Two fires that changed Peter’s life

Two fires that changed Peter’s life

People on a journey of faith have doubts and failure. They do not lead perfect lives.

Peter’s pilgrimage before the fires

Peter was the leader of the Twelve. He was a confident man. Jesus said that the disciples would abandon him and he would be left alone. Peter assured him that he would never abandon Jesus. Peter would give his life for Jesus.

When they went to the garden, Jesus took Peter James and John and went away from the other disciples to pray. Jesus told the three to pray and went a little further to pray alone. After a while he came back to the three and they were asleep. Jesus woke them and told them to pray.

He went back to pray alone. When he returned he woke them from sleep again and told them that it was time.

Peter had not prayed and his reaction to the arrest of Jesus was to take his sword and cut off an ear of a servant of the high priest. Jesus told Peter to put away the sword and he healed the servant’s ear.

The fire of failure

Peter and John followed the group that arrested Jesus and went into the courtyard of the high priest’s house. They warmed themselves by a fire. When John wrote his gospel he remembered the events clearly and used a very specific word for that fire. It was a coal fire, a fire that gave off heat but not light. In the darkness various people including a relative of the servant injured by Peter thought they recognized Peter. In the end it was his Galilean accent that gave him away as a probable follower of Jesus. He denied knowing Jesus and when the rooster crowed he remembered Jesus ‘s prediction and wept over his failure. He had denied even knowing the man that he said was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. (John 18:1–11; 18:15–18; 18:25–27; Matthew 16:13–23; 26:30–56; 26:69–75)

The fire of restoration

One night after the crucifixion and resurrection Jesus met seven of the disciples on the shore of the sea of Galilee. They were fishing and had not caught anything and Jesus called to them from the shore about 100 yards away. He was standing by a fire he had made. John use the same word to describe that fire. It was a coal fire. These are the only two times this word is used in the New Testament. (John 21:1–8)

Jesus told them to try putting the net on the other side of the boat. They did and caught 153 fish. John quickly surmised that it was Jesus. Peter put on the outer cloak he had taken off to work. He jumped into the water and swim 100 yards to Jesus. John and the other five disciples were left to manage a net containing hundreds of pounds of fish and row the boat to shore. (John 21:9–14)

Jesus served to them a meal he had prepared and spoke to Peter. He asked Peter if he loved him and Peter insisted three times that he did. Jesus restored him to leadership and a pastoral role in his church. Jesus then told him that he would be crucified for his faith. (John 21:15–19)

Each Christian pilgrimage in unique

Peter asked Jesus what would happen to John. Jesus replied that this was not Peter’s concern. Peter was to follow Jesus and be faithful to his calling.

Because of Jesus’s answer there was a rumor among the Christians that John would not die before Jesus returned. John was now an old man. It was now half a century after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. John recorded this event in his gospel to make it clear that Jesus did not say that he wouldn’t die before Jesus’s return. (John 21:20–24

Each Christian has been given a customized pilgrimage of faith. We are to keep our eyes on God in faith and not on each other in comparison or envy.

Have there been events in your life that have shown you that you cannot make it in your own power?

Have there been events in your life that have shown you that God loves you and that he has a plan for you?

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