Peter, Redeemed Backslider
January 10th 2008 04:42
“Mark, my faithful helper,” said Simon Peter to John Mark. “I need you to interpret what I tell you in Aramaic language to languages that others can understand. I am so tired of people misinterpreting my messages and my role in the Christian church.”
“Surely, Peter,” agreed Mark.
“Of course, you knew Jesus, too, but you were not among the original twelve disciples who were later called His apostles,” began Peter. “You were in the garden of Gethsemane when Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. Isn’t that correct?”
“Yes sir,” Mark ashamedly acknowledged. “I was afraid of the soldiers and felt sure that there were going to be problems, especially when it was clear that Judas was in the act of betraying Him. I ran away, leaving my cloak fall to the ground.” Mark seemed embarrassed at telling this account. Still, it was the truth so why hide it?
Peter noticed Mark’s discomfort and added, “John Mark, you need not be so upset at leaving Jesus when He was being arrested. If you recall, I denied Him three times, just as He predicted I would do. You know what that makes me, Mark?”
“I would guess that you seemed like a coward, just as I did when I ran away without my cloak,” was Mark’s response.
“True, I was a coward,” Peter confessed, “but I think there’s a stronger word than ‘coward’ for my condition.”
“And that would be ___?” asked Mark.
“I was a backslider. I knew Jesus about as well as any one of the disciples. Still, I had fear of even people with little or no influence in our society,” confessed the old man. “I even denied Jesus to a young beggar girl when I was warming myself by her fire.”
“Quite a strong word you have chosen to describe yourself, Peter,” Mark interrupted. “In my mind, a backslider is doomed to eternity without any hope of being saved. Maybe you should just confess that you were allowing your human nature to influence you at the time. I don’t like the word ‘backslider’.”
“I doubt that anyone likes that word, but it seems to me to be the best word to describe my condition. I knew Jesus so very well. I had seen Him do great miracles, even in my own family.” Peter added, “I had Jesus as a guest in my home once. My wife’s mother had a very serious fever and was bedfast. When Jesus heard of it, he touched her. Immediately, she was cured. She did not need time to recover. Instead, she helped my wife prepare food for all of us. It was a definite miracle.”
“Someone told me about that, but I suspected that it was just an exaggeration, someone’s imagination getting too active,” John Mark said with a smile. “So this really happened right in your own home.”
Peter’s eyes showed he was remembering the incident, reliving the situation in his memory. He looked directly into Mark’s face and declared, “Jesus did that miracle in my own home, yes. He did so many miracles. I have such a great number of such memories, healings, feeding great crowds of people, preaching such commanding sermons.”
“No doubt you loved Him so very much, Peter,” said Mark, touching the older man’s shoulder and patting his bony upper back.
“I thought I loved Him,” said Simon Peter. “Still, when I told Him that I loved Him, He told me to feed His sheep. That was shortly before His arrest.”
“What do you think He meant by that?” asked Mark.
“He wanted me to be active in His Kingdom after He left us alone,” Peter answered. “Yet, I am sure He knew that I would backslide. He told me that I would deny Him three times in one night. He had such a gift for knowing the future.”
A nurse entered the room and asked Peter if he was ready to go to bed for an afternoon nap.
“Of course not!” Peter replied with a scowl. “They don’t give me any power to make my own decisions at all around here.”
“I will come to bathe you in a few minutes, and then you get a nap,” the nurse told Peter.
“Jesus told me that when I became old people would do this kind of thing,” Peter whispered to Mark. “He said that the day would come when people would direct all of my activities. He described my old age very accurately.”
Trying to change the subject to something more pleasant, Mark reminded Peter of their reason for meeting today. “You said that you want me to interpret some things for others to understand more clearly.”
“Oh, yes,” Peter recalled. “People seem to think that I’m special. Some people even want me to give them some type of blessing to help them enter Heaven when they die.” He looked at Mark and continued, “Kind of ridiculous, don’t you think?”
A bit unsure of how to approach the subject, Mark said, “Don’t be too hard on them, Sir. Many people think that Jesus gave you the keys to Heaven. For that reason, those kinds of people may want some assurance against the day of their death.”
“Now, where would I have any keys, Mark? The nurse over there controls my whole life, even my meals. I don’t have any keys for anything, not even this house where I’m living,” Peter returned.
“I can’t answer, Sir,” Mark replied.
“I think that people heard that Jesus sometimes called me ‘Cephas’, which means ‘little stone’. And then, because I had declared that He is the Son of God, he told me that upon my statement was the truth that is needed for people to become Christians. Jesus said that my statement is a ‘big rock’, not a little stone, which is the name He used for me,” explained Peter.
Mark simply kept quiet. Peter looked at him for some time, wondering what was on his mind.
Peter finally could take the suspense no longer. “What are you thinking about, Mark?”
“Honestly, I am thinking of the many things that are told about you.”
“Such as?”
“How you spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost, when you preached that strong sermon,” Mark opened. “I was not there to hear it, but I’ve heard about it.”
“I speak Aramaic, Mark,” Peter reminded him. “I’m not into linguistic activities at all. I was a simple fisherman and spoke just the same as all the other fishermen in the village. My language is Aramaic.”
Mark had enough inner strength to answer. “But there were people there from many other places. Many language groups were represented. They all heard your message and understood it even though many of them do not understand Aramaic language at all.”
“You just answered your own questions, Mark,” Peter rebuked. “You said that people understood in their own language. You did not say that I spoke in the various languages.”
Giving Mark a moment to think, Peter went on. “How many times did I preach the same sermon on the day of Pentecost?”
“Probably only one time, I would predict,” guessed Mark.
“Correct. I did not preach in one language and then repreach in another language and then preach again in still another language,” Peter said. “In fact, I don’t know all of the languages of the people in the crowd.”
Mark’s eyes began to show signs of understanding. “The gift of tongues was not used at all, right?”
“Not exactly correct, Mark,” Peter said with a laugh. “God is not isolated in His abilities. The so-called gift of tongues could go both directions. That’s how I see it. I, as the speaker that day, did not speak in other languages, only in Aramaic. The people who heard me, understood me even if their native language was not Aramaic. I don’t really know how God did it, but the miracle is simply helping the people to understand what I said. I don’t know if they heard in Aramaic or if they heard in their own language or if some other situation existed. The important thing is that they heard and understood the message. The language or languages involved were not important, only the message. Also, it’s important to recognize that over 3000 people were converted that day.”
“Before that silly nurse returns, let’s consider one aspect of what we discussed this afternoon, Mark,” Peter said, watching nervously for the nurse to appear again. “A backslider is not doomed to perdition.”
Surprised, Mark repeated, “He is not doomed?”
“You are correct; he is not doomed.” Peter echoed. “Have you heard of any sins that cannot be forgiven?”
“Well,” Mark tried to remember, “The apostle Paul said something that I recall. He said something about the only unforgivable sin is related to the Holy Spirit.”
“God sent His Son, Jesus, to forgive us and help us to become ready to go to Heaven. That is basic, right?” Peter began.
“OK, I’ll agree to that.”
“We are all human, children of dust, right?” asked Peter.
“For sure. At least, that describes me,” Mark agreed.
“The Word of God tells us that all have sinned and come up short in God’s sight. The Psalms tells us that there is none that does good all the time and never needs to be forgiven.”
“I remember something like that,” Mark confessed.
“As I see it, everyone has backslid, at least to some degree,” Peter declared. “My sin maybe looked larger than that of some others, even larger than your sin of being afraid, Mark. Remember that you ran away when they arrested Jesus. Was that a good and helpful thing in the sight of Jesus?”
A bowed head signified Mark’s embarrassment.
“If that was not good and helpful, then it was bad and unhelpful, right?”
Mark nodded his head, not daring to speak for fear of feeling even less upright after Peter spoke.
“A sin is a transgression against God or God’s laws, Mark,” Peter said. “Something which is bad is a sin.”
“I also was a backslider,” Mark admitted. “Help me to pray, Peter.”
“I doubt you need a lot of prayer, little Christian brother,” Peter smiled. “I know that your trips with Paul and Barnabas have helped you to grow more and more in love with our Savior.”
“I do love Him, so very much,” Mark agreed.
“Me, too,” smiled the aged Simon Peter. His countenance began to become less pleasant when he saw the nurse coming with soap and a towel and basin. “Time for my bath. I always hated baths, even when Jesus wanted to wash my feet. I told Him that I’m clean enough. However, Jesus disagreed. I guess we all need baths, inside and out, rather often.”
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