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“Do you not suppose I can call on my Father to provide at a moment’s notice more than twelve legions of angels? But then how would the scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must happen this way?” (Matthew 26: 53 – 54)
The Rabbi verbally issued the preceding interrogative sentences to Peter upon His arrest. Peter, for the second time, attempted to derail the realization of the prophecy of the Passion that the Son of Man revealed to him and his comrades in the not-so-distant past. His intrepid resistance to the arrest of the Messiah that chopped off the ear of Malchus demonstrated the stubbornness and rock-hard conviction of Peter against the prophecy. He preferred to believe in what He thought was right and proper under the circumstances than to allow the fulfillment of the Scriptures to take its divinely charted course. He was not fully convinced that the One He was calling his Master is God. He had little faith that was why he almost drowned when he walked the windy waters when his Master called him over upon his behest. He has not conquered his hypocritical mind. He was just lucky he was a handpicked apostle. Glaringly noticeable at this juncture was the Rabbi’s loving reprimand to His Chosen one. It was a reaction imbued with pity towards Peter for his faithless mind, as if asking Peter, “You declared I am the Messiah, then why all this defiance to what I say must happen?” Peter loved his Master and his Master knew it that was why He chose him. Unfortunately for Peter, his love for the Rabbi was conditioned on his own standards and not on the standards set forth by Him who is God. The greatest commandment the Rabbi taught his disciples was, “You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22: 37) Certainly, Peter did not love his Master with the totality of his person. He failed to comply willfully and deliberately with the greatest commandment. He had reservations because he was not amenable to the realization of the Passion and Resurrection of the Messiah the moment he learned of it. He cannot grasp that a terrestrial good that he relished so much and committed to pursue cannot supersede the greater good – the fulfillment of the Scriptures that God in the flesh came here for. He failed to reconcile his heart with his mind because insofar as the Passion and Resurrection is concerned he wants God to follow him. He firmly believed he was right and the Master was wrong, His rock-hard conviction was that He was doing his Master a great service because he was doing his best to prevent the Rabbi from being treated like a felon as the prophecy said He should be. He strongly felt that the authority vested upon him from Above has placed him in equal footing with the Son of Man. Otherwise, he would not behave the way he did towards the Person he himself declared as the Messiah. His naturalness got the better of him so easily. He was so hardheaded and so confident with himself. God, the Messiah, no sooner will make him realize his foolishness and his self-righteousness. His rock-hard attitude and mentality will lead him to disown his Master not twice but thrice. This was foretold upon him. Yet, he insisted it would never happen. It did happen. He fell like a falling star in the firmament. He just wept and did not lay down his life for his Master as he declared he would.He avoided persecution and embarassment. He was a man of little faith and it even came out from the mouth of God when he faltered while he walked on the body of water upon his own initiative. The ‘rock’ crumbled so easily in the face of adversity. What an irony! Peter the ‘rock’, at every instance prior to the fruition of the prophecy, was, at best, the ‘numero uno ‘ lip service apostle. His figure and lip service attitude toward God reflects the lip service attitude of a great majority of Christians the world over. It was upon such kind of person that the church was built, a person whose love of God was based on his own human standards and not on the standards repeatedly imparted to him by the Son of Man, the Rabbi and his Master who is God. All Christian religions by the doctrines that they taught and propagate to their flock reflect the mindset and lip service attitude of the apostle Peter, the ‘rock’.God called the virgin from nazareth, ‘Woman’. We insist she is His ‘Mother’ when He never called her as such. Is that in keeping with or in fulfllment of the Scriptures?He came down in fulfllment of the Scriptures and abhorred tradition. Why can’t we follow?
The Rabbi verbally issued the preceding interrogative sentences to Peter upon His arrest. Peter, for the second time, attempted to derail the realization of the prophecy of the Passion that the Son of Man revealed to him and his comrades in the not-so-distant past. His intrepid resistance to the arrest of the Messiah that chopped off the ear of Malchus demonstrated the stubbornness and rock-hard conviction of Peter against the prophecy. He preferred to believe in what He thought was right and proper under the circumstances than to allow the fulfillment of the Scriptures to take its divinely charted course. He was not fully convinced that the One He was calling his Master is God. He had little faith that was why he almost drowned when he walked the windy waters when his Master called him over upon his behest. He has not conquered his hypocritical mind. He was just lucky he was a handpicked apostle. Glaringly noticeable at this juncture was the Rabbi’s loving reprimand to His Chosen one. It was a reaction imbued with pity towards Peter for his faithless mind, as if asking Peter, “You declared I am the Messiah, then why all this defiance to what I say must happen?” Peter loved his Master and his Master knew it that was why He chose him. Unfortunately for Peter, his love for the Rabbi was conditioned on his own standards and not on the standards set forth by Him who is God. The greatest commandment the Rabbi taught his disciples was, “You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22: 37) Certainly, Peter did not love his Master with the totality of his person. He failed to comply willfully and deliberately with the greatest commandment. He had reservations because he was not amenable to the realization of the Passion and Resurrection of the Messiah the moment he learned of it. He cannot grasp that a terrestrial good that he relished so much and committed to pursue cannot supersede the greater good – the fulfillment of the Scriptures that God in the flesh came here for. He failed to reconcile his heart with his mind because insofar as the Passion and Resurrection is concerned he wants God to follow him. He firmly believed he was right and the Master was wrong, His rock-hard conviction was that He was doing his Master a great service because he was doing his best to prevent the Rabbi from being treated like a felon as the prophecy said He should be. He strongly felt that the authority vested upon him from Above has placed him in equal footing with the Son of Man. Otherwise, he would not behave the way he did towards the Person he himself declared as the Messiah. His naturalness got the better of him so easily. He was so hardheaded and so confident with himself. God, the Messiah, no sooner will make him realize his foolishness and his self-righteousness. His rock-hard attitude and mentality will lead him to disown his Master not twice but thrice. This was foretold upon him. Yet, he insisted it would never happen. It did happen. He fell like a falling star in the firmament. He just wept and did not lay down his life for his Master as he declared he would.He avoided persecution and embarassment. He was a man of little faith and it even came out from the mouth of God when he faltered while he walked on the body of water upon his own initiative. The ‘rock’ crumbled so easily in the face of adversity. What an irony! Peter the ‘rock’, at every instance prior to the fruition of the prophecy, was, at best, the ‘numero uno ‘ lip service apostle. His figure and lip service attitude toward God reflects the lip service attitude of a great majority of Christians the world over. It was upon such kind of person that the church was built, a person whose love of God was based on his own human standards and not on the standards repeatedly imparted to him by the Son of Man, the Rabbi and his Master who is God. All Christian religions by the doctrines that they taught and propagate to their flock reflect the mindset and lip service attitude of the apostle Peter, the ‘rock’.God called the virgin from nazareth, ‘Woman’. We insist she is His ‘Mother’ when He never called her as such. Is that in keeping with or in fulfllment of the Scriptures?He came down in fulfllment of the Scriptures and abhorred tradition. Why can’t we follow?
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