21 Jul Dependency on Grace and the Life of Peter

The Apostle Peter is one of the most significant figures in the New Testament. He features heavily in the Gospels alongside Jesus as one of the members of His smaller, “core” group of Apostles; and, he is the foremost spokesman of the Apostles during the first half of the book of Acts. He himself is responsible for writing two books of the New Testament.

Peter is referred to as the Rock upon which Jesus built the Church. But for a person of such foundational importance, the many accounts we read of Peter’s blundering, overenthusiastic ways are not at all what we’d expect.

One of these accounts occurs during Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse. In the middle of the Last Supper, Jesus stands up from the table and then kneels to wash the feet of each of His Disciples. When He comes to Peter, the Apostle denies him, saying, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

Indeed, the suggestion is absurd, and everyone in the room must be thinking it. The Lord – the Messiah, the very Son of God, as Peter himself knows – would take on the stature of a lowly man. The Master would take on the position of a slave. Jesus insists, but Peter instead rebukes him: “You shall never wash my feet.”

There is much to admire on the surface of Peter’s assertion. He holds so much respect, so much adoration, so much fear for Jesus that he cannot allow Him to descend to this level. Throughout the Gospels, Peter seems to have his own idea of what Jesus’ ministry will look like – and the role that he is to play in it – that looks quite different from this. Peter earnestly wants to serve Jesus, rather than be served.

We can appreciate Peter’s zealousness. In many cases, his eager desire to perform and please makes him courageous and loyal to Jesus. But in the upper room, it would keep him from belonging to his Lord. Jesus’ reply is sobering: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with Me.”

Though it often drives his faithfulness in following Jesus, Peter’s zealousness also cloaks deep pride and religious ambition. Peter clings to his preconceived notions of the manner of his Messiah’s coming. Perhaps he believed like many other Jews that the salvation the Messiah would bring would be of a political nature—that He would conquer the Roman regime and restore the nation of Israel to its former prominence. In his zealousness for what he believes to be the Messiah’s cause, Peter refuses to let the savior of his nation humiliate himself.

But this act of such seeming degradation points to the only way that salvation will ever come to Peter or his fellow countrymen. If he can’t accept Jesus’ service, he won’t receive the very salvation that he longs for and works for. Like almost everyone else, he has misread the Scriptures concerning the Messiah’s coming. Indeed, He’s taking the world, not by force and violence, but in meekness and service.

“Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Whether Peter realizes the true nature of his Messiah’s coming, he excitedly takes Jesus at His word, only to be corrected once again: “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

As Peter has his feet washed by Jesus, perplexed and perhaps frustrated at these seemingly cryptic words, he is likely still missing the meaning of his Messiah’s act of service. The cleansing that Jesus has in mind is the one that He will perform on Peter’s soul, not just his body. Like Peter, everyone who is a disciple of Christ must come to Him for this cleansing.

If we come to Him with hands full of preconceived notions, pride, and religious ambition, we will find ourselves with no share in Him. But, in emptying our hands and offering Him even the rawest parts of our lives, we will belong to Him. It’s understandable to balk at the Lord of Glory who stoops so low. The absurdity of it should shake us out of the notions we carry of Him. Still, we must take Him at His word. Will we humble ourselves enough to allow Him to serve us with His grace?

-Brian Barbee, Downtown Campus