{"id":2447,"date":"2023-03-16T09:04:06","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T13:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2447"},"modified":"2023-03-16T09:04:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T13:04:06","slug":"mark-316","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/16\/mark-316\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark 3:16"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.

Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th<\/sup> verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books.\u00a0<\/em>
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\u201cThese are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter).\u201d (Mark 3:16)
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When it came to living as a disciple of Jesus, Peter was the embodiment of the title of this year\u2019s Oscar winner for Best Picture: \u00a0Everything Everywhere All at Once<\/em>. \u00a0

Peter seems to show up everywhere on the pages of the gospels, and he somehow gets involved in everything.\u00a0 His name is mentioned a remarkable 120 times.\u00a0 John, by contrast, rates just 20 mentions (the same number as Judas Iscariot).\u00a0 Whenever one of the gospel writers lists the names of Jesus\u2019 12 apprentices, Peter always comes first.\u00a0 So it is with Mark 3:16.\u00a0
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From one perspective, he gets everything right.\u00a0 No one serves Jesus as enthusiastically as Peter.\u00a0
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He is the first person to announce his conviction that Jesus is the Messiah, God\u2019s own Son.\u00a0 Jesus famously declares him to be the Rock on which he would build his church, even nicknaming him petros<\/em> (or \u201cRocky\u201d).\u00a0 He assumes a key leadership role during the earliest years of the Christian movement, as documented in the book of Acts.\u00a0 He\u2019s the first apostle to share the Good News with Gentiles.\u00a0
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When no one else has the courage to exit their storm-tossed boat on the Sea of Galilee and join Jesus walking on the water, Peter is gung-ho.\u00a0 He is courageous.\u00a0 And resilient. \u00a0When other wannabe disciples give up on Jesus, offended that he seems to be asking his followers to sign away their very lives, Peter doesn\u2019t flinch.\u00a0 \u201cTo whom else can we go, Lord?\u00a0 You alone have the words of eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
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From another perspective, however, he gets everything wrong.\u00a0 No one fails Jesus as spectacularly as Peter.
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He talks too much.\u00a0 He makes crazy promises he cannot keep.\u00a0 There are moments when he comes across as bungling, confused, and racked by fear.\u00a0 When he tries to talk Jesus out of going to the cross \u2013 \u201cThis should never happen to you, Lord!\u201d \u2013 Jesus calls him Satan, which is quite a demotion from the Rock.\u00a0
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When his Lord needs him the most, Peter delivers the least.\u00a0
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He falls asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asks him to pray.\u00a0 He brandishes a sword at Jesus\u2019 foes, even though the Lord has already resolved to surrender.\u00a0 After declaring three times that he has never even met the One to whom he has pledged his life, Peter runs like a scared rabbit and dissolves into tears.\u00a0
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At first he disbelieves the reports of the empty tomb.\u00a0 When he finally has the chance to sit once again in the presence of Jesus, he\u2019s preoccupied with what God has in store for his friend John.\u00a0 \u201cWhat about him, Lord?\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s none of your business, Peter,\u201d says Jesus.\u00a0 \u201cYour job is to follow me.\u201d
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And that, in the end, is why Peter is so endearing.\u00a0
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He has just one job.\u00a0 He\u2019s called to follow Jesus. \u00a0But even when he makes a mess of things, Jesus always welcomes him back.
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We have just one job, too.\u00a0
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Like Peter, we have spoken when we should have remained silent and clammed up when it was time to speak. \u00a0We have nodded off when we really needed to pray.\u00a0 We have told God how to run the universe and run away when things got a bit too scary.\u00a0
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But Jesus always welcomes us back.\u00a0
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We don\u2019t have to do everything everywhere all at once.
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All we have to do is keep our eyes on the One that Peter learned would always keep his promises.
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If you\u2019d like to dive a little deeper into Peter\u2019s life, check out the 21 Morning Reflections that were part of last year\u2019s Lenten series (March 28 through April 22, 2022), which are <\/strong><\/em>available in the archives.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here. Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThese are the twelve he appointed:… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[571],"class_list":["post-2447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-316-verses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2449,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447\/revisions\/2449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}