Knowing When to Listen

How many of us can identify with old foot-in-the-mouth Peter? We can get it ‘so right’ only to follow up with ‘so wrong.’ 

In Mark 8 when Jesus asks the Twelve who the crowds say He is, He draws several answers before Peter speaks with a glimpse of the truth:

And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” ¹

In Matthew 16 Peter’s acclamation is, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ² and in Luke 9 this is recorded as, “The Christ of God.” ³ In each passage, Jesus acknowledges the truthfulness of Peter’s confession, that it has been revealed to him by the LORD. This was shortly after Jesus had declared Himself the Bread of Life and many took offense and ceased following Jesus while others kept following.

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” ⁴

Twice in recent days, Peter got it right about who Jesus is; commendable but maybe Peter starts thinking he knows more about the LORD than he really does—shortly, he takes issue with Jesus about the will of God for Jesus’s life:

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” ⁵

Oops. Imagine being so right, then being so wrong. Yet how often have we challenged God’s wisdom displayed in our lives? Jesus continues to point to His living out the will of God. Next, Peter and the sons of Zebedee, James and John, get an additional glimpse behind the curtain. While the rebuke of Jesus is still in Peter’s mind, Jesus turns his attention God-ward:

And [Jesus] said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 
And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud,
“This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”
And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.⁶

Awkward hardly expresses the feeling of seeing a glimpse into Jesus’s heavenly nature, the appearance of the two greatest men from God’s earlier works and that moment of realization that this is a small part of what God is like. Speechless. Almost but not quite. “Not knowing what to say” Peter said the wrong thing—he meant well, to honor the Three but the LORD has a better idea.
“This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.”

Jesus is not done with Peter or the others; the LORD is patient in revealing His truth to all of the disciples. How often do we want to jump ahead of God and take the initiative from Him in a place He isn’t ready for us to go? The LORD is preparing, teaching, encouraging His disciples to listen to Him and set our minds on the things of God.