Jesus is Patient when Peter Fails to Understand
Hello All,
I will be picking up the review of Jesus Character until about mid-December. For October I will look at the failings and outright sin of Peter, and how that reveals Jesus’ good character and thereby reveals God’s Character.
On several occasions Peter and the other disciples don’t understand what Jesus is talking about. It is encouraging to me, because often I don’t get what He is talking about! You see three of these different occasions at Matt 15:15, Mk 4:10 and Matt 16:7-8. I will only look at the 1st passage in Matt 15 – where Jesus is confronting the Pharisees. He “calls the crowds to Himself” and tells the parable of “what makes a person unclean and what does NOT make a person unclean”. In verse 15 Peter doesn’t get it. He asks Jesus to explain the Parable to them. Jesus asks Peter “Are you still so dull?” (Peter has been with Jesus quite a while now) And then Jesus explains the parable.
I think it is very important to have the enemy’s voice of constant “accusation” distinguished from God’s voice of “conviction”. The 1st is meant to tear you down and the 2nd is meant to challenge you and build you up. I don’t think Jesus is accusing Peter here but challenging him to think and listen. What unfolds is that Jesus is very “patient” with Peter and essentially instructs him. Additionally, even after this happens several times, Jesus never rejects Peter for his lack of understanding. (In fact, He instructs Peter time and time again without frustration.) The reason I don’t see accusation in Jesus’ comments is from studying Jesus consistent response to Peter (and others) after failures and outright sin. Jesus has a consistent pattern of 1) Patience, 2) Instruction and 3) a refusal to reject people.
I have posted a list of 13 failures and sins of Peter and Jesus response to him at http://GodIsJustLikeJesus.blogspot.com on Oct 4th 2012. See what you think.
So given Jesus patience, consider:
1) How does this reveal God’s invisible Character (John 14:9)?
2) Why not take this event (Jesus’ Patience with Peter) into your prayer time and tell Him how grateful you are for His patience (1st Commandment prayer)
3) Life Application and 2nd Commandment – how can you apply this in your life to your children, spouse, friends or strangers?
