Sunday, March 7, 2010

Luke 22:31-32; Test

In these two verses there are things that jump off the page.

Why did Jesus call him Simon . . . twice. Jesus reverted to the name of the man which was used before his call. To me it speaks of the two sides of all of us. There are times in life where we do our best and are very focused spiritually. However, Jesus was telling Peter that this was not one of those times for him. He was about to respond like he would have outside of a relationship with Jesus. How often do I do the same? How often do I fall back on old behavior and quit living out of a spiritual point of view?

Satan had asked God permission to attack the apostles (the "you" is plural). It rings of Job. Obviously from the rest of the story, God granted the permission. Yet Jesus prayed for Peter's faith to not collapse. That he prayed is interesting; we think of prayer as something we do to get God's help. Here is God incarnate praying for another person.

And Jesus proclaimed Peter's fall. "And when you turn back" is tragic. Yet it is also hopeful. Failure is not the end of those who seek a relationship with Jesus. It is temporary if we make the decision to "turn back".

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