Peter

I think that of all the saints and various characters in the Bible, Peter is the one with whom I identify the most. That is not quite the same as saying he is my favorite, just that he is like me in some important ways.

For in Peter we have the Patron Saint of the Enneagram Six (a counterphobic one at that), a man whose "issues" from a psychoanalytic perspective always seem to revolve around fear vs. courage (see walking on water) and disbelief vs. faith. The story of his personal growth over the course of the gospels, and especially from the Passion of Christ through his death in Rome, is truly inspiring to me. The same Peter who denied Christ three times is transformed by the experience of Jesus' death and resurrection from a blustery, boastful, fearful man to one animated and made fearless by intimate knowledge of the Risen Christ.

In Tuesday's gospel, Peter makes a boast that will break his heart (and Jesus') in the early morning hours of Good Friday:

Peter said to him,
"Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you."
Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times."

Last night at Mass we heard the story washing the feet of the disciples in the gospel of John, and once again Peter is a featured character:

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
"Master, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later."
Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet."
Jesus answered him,
"Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me."
Simon Peter said to him,
"Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well."

Peter in one brief encounter ricochets between refusal to let Christ wash his feet to wanting Him to wash him all over. He is our stand-in, representing our lack of comprehension of what Christ has done and is doing for us.

And in John's account of the Passion for today, Peter is featured in two separate incidents. When the mob comes to arrest Jesus, Peter lashes out in his zeal to protect Jesus:

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it,
struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear.

While Peter's heart is in the right place, he once again does not understand what has to take place. Not only that, but he reacts in a decidedly un-Christ-like way. In that he represents and anticipates so many of the abuses of the Church and others in using violence ostensibly in defense of Christ.

Then comes Peter's denial in the courtyard of the praetorium where Jesus was being questioned by Pilate. He denies twice that he even knows Jesus, and then:

One of the slaves of the high priest,
a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said,
"Didn't I see you in the garden with him?"
Again Peter denied it.
And immediately the cock crowed.

Luke's account is heartbreaking at this dramatic moment:

When a maid saw him seated in the light, she looked intently at him and said, "This man too was with him."

But he denied it saying, "Woman, I do not know him."

A short while later someone else saw him and said, "You too are one of them"; but Peter answered, "My friend, I am not."

About an hour later, still another insisted, "Assuredly, this man too was with him, for he also is a Galilean."

But Peter said, "My friend, I do not know what you are talking about." Just as he was saying this, the cock crowed,

and the Lord turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times."

He went out and began to weep bitterly.

When I read this passage I can almost feel the bitter shame of Peter, that in Jesus' greatest hour of need Peter denied that he even knew the Lord. In spite of three years of living with Jesus, being taught by Jesus, indeed being mentored by Jesus to lead the Church, Peter could still do this. And I think I can feel it because I am human, and I know that in spite of my faith and my love of Christ, I am capable of doing exactly the same thing.

It's no accident that Peter is featured prominently in so many of the stories leading up to Jesus death and resurrection, through the early part of Acts of the Apostles. I believe Luke in particular saw Peter as kind of a Biblical Everyman, the embodiment of both the foibles and weakness of humanity and the immense power of redemption through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Gospels Peter acts out all of the boastful, cowardly things we are capable of. I don't like what I see of myself in the pre-Resurrection Peter. But I can't deny how much like Peter that I am.

But in Peter's experience we also see the immensity of Christ's love and forgiveness, of the power of redemption through the Resurrection. The one incident that encapsulates this is the disciples' encounter with the risen Jesus on the shores of the sea of Tiberius after the Resurrection. After Jesus helps them catch the 153 large fish, and shared bread and fish with them on the shore, he has a remarkable conversation with Peter:

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."

He then said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." (Jesus) said to him, "Feed my sheep.

Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."

He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."

This passage is every bit as dramatic and emotional as Peter's earlier denial. Jesus acknowledges Peter's threefold denial, redeems him from his sins and missions him to lead the Church.

The notes in the New American Bible tell us "In these three verses there is a remarkable variety of synonyms: two different Greek verbs for love (see the note on John 15:13); two verbs for feed/tend; two nouns for sheep; two verbs for know. But apparently there is no difference of meaning." It's as if Jesus is saying we are to love Him in every sense of the word, take care of His people in every sense, that his people (sheep) are all people, not just a few.

Through all the aspects of Peter's personality and relationship with Jesus, we have an extraordinary and very human example to follow.