The Rock and the Pebble: Jesus and Peter
The Rock and the Pebble are Jesus and Peter. Brian explains how they reacted differently after the moment of Jesus arrest.
The Rock and the Pebble
I would like to read a story of Rocks and Pebbles, told in Mark chapter 14.
65 Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. 66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time.
Mark 14:65-72
Jesus and Peter
We have two contrasting scenes here – one with Jesus and one with Peter. The Sanhedrin – the Supreme Court of Israel – is investigating Jesus. At the precise time when the court attendants are piling scorn upon Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah, the prophecy that Peter would deliberately deny his Messiah is being fulfilled.
Christ is..
“the spiritual Rock”
1 Cor 10:4
..that followed Israel in the wilderness.
A few chapters earlier, in Mark 12:10, Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22 to the religious leaders:
‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Jesus is that stone and that rock stands firm. The other rock is Peter – Petros, the Rock – the name given to him by Jesus. That rock is more like a pebble. Twice he fails to stand up to a servant – a girl who has no power or status.
Dependence on the Father
The Lord Jesus, who is Almighty God, chooses to be dependent on His Father. Peter, who is a mere man, chooses to be dependent on his own strength. Contrast that with the attitude of Vance Havner, who said,
“The Lord had the strength, and I had the weakness, so we teamed up! It was an unbeatable combination.” Lloyd Ogilvy, who had many reasons to be proud of his powers of speech, said this: “When I know I can do nothing of myself, my poverty becomes a channel of his power. Often when I feel I have been least efficient, people have been helped most effectively. It’s taken me a long time to learn that the lower my resistances are, and the less self-consciousness I have, the more the Word of God comes through.”
How Does Jesus Feel?
Jesus knows that Peter is denying him at this very moment. How does he feel? We are not often told directly about Jesus’ emotions. In the few times we see his emotions, we can see a pattern: Weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. Weeping over the Jerusalem he wanted to gather like chicks under his wings.
In agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was “(angry) and grieved at (the Pharisees) hardness of heart”. (Mark 3:5) He “marveled at people’s unbelief” (Mark 6:6) He rebuked the disciples for their hardness of heart when they did not believe he had risen from the grave. (Mark 16:14)
What is the pattern? In each case he is reacting to the deadly impact of sin. Peter’s betrayal? It doesn’t surprise him – he predicted it. It doesn’t stop him from loving Peter and going to the cross for his sins and ours. It doesn’t stop him from restoring Peter as the main leader of the church in the first half of the book of Acts.
Pebble, Rock or Sand?
If Peter was more like a pebble than a rock, that might make me a bit of sand. But if I lean on the rock Jesus, instead of my shifty sand, no one can even budge that rock. Then God gets the credit, the glory, instead of me. The apostle Paul puts it this way,
“We have this treasure in jars of clay, so that the surpassing power belongs to God, and not to us.”
2 Cor. 4:7
How do you feel when you sin? What do you do? Contact us at HopeStreamRadio, or comment below.
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