A Righteous Man Falls 7 Times…
John 21
Proverbs 24:17 is one of my life verses. It is a verse I go to whenever I have failed to be the follower that Christ calls me to be. It says “A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” When reading the account of Jesus’ restoration of Peter in John 21, that verse always echoes through my mind. Here we see Peter, after the events of the passion, returning to his former life. He had been the one who betrayed Jesus, denying him by the fire three times while Jesus was being beaten and accused in the Temple. He had run away from his Messiah, hiding for fear of his life. He had been so bold so many times, yet in the end, he betrayed Jesus.
And yet this isn’t the end of Peter’s story. Our God is a God of restoration, after all. So yes, Peter had returned to his former life, fishing for a living, no longer fishing for men. He had fallen. But Jesus pursued him. In an almost exact replay of Peter’s first calling, Jesus finds him fishing and tells him to cast his nets on the other side of the boat. When John saw that it was Jesus, the risen savior, standing on the shoreline, it was Peter who jumped into the water and swam to shore. Jesus asks him the same question two times, and then switches it up on the third. “Peter, do you agape me?” Peter assures Jesus that he not only “agape’s” Jesus, he “phileo’s” Jesus… a love word that Peter views as much stronger than just Agape. Each time Jesus responds with a command; tend to my flock, shepherd my lambs, feed my sheep. With these three assurances of love for the Master, Jesus has fully restored Peter and reminded him that he is not a fisherman anymore but a fisher of men.
He then tells Peter to “Follow Me,” which was a direct quote from Peter’s first calling. He tells Peter that he will be so bold for the Gospel that he will end up giving his life for it! And so he does.
God uses Peter to turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6)! It is Peter’s Pentecostal preaching that brings over 3,000 people into the Kingdom! It is Peter’s pastoring of the early church that blazes a path for the church today! And all this from a guy who denied Jesus three times and ran away like a coward.
Dear brothers and sisters, God is not done with you. It matters not how hard the fall, the proof of His love is in the rising. May you rise again, proclaim the love of your Master, and Follow Him!