Peter Meets Jesus

Peter’s First Encounter with Jesus

John 1:35–42 “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.”

Andrew and another Disciple Hears the Proclamation by John the Baptist

Andrew believes what he hears and goes to tell Peter about Jesus

Andrew returns with Peter to follow Jesus and they spend the day with him

Transition:

Peter’s journey begins with an introduction—a moment where he meets Jesus, but faith has not yet fully taken hold.

Peter’s Experience at Home

Luke 4:38–44 “And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.”

Jesus visits Peter’s House after a day of ministry

People in the home began to talk to Jesus about Peter’s MIL

Jesus rebukes her fever and heals her

People came to the house with diseases and possession and Jesus Healed them.

Transition

Faith moves from curiosity to experience. Peter sees firsthand the power of Jesus in his own home, and the ordinary begins to intersect with the extraordinary.

Peter’s Embrace of His Calling

Luke 5:1–11 “And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.”

Jesus gets into Peter’s boat to speak to the people

Jesus teaches the people

Jesus commands Peter to take the ship out further and cast a net

Peter grumbles about the command because he is tired and didn’t have a good day

The catch was so great he had to call his partners over to help

Peter calls Jesus Lord

Jesus calls Peter to be a fisher of men

Andrew, Peter, John, and James all answer the call by forsaking their lives as fishermen to follow Jesus.

Transition

Faith reaches its turning point when Peter moves from seeing and experiencing to surrendering and obeying—embracing the calling God has for his life.

APPLICATION

Peter was struggling for faith. Jesus was introduced to him as the Messiah. He welcomes him into his home and sees his mother-in-law healed and then many others after that. His third recorded interaction with Jesus seals the deal. He is fishing all night and catches nothing. He is tired, probably hungry, cleaning his nets so he can go home. Jesus tells him to take the boat out so he can teach. He listens to him teach and then the command comes from Christ to launch out into the deep and cast his net. It is there that he not only gets a haul of fish, but recognizes that indeed Jesus is Lord. Jesus calls him to be a fisher of men and he forsakes everything to follow Jesus.

The Infancy of Faith

Do not get discouraged if you do not have all the faith you need at the beginning of your journey. It took Peter some time even with miracles being performed before his very eyes. We don’t see those kind of miracles and we are hard on ourselves about our lack of faith. Even after he chose to follow Christ his struggle for faith was not over - it had just begun.

The Progress of Faith

We will not get all the faith we need at one time. Peter’s faith progressed in stages as he experienced Christ. He likely struggled with what he thought to be true in contrast to what he was seeing in Jesus. Progress in your faith, but allow the process of experiencing Christ to help you in your progress. Expecting yourself to be as far down the road as someone that started the journey five years earlier is not realistic.

The Embracing of Faith

As we are introduced to Christ and begin the journey and progress in our discovery of Christ there comes a time that we embrace faith in Jesus. There is more than one time we do this. While salvation is our beginning point and can never be taken from us the embracing of faith happens a number of times in our lives just like it did for Peter. The struggle continues on. We struggle, we overcome, we progress, and we come to the place of embracing faith again. We struggle again, overcome again, progress some more, and embrace faith again.

I imagine we will do this until the day we are with Jesus in heaven. The struggle is worth it. The progress in our faith will be measurable. The embracing of our faith will be restful. Peter’s life ended upside down on a cross dying in service to Jesus, but he struggled for faith until the moment he took his last breath. His struggle was worth it. When he embraced faith he could easily die upon the cross for his faith with peace in his heart. Remember, he once denied Christ so that he wouldn’t die and as he progressed in his faith and embraced it throughout his life he died because he would not deny it.