Discovering The Young Church – Chapter 1: Peter and the Disciple
Chapter 1. Peter and the Disciple
In our lifetime, we have learnt more about the home life and environment of the apostle Peter than we found out in the previous 1800 years. This is due mainly to the work of a German Franciscan order which, in 1894, purchased some synagogue ruins from their Bedouin owners. They believed that this could be on the site of the New Testament town of Capernaum.
In Jesus’ day Capernaum was a fishing and farming community stretching for half a kilometer along the Sea of Galilee. As it was on the main road by the border, it also had a customs house, which is where Matthew worked. 1
Many events recorded in the New Testament took place at Capernaum. After Jesus left Nazareth, he went to live here and began preaching. At Capernaum Jesus called the fishermen to be disciples and near here he called Matthew to follow him. His mother Mary and his younger brothers came to Capernaum from Nazareth to take him back because they believed he was beside himself. 2
Many miracles were performed here: Jesus told Peter to find a fish with a coin in its mouth to pay their taxes; and in the synagogue Jesus preached and healed a man with an unclean spirit. He healed the slave of a centurion, who helped build the synagogue in Capernaum; he healed the daughter of a ruler in the Capernaum synagogue; and he healed Peter’s mother-in-law who was ill. 3
It was in Capernaum that Jesus was teaching in a house so crowded with people that four men could not get their paralysed friend to Jesus, so they removed part of the roof of the house to let him down. The healing that followed spread the fame of Jesus widely in the area. Here, too, Jesus taught about the bread of life and interpreted the significance of his death. 4
Peter was a native of nearby Bethsaida, but later he shifted to Capernaum with his wife and her mother. 5
The pile of rubble that the Franciscans found was a graphic fulfillment of the fate that was prophesied would befall the towns that had witnessed the miracles of Jesus but did not believe in him. 6 As they began to excavate, they were particularly excited by the third to fourth century synagogue which they began to re-erect. The basilica measured seventeen by twenty-three metres and was three storeys high. Beside it was a courtyard.
The synagogue included about a dozen columns which have been re-erected, and in the mortar on which the stone pavement was laid was found some 2,920 early fourth century coins. In the courtyard more than 20,000 coins were discovered. Highly polished limestone blocks looking like marble and painted plaster decorated the walls. The door lintels, friezes, cornices and pillar capitals are delicately carved with representations of the Ark of the Covenant, the stars of David and Solomon, various trees, a menorah and many animals.
But the greatest discoveries were to occur in twelve remarkable seasons of excavation (1968-1977) conducted by Fathers Virgilio Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda.
Beneath the synagogue lies the foundation stone of an earlier synagogue built from black basalt from the first century AD. As there was only one synagogue in Capernaum, and as Jesus did preach there, this was probably the synagogue in which Jesus himself preached.
Then a more exciting discovery occurred on which the archeologists have been working since 1968. Just outside the synagogue doors were the foundations of a most unusual fifth century AD octagonal church, an eight-sided church built upon an earlier smaller house church, and beneath that a very ordinary fisherman’s house.
The archeologists found that the earlier church was built around two octagons, the inner one enclosing the foundations and the walls of the earlier house. A baptistry was built into the east side and the floor covered with beautiful mosaics including, at the centre, a peacock, one of the early church’s symbols of eternal life.
Archeologists once more very carefully removed the floor of the house of worship from the first century and they discovered the foundations of a fishing family’s house. It had been enlarged and the interior walls filled with rubble for a new floor that was laid upon it.
Whose house was this that had been uncovered? In the early fifth century, a Spanish pilgrim from Eteria wrote in her diary: ‘In Capernaum the house of the Prince of the Apostles (i.e. Peter) became a church. The walls, however, have remained unchanged to the present day.’ An Italian pilgrim reported the following in about AD 570: ’We came to Capernaum in the house of St Peter which is now a basilica.’ This small house, which used to be a house church, belonged to Peter.
When those archeologists lifted the floors very carefully in 1977, they found pieces of plaster that had been covered for the last eighteen hundred years! The plaster still had some of the writing which had been written on the walls. Over four centuries the walls had been plastered three times and each layer contains graffiti.
There are one hundred and thirty-one pieces of plaster graffiti written in four languages. Jesus’ name appears several times. He is called Christ, Lord, the Most High, God. Peter is mentioned twice and his monogram is written in both Latin and Greek. In another inscription Peter is called the ‘helper of Rome’. Some prayers are broken but still meaningful: ‘O Lord Jesus Christ, help…’, ‘Christ have mercy…’, and ‘O Lord Christ…’.
There is an interesting inscription from 3 Baruch 4:4-15: ‘The Lord says: “Bitterness will be turned into sweetness, malediction will be changed into benediction, and the fruit of the vineyard will become the blood of God”’, a reference to the Lord’s Supper which was celebrated in this house of Peter. Apart from inscriptions, there are pictures of fishing boats, crosses and a chi rho.
Not only is this the house where Peter lived: it is a place where Jesus walked. Matthew tells us that ‘Jesus went into Peter’s home and there he saw Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. Jesus touched her hand and the fever left her and she got up and began to wait upon him.’ 7
Mark’s Gospel has the following clue to the location of the house which has been confirmed by the archeologists: ‘Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue and went straight to the home of Peter.’ 8 The very word he uses means the home was hard by or adjacent. I timed the distance from the synagogue to the house and it takes less than one minute to walk. They came down the steps of the synagogue, walked across the road and past two houses and straight into the house of Peter.
The big fisherman
What do we know about the big fisherman? Simon, as he was known, and his brother Andrew were sons of Jonah the fisherman. (Imagine being a fisherman with a name like Jonah!) The two Jonah brothers, and John and James, sons of Zebedee, worked together in deepwater boats.
The Sea of Galilee saw two kinds of fishing: one in the shallows where the fishermen threw out a net and scooped up all the little fish, and the other in the deep where, using a series of boats like trawlers, they let down the nets to bring in a haul of fish. The most common kind are small sardines that are caught near the shore. One other fish is called today St Peter fish, which has a big mouth, large enough to fit a coin into, which might remind you of a New Testament story. 9 I cooked one of those great-tasting fish at dawn on a fire by the side of the lake and thought of Jesus cooking breakfast and calling the disciples to come and eat with him.
The call to discipleship
One day the brothers went to hear John the Baptist preaching. Peter, Andrew, James and John walked down to the north rim of the Dead Sea. It is a barren, flat area. The Jordan River provides the only touch of green in an otherwise sandy and stony countryside. It was 51 degrees Celsius on one day I remember. The water is extremely salty, almost oily to touch.
John the Baptist said, ‘Turn away from your sins and be baptized and God will forgive your sins.’ 10 He preached a gospel of repentance and baptized people in the river. The four fishermen were among the crowds of hundreds that were baptized. Jesus also came to John to be baptized. It is eighty miles on a map from Galilee, but it is closer to two hundred miles if you follow the river as it meanders along the bed of the Jordan valley. Jesus walked that distance in order to identify himself with mankind’s search for cleansing and dedication of God.
The next day, Andrew and another disciple of John the Baptist’s began following Jesus. After spending some hours with him, Andrew found his brother Simon and brought him to Jesus. John’s Gospel says, ‘Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Your name is Simon, but you will be called Cephas”. 11 The name ‘Cephas’ or ‘Peter’ means ‘rock’. Jesus gave him a new name and a new purpose. It was almost as if Jesus looked and saw Peter with two different eyes — Simon as he was now and Peter as one day he would be.
It is interesting the way that call came to Peter. The German philosopher Goethe once said, ‘If we just accept people as they are we only make them worse. But if we treat people as they ought to be, we help them to become what they are capable of becoming.’ When Jesus looks at us he does not see us in our sin, weakness and debilitation; he sees us as we may become. He saw Peter as a rock instead of sinking, seeping sands. For centuries to come what Peter said about Jesus was to be the basis upon which the church was going to be built.
There came a second time, however, when Jesus called Peter to follow him. A little while later, the men had gone back him to Galilee and were once more fishing. This time Jesus came walking along the shore of Galilee and, calling them to a deeper commitment, said: ‘ “Come with me and I will teach you to catch men.” At once they left their nets and went with him.’ 12
A short while later, Jesus was teaching along the lakeside when he noticed the brothers washing their nets. He spoke to the crowd from one of the moored boats and, after he had finished, discovered the brothers had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. Jesus suggested they push out into deeper water and let down their nets, to which Simon said, ‘Master, we have worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ Can you imaging telling a professional fisherman how to fish, especially if you were a carpenter? Can’t you imagine the response! But Peter let down his nets and they hauled their nets in containing a great shoal of fish. When he pulled the boat to the shore, Jesus said, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ 13
Peter suddenly has a call to a new discipleship and to a new job. No longer would he fish for fish, but he would fish for people for the kingdom of God. For the rest of his life that was to be his occupation. For Peter that was going to require from him the highest degree of commitment possible.
The highest commitment
That commitment was to come as Peter found out who Jesus was. Jesus took on his travels Peter and Andrew, James and John and, by now, a few other farmers, a tax collector from Capernaum called Matthew, Judas the only Judean in the band, and a very politically active young fellow called Simon.
Jesus took them to Caesarea Philippi, the northernmost boundary of Palestine, believed by the Greeks to be the birthplace of the god Pan who replaced Baal as a local god. It was also a centre of Roman power, with a magnificent temple to Caesar crowning the mount. Philip, son of Herod of Great, built his capital here and named it Caesarea Philippi in honour of the Emperor and himself.
There could not have been another place where so much political and religious diversity was so obvious. This was the place for the disciples to reflect on the person of Jesus. So we find Jesus saying to them,
‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’
‘Some say John the Baptist and others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet.’
‘What about you? Who do you say I am?’
Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’
Jesus responded: ‘Good for you, Simon, son of Jonah. For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven. And so I tell you Peter, you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will be able to overcome it.’ 14
There may occasionally come a time in your life when another person who has strength and character confronts you and you feel his life and strength coming into you. That happened to Peter that day at Caesarea Philippi. From the moment he accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, everything became different and his whole life changed, giving him new purpose and direction. He was now to fish for people. The big fisherman was born.
The self-confident failure
There were some aspects of the life of Peter that still had to be worked through. He was very self-confident and courageous. Every fisherman on Galilee had to be courageous. I have seen the sign ‘Beware of the westerly whips’ which is there today as a warning to fishermen. The early church loved to tell the story of Peter attempting to walk on water full of his own confidence, and sinking. They also told of how he drew his sword to defend Jesus from the Temple police. These are frequently painted on walls and tombs.
Why then did such a courageous man fail Christ? Jesus had predicted that his disciples would fail him. But Peter said, ‘Although the rest may deny you, I will never deny you.’ You can see his strength, his determination and self-confidence. ‘Lord I am ready to go to prison with you and to die with you!’
‘I tell you, Peter,’ Jesus said, ‘the cock will not crow tonight until you have said three times that you do not know me.’ 16
But why should he deny that he ever knew Christ? He was not under torture, or even threatened with death by soldiers. A young servant girl simply recognized him.
I think it was his bravery that led him to follow Jesus after that night in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was captured and taken to the house of the High Priest Caiaphas about 1.5 kilometres away. In the house of Caiaphas Jesus was judged. Then he was taken to Pilate’s hall and judged.
Peter followed at a distance. What takes a man furtively through the dark night streets of ancient Jerusalem until he at last stands in the courtyard of the house of the High Priest? I think he was there listening. I think he was there trying to find out what would happen to Jesus. He was waiting for some word from a servant or from a soldier. And while he was standing there listening, waiting, thinking — perhaps if he could rescue Jesus? — he was recognized. Then Peter denied he even knew Jesus.
I do not see that denial as cowardice to save his own skin, but as an act of bravery in trying to remain under cover. But Peter was no 007! When a servant-girl said, ‘He was with Jesus of Nazareth,’ Peter replied, ‘I swear that I don’t know the man!’ and when challenged again, he said, ‘I swear that I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I am not! I do not know the man!’ Just then a cock crowed and Peter remembered Jesus words and wept bitterly. 17
The courageous witness
The Saturday after the crucifixion, the disciples were in the upper room. The doors were locked out of fear of the Jews. The next morning when the sun rose, the Son rose. Mary at the tomb spoke to the risen Lord. An angel said, ‘Go now and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: “He is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him, just as the told you.” ’18
Jesus was saying to Peter, ‘I understand’. Whenever Jesus reproved Peter, he always said ‘Simon’ as if he were associating his behaviour with his old name, his old character. Whenever Jesus praised him, he called him ‘Peter’.
That day Jesus appeared to them in the Upper Room; then he appeared to two on the road to Emmaus; to ten of them in the upper room; to eleven when Thomas came back and joined them; and then to a crowd of five hundred people at the one time. Paul makes an interesting comment: he reveals that the Lord appeared first to Peter and then the other apostles! 19 How significant that would be.
The impact of the resurrection of Jesus needed to be put into a context they understood. Where better to think this through than at Capernaum where it had all begun and where they had been so close to Jesus?
So Peter said, ‘I am going fishing.’ They travelled to the north of the Sea of Galilee and rowed their boat out onto the lake. As the dawn came up the following Sunday morning, a figure in the dawn light called out to them in the same terms as they had heard three years before: ‘Young men, haven’t you caught anything? Throw your net out on the right side of the boat and you will catch some.’
As they struggled with a net now full of fish, John said, ‘It is the Lord!’ but Peter jumped into the water and waded ashore. There was fire on the shore and fish on the coals and the man said, ‘Lads, come and have some breakfast.’
After they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon do you love me more than these others do?’
‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered, ‘you know that I love you.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Take care of my lambs.’ A second time Jesus said to him, ‘Simon, do you love me?’
‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered, ‘you know that I love you.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Take care of my sheep.’ A third time Jesus said, ‘Simon, do you love me?’
He said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Take care of my sheep.’
With each fresh question, one of the denials was erased. Then Jesus spoke his last recorded words to Peter, which were also his very first recorded words on the same shore of Galilee, ‘Follow me!’ 19
For the next thirty years, Peter was to lead the most incredible life as he followed the way of Jesus and cared for the young church. His home in Capernaum became the centre for the Christian thrust throughout Galilee.
So effective was this witness round his home that when Jesus gave his last missionary command to the disciples on the day of the ascension, there was no need to include Galilee. He told them to witness to him ‘in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.’ 20 From the house of Peter, the witness was being made to Galilee.
For the next four hundred years it was to be the centre of Christian witness and worship in that area, and from there Peter extended his ministry to Jerusalem, Samaria, the Mediterranean coast, to Asia Minor, Greece and, finally, Rome. The largest church in the world in Rome marks the end of his Christian ministry, but the house church in Capernaum marks its beginning.
Endnotes:
1. Mark 2:14
2. Matthew 4:12-17; Mark1:16-20; Mark 2:13-17; Mark 3:20-35
3. Matthew 17:24-27; Mark 1:21-34; Luke 7:1-10
4. Mark 2:1-12; John 6:25-59
5. John 1:44; Matthew 8:14
6. Matthew 11:20-24
7. Matthew 8:5,14-17
8. Mark 1:29
9. Matthew 17:24-27
10. Mark 1:4
11. John 1:35-42
12. Mark 1:17-18
13. Luke 5:1-10
14. Matthew 16:13-19
15. Luke 22:31-34
16. Matthew 26:69-75
17. Mark 16:7
18. 1 Corinthians 15:5
19. John 21:7
20. Acts 1:8
For personal reading
Theme: The making of an apostle
Monday : Peter’s home (Matthew 8:5-17)
Tuesday : Peter meets Jesus (John 1:35-42)
Wednesday : Peter’s call (Luke 5:1-11)
Thursday : Peter’s confession (Matthew 16:13-28)
Friday : Peter’s promise (Luke 22:31-38)
Saturday : Peter’s denial (Luke 22:54-71)
Sunday : Peter’s commission (John 21:1-25)
For group reading
Topic: Tentative disciple
1. Simon the fisherman was chosen by Jesus to be a disciple. What qualities do you think Jesus saw in Peter that would have pleased him?
2. What do Peter’s responses to Jesus in Luke 22:31-38 show about him? What danger is there in these responses for us?
3. At Caesarea Philippi, Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. What changes do we see in Peter’s life after this confession?
4. What changes would you expect it to make in your life if you believed that Jesus was the Son of the living God, as Peter did?
5. Why did Jesus ask Peter three times, ‘Peter, do you love me’?