One of my favorite TV programs is 'MythBusters'. I love watching them blow things to smithereens! One of their mantras on the show is, 'Failure is always an option.' Their belief is that you often learn more from failure than you do from 'success'. What's interesting about this concept is that I believe that it holds true in discipleship as well. One character in the bible who exemplifies this concept as good as anyone is the apostle Peter. Let's take a look at some of the seminal moments of his story, to see what I mean...
Mark 8:27-37
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Jesus Predicts His Death
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
The Way of the Cross
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
It’s pretty obvious Peter didn’t get it. At first it seems like he does. The disciples are all walking along, Jesus had just healed a blind man and, sensing a golden discipling moment, Jesus asks the question, ‘Who do you say I am?’ Then Peter, always the first to speak (often to his detriment), pipes up and says ‘You are the Messiah!’ BINGO!!! You are correct... Johnny tell him what prize he's won! I bet Peter is feeling pretty good about his answer. He probably had a little strut going on. "Yeah, that’s right... Yo Matthius!... Hear my answer?... Who's the man???….Did ya hear that Diggy Doctor??…Lukey Lukester, hear my answer?…That’s right!… MA-SI-AH… You got it dog... Petey Pete from Fisherman Street got it right….I am the man!" I’m sure he was struttin’ his stuff a little.
One thing you can see here is that Peter didn’t really get what was going on at all. You can tell by his next actions. You see Peter, like many Jews, was waiting for the ‘Messiah’. The galloping ghost on his trusty white steed with sword in one hand, shield in the other, fire coming out of his eyes and flames coming out of his....well, you get the picture. They were waiting for the warrior who would come down from heaven triumphantly and provide the power that would bring the Jewish people out of their bondage to the Romans and bring them back to their spot as God’s holy people…The Messiah large and in charge! The thing was, the Messiah was right there, and Peter knew Jesus was the One, and even though Jesus never showed any inclination to become this great military commander, Peter just could never get his mind off of that concept. The Messiah was there, the plan was underway, it was just a way different than anyone expected...You know, kind of how God does...I don't know...everything! (For other examples see David and Goliath, Gideon, Joshua at Jericho, Aaron and Hur holding up Moses hands, etc...)
To Peter it was bordering on blasphemy for Jesus to talk like this. To speak of being rejected, disgraced, and then killed was ludicrous in Peter's mind. I imagine that once Peter heard the ‘killed’ part he got stuck on it. He probably never heard the 'raised on the third day' part at all! Its kind of the old good news/ bad news thing. When you hear the bad news first, and it’s so bad its painful, the good news usually goes unnoticed. So, how does Peter respond? It's was probably something like this. "I don’t think so Jesus!…Listen, I am a big dude and you’ve got eleven other brothers here that will rough anybody up who tries to jack you Jesus! This rejected, disgraced, and killed talk is ridiculous! You had better stop all of this foolish talk Jesus!"
I imagine that Peter was quite surprised at what Jesus said in response to his stiff rebuke.
‘Get behind me Satan!’ Yikes! A stunning rebuke to say the least. I cringe every time I read that. Imagine Jesus saying this to you, especially after you had just recently said something right! Peter went from proud, proclaimer of praise, to befuddled and bewildered…bemoaned by the Begotten.
What Peter thought was going on wasn't even close to reality. What he thought was the plan, was entirely different. Peter just didn’t get it. He walked with Jesus, ate with Jesus, and with Him night and day for three years, and he still didn't have much of a clue.
Most of us are familiar with the events that came later. Let's jump forward to passion week. Jesus is turned over to an angry mob, Judas does his betrayer thing and the Lord is taken into custody to be tried for a list of trumped up charges. At the town courthouse, Peter is left outside in the courtyard as Jesus’ mock trial begins. When he is interrogated by some of the other bystanders, he denies any affiliation with the Lord, going so far as to call down curses on himself to the crescendo of a rooster crowing…ushering in the echoes of Christ’s prophesy that he just stated a few days earlier regarding Peter’s role in his death. In his bravado and his delusional surety that an epic battle for the throne was about to ensue, the battle in which he would play Maximus to Jesus’ William Wallace, the war that would surely be won by the mighty Messiah and his band of brothers, Peter missed the heart of all that Jesus taught and modeled for him. He missed the heart behind all of the teaching about sacrifice and heavenly kingdoms, and seeds falling to the ground and dying. He missed the point of the parables, the mountainside chats, and the sermons on the lake. The prophesy that Jesus spoke of, where he described how he would be the sacrificial lamb for all men for all time, never clicked with Peter. It never made sense. At least not until that rooster crowed and his soul was cleansed with much weeping and many tears. Not until he had some time to lick wounds and go back out to his old stomping grounds and see a familiar miracle.
John 21:15-25
Jesus Reinstates Peter
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
The scene is all too familiar. The lake. The fog. A night long fishing derby. The frustrating lack of fish biting. The almost mocking bellow of a fellow fisherman with the absolutely absurd request to put out into deeper waters. Jesus was setting the scene to remind Peter of a time when his faith grew the most. Peter wandered back out to fish because his faith was weak, he was defeated, and he had no idea what to do now. Then Jesus showed up and revealed himself as risen. I don’t know if Peter thought he could walk on the water again or what, but it says 'he wrapped his garment around himself' before he ended up in the water. But what you have to love about Peter, and what I know Jesus always loved about him, was his uncanny ability to not care about what others thought or about what obstacles might be in his way. Perhaps he thought he could walk to Jesus as he had before, but even after the shock of hitting the probably cold water, he just swam then... and he wasn't just a few feet, but about 100 yards. He knew Jesus was on the shore and a ride was just was too cotton-picking slow. He needed to get back to Jesus. To get things right. He always followed. He always went where Jesus went. He even followed at a distance after he denied the Lord. The problem was, he followed with his brain, he followed with his body, he just didn't follow with his heart. He just didn't get it, until he blew it, about as bad as one could. It wasn't until he fell flat on his face and had that moment where he felt like and utter and complete failure, until he got it.
That’s the way God works isn't it? It’s our failures that teach us who God is. How do we learn that God loves us? Through the ugliness of our sin. We were a broken people, left for dead, on the junk heap of human life, and along came God to pick us up, dust us off, and put us in a special place on his mantle, displaying his glory for all to see. How did we learn about grace? We messed up. Blew it. Did what we knew we shouldn’t. Did what we thought we would never do. And God forgave us… again and again. How did we learn about redemption? We saw our sin and the depth of our lostness. We watched, with our mind’s eye, a completely blameless Savior, beaten and battered beyond recognition, carry a cross to the place of the skull and forgive a thief, give his mom a caretaker, and ask his Father, as a last dying request to forgive his murderers, for they knew not what they were doing. And he was doing it because of our failures. How do we learn the heart of God? A lot of times, the lessons that stick come through those times of utter failure, when we stare our brokenness in the face, and suddenly realize that God and his way, his plans and his purpose are what is best. It is then, that our hearts learn what discipleship really is. What following Christ is really all about.
Many times we want to divorce our failures from our discipleship but God uses those to help us get it on a heart level. Yeah, it hurts. Yeah, it stings. And no, I doubt any of us would ever seek to fail on purpose. But when we inevitably do, God will use it to teach us. What we have to do is always follow, even when we don't totally get it, we will eventually. God wants us to understand with our hearts and he will use whatever he can to get us there, including our failures. Failure is always an option, at least with God it is.
