Dear Church Family,
I must follow up on our Lord’s new command to love one another with a look at Peter’s response. Peter was not simply one of the twelve disciples. He made up the inner core of three along with James and John. Jesus called Peter, along with his brother Andrew, as his first two disciples. A quick read of the Gospels shows Peter to be the most-mentioned person after Jesus.
So it comes as no surprise when Peter asks a question after Jesus issues the command to love one another. Now to be fair before giving the command Jesus had said, “I will be with you only a little longer…Where I am going, you cannot go.” Rather than inquire in any way about how to live out the command or why Jesus gave the command, Peter jumps back to the previous statement and wants to know where Jesus is going.
Today Peter would fit some psychological profile such as being hyper-active or impulsive. He had shown this in Matthew 17 and the story of the Transfiguration. Jesus shines brightly with the glory of God as Moses and Elijah talked with Him. Peter decides in that incredible moment he should put up a trio of tents for them. Only a voice from heaven keeps Peter from doing that. Just a few hours after Jesus gave the command to love one another, Peter denied Jesus three times even though he had argued with Jesus in Mark 14:31, “Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown you.” To his credit (or shame), Peter did try to defend Jesus as the Romans soldiers arrested Him by cutting of the ear of the high priest’s servant.
Rather than focusing on the high calling to love one another, Peter chose to engage in side issues rather than the issue of the heart. He would see the greatest act of love ever when His Savior and Lord died on a cross. Peter ran to the tomb when Mary Magdalene and others told him it was empty. Peter received forgiveness from Jesus in John 21. He received grace. Would that create in him a heart of love?
1 Peter 1:22 proves Peter practiced the new command. He joyfully wrote, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply from the heart.” Later in 4:8 he pens a familiar verse, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.”
We must be hearers and doers of God’s Word. We have seen the command to love and have received God’s love. How will you love one another today?
Living by grace to His glory,
Pastor Gillikin