From Rock Solid to Rocks in Your Head (Matthew 16)

I have always found reading about the disciples to be a very encouraging thing. Very often, they make me feel good about my Christian life. They let me know that maybe there is hope for me after all. In the popular imagination, the disciples are the guys venerated on the stained glass. They are the saints who all the churches are named after (with the exception of Judas, of course). In some Christian traditions, these guys are the best of the best, the Hall of Famers (as it were).

Those who read the New Testament with even the slightest bit of care know better. These disciples were far from Supermen. More often, they were like a bunch of Clark Kents. That is not to say that they don't have their Superman moments. Peter has one here in Matthew 16. Asked to identify who Jesus is, Peter ignores the popular misconceptions of Jesus' identity and says: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter gives the confession of Jesus that would become the rock of the church. And for that Simon (as he was then known) gets a new name. From now on the disciples will know him as Rocky. His new name Peter speaks to his rock solid answer.

But it doesn't take Peter too long to go from rock solid to having rocks in his head. Just several verses later (maybe a few days later in real time), Peter doesn't like this going to the cross stuff that Jesus is talking about. He tells Jesus in no uncertain terms that an attitude adjustment needs to occur. Now, Jesus' name for Peter is not so complimentary. This time Peter is called Satan. How quickly, Peter went from one extreme to the other.

I can relate to Peter. At times I feel like super-Christian and at other times I feel like a failure. I am thankful that Peter's first name stuck with him and not his second. It tells me that even though I fail miserably at times, God can still use me. I am glad that God sticks by me not only when I am the Rock of Gibraltar. I am glad that He sticks by me when I have rocks in my head too.