Roller-Coasters and Faith

This morning I am reading Mark's Gospel again, and I am encouraged by Peter, or should I say, encouraged by the way the Lord pastored Peter.  In Mark 8 & 9 Peter seems to be on a faith roller-coaster.  Here are the first few verses - Mark 8:29-30 NIV:

[29] “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” [30] Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him."

Here Peter has clearly received some revelation from the Father (See Matt 16:17) and must have been feeling pretty good about his relationship with Jesus!  He was clearly one of the leaders, and he was engaged with deeper level of revelation than the others.  The very next set of verses demonstrate the exact opposite from Peter.   Here are those verses - Mark 8:31-33 NIV:

[31] "He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. [32] He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 

[33] But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

What an absolute failure, in light of the previous verses, where He was speaking revelation from the Father, now he is speaking from purely human concerns, and I would add, things that had been whispered to him by the enemy.  Jesus dealt with him straight away, and whether in public or private, Peter must have been devastated by his failure.  

This is so common, at least in my life of faith, I am doing really well, firing on all cylinders, speaking and acting in line with the Lord, and then bam!  I run into a wall of my own selfishness, sin, or idiocy (depends on the situation).  The enemy is always looking for ways to get us to stumble, and then when we stumble, tries to convince us that we have messed up so bad that we have been benched by the Lord, at the very minimum.  

Imagine how Peter must have felt following this rebuke from Jesus.  There is no doubt that His heart was for the things of the Lord, but his mind and emotions and thinking were not aligned with his heart.  I am sure he was pretty crushed, probably went to the back of the group of disciples, and maybe even thought of packing his bags and heading home.  Being called satan by the one you love and are following has got to shake you to the core.

Mark continues on in the next verses with a bit that seems an unlikely next teaching by Jesus - Mark 8:34-35 NIV:

[34] Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. [35] For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it."

I think this represents Jesus drawing Peter back from the pit of his own failure.  Peter, as well as the other Apostles, had done exactly what Jesus is describing, they had "lost" their lives, walked away from everything, to follow Him.  Jesus is effectively calling them all to that place of obedience, trust and self-sacrifice, and I think part of His purpose is to get Peter to re-engage.

Moving on into Mark 9, we find that after 6 days, Jesus selects Peter, John and James to accompany Him up the mountain.  I am sure at this point some of the relational stress from Peter's rebuking has worn off by this time, but if he is at all like me, he was probably still wondering if he had disqualified himself from being in the inner circle.  I am sure being asked by the Lord to accompany Him up the mountain was very reassuring, and again showing the Lord's pastoral care for Peter.

Moving on, we now know that up that mountain, Jesus was transfigured before their eyes.  I am sure they were all blown away by this all.  Here are the verses - Mark 9:2-4 NIV:

[2] "After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. [3] His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. [4] And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus."

Again, talk about roller-coaster rides, this was definitely a "mountain-top experience" for Peter, and apparently this all happened in just over a week!  Wow, what  a week!  Here we have Jesus apparently stepping for a moment into His divine nature, and Peter was there to witness it.  He wrote about that moment in 2 Peter 1:16-18 NIV:

[16] "For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. [17] He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” [18] We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain."

I can't even imagine how impactful that must have been!  One would think from that point on, Peter would be all-in, and it seems that is the case.  That doesn't mean that he stopped making mistakes, or stopped the roller-coaster ride, he was still going to deny Christ, abandon him in the garden, cut off the ear of a guard, misunderstand about Jesus' Kingdom, and even go over to the "circumcision party", but his life direction was set, and the Lord loved him through all of the mistakes, missteps, wrong-thinking, and the like.  

I like to think that Peter's example is a great witness to those of us who are far from perfect, who's hearts are in the right place, but not always our minds and actions!  Nothing Peter did ever disqualified him from serving Jesus, from following Him, or from loving Him!  The Lord was confident in His own ability to shepherd Peter through all the tough times and mistakes, and He is equally confident in His ability to shepherd me.  He knows my life can be a roller-coaster ride of faith and obedience as well as unbelief and rebellion, yet He loves me through them all!  He expects me to get up each day to do my best in following, loving and obeying Him, and He will guide me. 

In summary, I am encouraged today to just keep following the Lord, to not give up, not give in, not disqualify myself, but t trust that He knows what He is doing in guiding me!  He knows me and He loves me!  I am sure Jesus had to roll his eyes back in His head a few times at Peter's antics, but he loved him and encouraged him and restored him, and was always faithful!  I am confident He will do the same for me.

Amen and amen!