PETER AND FIRE

“When they had kindled a fire ... Peter sat among them” (Luke 22:55).

If we take this passage of Scripture and add it to Acts, chapter 2, we will discover three interesting vignettes in the life of Peter.

The first is that of Peter near the fire. When Jesus was arrested and brought into the high priest’s house, Peter followed at a distance and entered into the courtyard. In so doing he exhibited both courage and fear. Evidently he was apprehensive of being found too close to Jesus and His accusers, so he stayed back with the fringe of the crowd and followed at a distance. But at the same time he had enough courage to enter into the courtyard. The rest of the disciples had all fled and taken refuge in their homes. Some of the servants of the household had built a fire in the middle of the courtyard, so Peter joined them and warmed himself by the fire.

The second picture is that of Peter in the fire. He soon got into trouble. Just a few hours earlier he had boasted before his Master that he was ready to follow Him to prison and even to death. Then when a maid and two other servants confronted him and said, “You are one of Jesus’ followers,” Peter vehemently denied the charge three times. Next, we are told, “the Lord turned and looked at Peter.” Something in that look must have pierced that very soul of Peter, for he immediately “went out and wept bitterly.”

In the third vignette, we see Peter on fire. After Christ’s resurrection, Peter was reconciled to his Lord, and was later present in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost, no longer the fearful Peter. Now, filled with the Holy Spirit, he boldly proclaimed Christ to the multitudes in Jerusalem. He became the interpreter of Pentecost to the new Christians in Samaria and to the household of Cornelius. Today we remember Peter not so much for his denial as for his faithful leadership in the early church.

J.T. Seamonds

Dear Lord, take up the tangled strands, where we have wrought in vain; that by the skill of Thy dear Hands some beauty may remain. Where broken vows in fragments lie, the toll of wasted years, do make us whole again, we cry, and give a song for tears. Take all the failures, each mistake of our poor, human ways; Then, Savior, for Your own dear sake, make them show forth Your Praise! Transformed! By grace divine! The Glory shall be Thine! To Thy most holy will, O Lord, we now our all resign. F. G. Burroughs