his worst days he is paralyzed by vacillation and inertia. On his best days he lives out of a still center beyond either head or heart, but which incorporates both.

There is no fear in love. Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?" Peter's emotional raggedness must show through as he says, "Yes, Lord."

Jesus is not satisfied and asks again, "Peter, do you love me?" Didn't you hear me the first time, Lord? But in truth, Peter did not yet quite hear himself. After his denials, he is not sure he can believe his own words. "Yes, Lord. I love you."

Jesus does not allow Peter to stay in the confusion of his unexpected betrayal and the guilt it carried, nor his failure and uncertainty about how to recover. Peter asks himself how he can love his friend Jesus now. Could Jesus ever trust him again?

Jesus knew the answer, but Peter did not. Once again Jesus asked him, "Peter, do you love me?" Now the three-fold betrayal was covered, symbolically, by a three-fold confession of love. "You know everything, Lord, and you know that I love you."

Jesus had always known Peter would be "the rock on which he built his church." And even after Denialgate, he knew he had not been wrong. Suzanne Zuercher says, " Passionate people like Peter are not always known for their prudence. They are often, however, the kind of people who inspire others and to whom others look for leadership. It is Peter who captures the 8/9/1 instinct, compulsion, and gift."

People like Peter, inspired to come out of their comfort zones, lead others from their gut. Rather than "merging with the ones they love or building barriers to assure themselves existence, they encourage independent resourcefulness in those they help."

Weak and vulnerable people, who may be caught in physical or psychological poverty, can take their own first steps in finding strength for themselves with the help of a leader like Peter. For these leaders, "once dedicated, there is no turning back, no neglect, no disengagement. They are indeed, worn out in the cause of justice." I think of Dorothy Day, Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gandhi.

We know men and women like that. Some of us are men and women like that, whose zeal is to shows others how to find their own energy. "This is their gift to the people of God; this is their yes to the call to follow Jesus."

Your creativity, Lord, knows no bounds. As much as we are all human, we are each woven out of cloth you've made unique. Not just our fingerprints, but we have so many nooks and crannies that you alone can find. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Devotions Archive

Peter is on the shore with Jesus

Friday, April 21, 2017