The disciple Jesus liked best

By John Stallings



The most amazing truth we can ponder as human beings is the boundless love of God. I remember a song we used to hear a lot when I was a kid—“The love of God.” It was beautiful & it talked about the measureless, all- encompassing love that God has for each & every one of us. I don’t think there’s any question that His love for all mankind is the most magnetic & fathomless truth we can contemplate. I’m sure you also remember the little chorus we used to sing in Sunday school,…… “Yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.”

We know Jesus loves us all the same, but that thought is a little more theological than I’m thinking right now. I’m not trivializing God’s love; quite the contrary. What a wonderful reality that God loves all six-billion people on this planet. One of the first verses we learned was John 3:16, For God so loved the world…. That’s a theological given. It’s not difficult for us to feel loved by God & we understand that nothing can separate us from His love.

If you’re a parent you know that you love every one of your children the same. In the rule book for parents, rule number one is, you don’t love one of your children more than the other. If you have adopted children you love them equally as much as your paternal offspring.

Having said that, wouldn’t it be fantastic to know that Jesus not only loved you but genuinely liked you too? You know what I mean. I mean if we were physically, bodily hanging-out with Jesus would He actually like us; like our personality, enjoy our company? Interesting concept don’t you think? How would it feel to know that besides being loved by God, there’s something about you that makes Him smile when you walk in the room. After all, Jesus had His human side & there were things that He especially liked & disliked.

I guess the best way to find out if Jesus would really like us would be to find out whom He liked best out of His twelve disciples. I’m going to tell you who I think Jesus liked best & then I’ll tell you why I believe it.

First, let’s talk about the two greatest men in the New Testament. I believe that would be Paul & Peter. Let’s chase that idea a bit. Paul wrote much of the New Testament & I believe I can safely say he was the greatest Christian who ever lived. Paul spoke several languages & was highly educated. It’s not a stretch to say his was one of the most, if not the most dramatic conversions to Christ of any person in history. Paul sat at the feet of the great teachers of his day & though it’s believed he was small of stature, he was a mental & spiritual giant. Paul’s life was about great accomplishments. He was a great writer, teacher, church planter & missionary. Yes indeed, Paul was a towering figure in Christian history.

But really, Paul couldn’t be in the running for Jesus’ favorite person because he didn’t know Jesus in that personal way. He came along a little later. If Paul or someone like him were to be the person Jesus liked most, I’d be somewhat discouraged because he’s kind of “out of my league.” Lets be frank; most of us would be hard pressed to match Paul’s great testimony of salvation, plus his gifts, abilities & contributions to the cause of Christ. If Paul were in the running as the person Jesus liked best, if it would take being that type of monumental –multi-talented man to be liked by Jesus, (and trust me, I’m not trying to be humble here) I’m afraid I’d wouldn’t have even been considered.

But Peter? Well he’s a different story. I guess by now you’ve guessed that it’s Peter of whom I speak, as the disciple Jesus liked the best. Now, how can I back that up? We get a big clue when Jesus rose from the dead & the women came to His tomb to anoint His body. They met an angel who told them;--Go tell His disciples & Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee. Mark 16:7. Even after Peter had so failed Jesus in his denial of Him, Jesus still not only loved him, Peter was genuinely special to Him. Peter was the point man that you often had to talk to first before you talked to Jesus. And Jesus was always talking to Peter, explaining things & interacting with him.

One thing we know Peter didn’t have that would have endeared him to Jesus & that was a great intellect. If he was Jesus’ favorite it wasn’t because he was especially smart. Peter holds the absolute record for doing & saying the most untutored things of all twelve disciples put together. He was impetuous, he was loud, he was crass, he was a hot-head & had a penchant for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Also, although Peter did finally shape-up, putting aside Judas, he holds the dubious distinction of having the worst melt-down on record when the pressure was put on him during the arrest of Jesus. He flatly denied he ever knew Jesus. So his loyalty & his intellect couldn’t have been why Jesus liked him best. As a matter of fact Peter didn’t possess any of the qualities that we’d generally look for if we were looking for the person Jesus liked best. You’d think a quieter more self-possessed & tranquil person would have held that distinction.

Peter was always messing up the beautiful moments Jesus was experiencing. Remember the incident on the Mount of Transfiguration? Jesus took Peter James & John with Him & Moses & Elijah came down & made an appearance. Peter got so beside himself that he started talking about building three tabernacles for Jesus, Moses & Elijah & just staying there to bask in the glory of the experience. Jesus had to put a “wet blanket” on Peter’s idea, because the need was down in the valley, down where the hurting people were.

When Jesus wanted to wash Peter’s feet, Peter threw a fit & refused to let Him do it, telling Him there was no way that was going to happen. When Jesus explained to him that if He didn’t wash Peter’s feet he would have no part with Him, then Peter readjusted & told Jesus He could go ahead & wash his hands & head also. I can almost hear Jesus saying, “Peter, now back off & let this be what it is, an occasion for washing feet.”

Another great moment Peter sullied was in the garden when Jesus had prepared Himself to be arrested by the authorities, thus beginning His Passion. This was the real reason He came, to die for all humanity. But what did Peter do? He fumed & fussed around & somehow produced a sword, (there’s no telling how he got that sword) & cut off Malcus’ ear. Now, beside dealing with the stress of the sell-out by Judas & being taken into custody, He’s got to clean up the mess Peter made & heal Malcus’ ear.

Earlier when Jesus was trying to explain that this time would surely come, Peter rebuked Him, saying he would never let it happen. Can you imagine a man actually taking God behind the bushes & scolding Him, telling Him in essence that what He was saying was preposterous & way off course? Jesus had to give Peter a “smack-down,” telling him “get thee behind me Satan.” This then was Peter. Over & over he exhibited his lack of understanding of Jesus’ mission. To put it bluntly, Peter wasn’t all that spiritually fine-tuned & often just got it wrong.

Neither was the special relationship Jesus & Peter had based on a long history together. The first record we have of them meeting was when Jesus saw Peter fishing one day & called him to be a disciple. They weren’t playmates from childhood. Have you ever had the experience of being with a friend you’d known for a number of years & felt maybe you were their best friend, or perhaps your friendship was the longest running friendship? Then another person came on the scene & as they talked you realized that this person’s connection with your friend predated your friendship with them? The more they talked the more it dawned on you that though you were very good friends, the other person had known your friend much longer than you had. Not that you were any less a good friend, it was just that you now realized that you didn’t know this person as well as you thought you did & your friendship didn’t have the deep texture or history the other friend had. There was no way you could turn back the clock & know you friend during all the years before you met.

Peter’s friendship with Jesus wasn’t based on past history; it was what it was on the basis of what was happening between them in the moment. Having presented all these negatives, there had to be something Jesus liked about Peter. The first thing that causes me to feel Peter was best liked by Jesus is;

HE SHOWED UP

Peter was just always around. He was present. He’s in the big middle of almost all the stories told in the four gospels. Peter’s name is mentioned more times in the four gospels than all the other eleven disciples put together. The reason he was mentioned so much was that he was always there. He was always hanging around. And isn’t that one of the prerequisites for success in life, to show up. Someone has said that ninety per-cent of life is just showing up. That’s stage one to anything we do in life—show-up. If we are no-shows, nothing happens. We can go on to the other steps then, but job one is showing up. Peter always showed-up.

I remember someone commenting to my father one time about my call to the ministry & how proud he must have been when I made the decision to follow in his footsteps. Dad’s answer was something like; “well, you know I never encouraged Johnny to follow in my footsteps. He chose it for himself. Every time I looked around, he was there asking questions, picking my brain, & trying to get a little more knowledge. What you see in my son isn’t my doing; it was totally his decision & his choice.” And that was very true. There was a burning desire in my heart to work for the Lord which neither of my parents stoked or tried to cultivate, outside of encouraging me to be a Christian. Whatever else I wanted to do was strictly up to me & my initiative.

Pastors know that relationships will often grow with certain people within the congregation that they didn’t really initiate. There is often someone who has a special liking for their pastor & they gravitate toward him & his family. It’s not that the pastor has chosen them. That person has chosen to be closer than others in the church.

If you’re a parent & or a grandparent, you’ll know that often for no reason you can explain, one of the children will chose to be closer to you, to get to know you better than the others. As a parent you have absolutely no power over that. They child chooses you, not the other way around. It’s just that they’re always there. You turn around & there they are, wanting to make the trip to the store with you; asking questions about your childhood, wanting you to show them how to bait a hook. One day you wake up to realize you feel closer to one than the other (God forbid that we would love one more than the other.) What was happening was an individual was choosing to be close to you & you weren’t about to close them out.

The second thing Peter did that made Jesus like him was;

HE SPOKE UP

Peter didn’t hesitate to speak when he felt like it. He wasn’t intimidated by anyone. Even though he loved & revered Jesus deeply, Peter didn’t close down when he faced Jesus. Quite the contrary, he was often “in His face,” asking for explanations & clarifications. Did Jesus resent him? No! Jesus loved it. You can see it in their interactions.

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious but conversations are very much a two way street. Jesus loved conversations & He had many with His disciples, especially Peter. Have you ever played tennis? What if you were playing tennis & all at once the person you were playing with just reached out & grabbed the ball? You might reach & get another tennis ball & send it back but if the person on the other side of the net kept holding the ball & not hitting it back the game would be over. Tennis is a game where the players hit the ball back & forth, hopefully across the net.

It’s the same in conversation. People must stay with it, both contributing to the activity. God loves these conversations with us. The reason Jesus liked Peter was He enjoyed the authenticity of the man. Peter was a body in motion but he was correctable & malleable. Jesus could straighten him out because he was a work in progress. But he was in progress. No one could ever accuse Peter of being lethargic. God can steer us & correct us but He can’t do it unless we animated in some way. The third reason Jesus liked Peter was that;

HE ACTED ON HIS FEELINGS

To put it succinctly, Peter showed-up, spoke-up & acted-out.
Many times the actions he took weren’t exactly right but again, Jesus would step in & correct him.

There’s a short snippet of a story in Matthew 14 where all three of these characteristics of Peter are in full play. The disciples were in a boat in the midst of a storm & Jesus came to them walking on the water. In His usual custom He told the disciples –“Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid.”
When you read that story, you would think that Peter was the only one in the boat though we’re told all the disciples were on board. But Peter was the only one speaking or doing anything. However, Peters proclivity for saying the wrong thing is alive & well on this occasion. What does he do? He opens his mouth & says the most impudent thing a man could have possibly have said at such a time. Peter offers up to Jesus a test of His Godhood by saying—“Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto you on the water.”

Of course I wouldn’t have had the grace for Peter that Jesus had, but if I’d been Jesus I think I would have said—“Hey, knot- head, who else have you seen walking on the water lately? What part of “It is I” don’t you understand? Is there anyone else in that boat who wants to join me out here, not you Peter, sit down before you fall down.”

But what does Jesus say to Peter? COME! Isn’t that beautiful? COME! Do you think Jesus was in any way aggravated with Peter because of this? No!! He loved it! He loved it because He knew it was authentic. The proof of that is that Peter didn’t say-“O.K. I was just kidding, James get out of the boat & walk to Jesus.” Peter didn’t say “Let me think it over & I’ll get back to you Jesus.” No, Peter got out of that boat & started walking to Jesus. We know the story how Peter got distracted & started to sink but Jesus reached out & caught him by the hand. If I’m reading right, Peter walked back to the boat with Jesus.

In case you think I’m being a little tough on Peter, let me say that though Peter had his failings, he wasn’t a failure. After he was filled with the Spirit & grounded, under his leadership & preaching the Church spread in Jerusalem, Judea, & Samaria, & then to Antioch & Rome. Peter then died a martyr’s death for His Lord. Why then did the scriptures record all his failings? I believe it’s to show us that Peter’s ultimate achievements were not his alone but gifts from God.

I also believe it’s for our encouragement that we are shown this all too human man who cannot trust himself but learns how to trust God. By the grace of God a man who in so many ways seems a failure becomes a success & the stumbling block is turned into a foundation stone.

We like Peter have our failings. We fail to understand God’s purposes as we ought & maybe we fail in being the kind of witness we ought to be for Christ. We’ve all had our Peter moments; moments of faith quakes & faith quirks. Maybe we’ve even been paralyzed by fear & when it came time for us to step into the gap & be like Jesus we lost our grip on God; times when our humanity overshadows everything in our lives of any depth.

Of course Jesus wasn’t blind to the problems of Peter. But He saw his heart. Because of His love for Peter he pardoned his cowardice & the fact that he had a problem staying awake at the right times but wanted to fight at the wrong times. Peter had lots of zeal but little carry-through. Sound familiar? Because of Jesus’ affection for Peter He saw past His weaknesses & worked with his strengths. At the right moment Jesus even gave Peter an opportunity to erase the guilt of his earlier denial that he knew Him.

I think I see pattern in the life of Peter that you & I can follow & in so doing we can please the heart of God. We can be present & we can show up in whatever way that might apply. I strongly believe in the ministry of showing up. Just about everything good that’s ever happened to me happened because I showed up. Some people have all kinds of spiritual gifts but they’re never there when needed. They never show up.

Then we can speak up. We hear so much about not talking too much that sometimes we’re silent when we should be speaking. I know prayer isn’t just chattering to God, giving Him no time to speak, but conversely it isn’t just silence with no engagement on our part. Prayer is communication with our heavenly Father. I believe He wants us to talk to Him.

When was your last Peter moment? Jesus knows all about it. He understands our times of reluctance, our times of abject fear, our times of defeat, even our times of rejecting his love. He accepts our apologies, dismisses the charges, exonerates our actions, purges our cowardice, wipes our slate clean & forgives all our Peter moments & keeps challenging us by appealing to the potential He knows we have.

He beckons us to demonstrate our love for Him as he did His good friend Peter by saying,


Peter, feed my sheep.



Blessings,


John