This is the first of six podcasts on the life of Peter, the leader of the disciples of Jesus. Pastors Karl and Thadd use Michael Card’s book, A Fragile Stone, for their discussion. This podcast tells the beginning of Peter’s story, referencing Luke 5:1-11 and the first 45 pages of Card’s book.
Click to listen: 1 Peter
I am thinking of an additional possible interpretation for Simon Peter’s comment, “Get away from me” phrase. Simon is face to face with the Lord and is willing to issue a command. He doesn’t say, “leave me, you must be mistaken” or any other passive response. He issues a command that I believe implies he has other ideas. His first reaction is not, “thank goodness, a chance to change my choices in life”, his first reaction is to plan to continue to live life his way and reject Jesus. When he sees Jesus as the Lord I think he was making a decision to say no, not only to himself but to Jesus. Fear was probably at the core of his decision, fear of the unknown, changes to his life, giving up his own control over his life, but the fear comes out as directive.
At first I think of small children, when they do something wrong, they hide or deny it. But as they grow older and become youth some develop a method of striking out. Think of a youth who you might ask about their actions, rather than being bashful or hiding, you might hear retorts like, ‘why are you blaming me’, ‘I wasn’t here’, ‘Why should I care?’. A sophistication develops around rationalizing the decisions that were made and often the method of defense becomes an offensive verbal strike.
I know from my personal experience I have said no to the Lord. I have been faced with decisions and I justified choosing my way because I had children, or I had promised something to someone, or I just didn’t want the responsibility. Looking back at those decisions I don’t think I was saying, “Jesus, I’m a sinner, I’m not worthy to do this task you set in front of me”. I think I was saying “Get away from me, do you realize what I would have to risk, what changes this includes?” I feel a lot closer to Simon Peter when I think of him saying no, because he like me just wasn’t ready to abandon his own plans and trust in Jesus. I haven’t said no to Jesus because of my sins, I’ve said no because I wanted to say no. In the final analysis, I’ll add that to my list of sins.
Well said, Jim. I wish you had been in the room when we taped this conversation. I think your ideas can be mixed in with the overall idea that Peter felt shame at that moment at being exposed: exposed for not trusting Jesus, arrogance in thinking he knew more at least about fishing than Jesus, for not believing that Jesus was any more than a great rabbi. You have captured well why someone might say “Get away from me”, when he or she is confronted in that moment of shame, whether they are 15 or 45. Thanks for this.