If you say so…

Recently, a women’s Bible study group I attend was looking at the character of Peter, and it struck me that we often give poor old Peter a bit of a hard time.  Sure, he was rather hot headed and impetuous, prone to speaking before thinking, but actually, if you take a look at the life of Peter in the gospel, there is another dominant theme that runs all the way through.  The words “if you say so, Lord…”

Matthew and Mark simply record that when Jesus said to Simon Peter, a fisherman at the side of the Sea of Galilee, “Follow me”, he left his nets and followed.  Luke adds a little more flesh to the bones of this story, telling us how Jesus used Peter’s boat as a mobile pulpit in order to get a little breathing space from the crowds who were gathering to listen.  When he had finished preaching, he told Peter to put out into deep water and let the boats down.  Peter, weary from a night’s fishing with nothing to show for it, points out that this seems a little pointless but adds: “But because you say so, I will….”  The nets are filled and Peter, convinced and convicted, leaves his livelihood and follows Jesus.

That response of “because you say so, I will…” follows through the rest of Peter’s life.  All twelve of the disciples saw Jesus walking across the water to them, but Peter was the one who said “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you…”  and then got out of the boat.  We often focus on how he then took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink, but it’s worth noting that although his faith failed him once out on the water, he was the only one to say “if you say so, I will…” in that way.

Yes, Peter went on to deny Jesus (the rest of the disciples didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory either), but was repentant and then restored by Jesus before going on to be a bold, Holy Spirit filled leader of the early church.

And in Acts 10, we see yet again this spirit of obedience, in spite of what his own thoughts and views on the subject might be, when God gives him a vision of all kinds of animals and tells him that God has made them clean.  The Spirit then tells Peter to go with the Gentiles who have come to ask him to go to the house of another Gentile.  This was a huge thing for a Jew like Peter.  Hanging out with Gentiles was a massive no-go and would take him well outside of his cultural and religious comfort zone, and leave him open to questions and criticism from other Jewish believers.  Yet he invites them in to spend the night and then goes with them to the house of Cornelius, and so the gospel spreads to Gentiles also.  In Acts 10:28-29 we find him saying “God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.  So… I came without raising any objection.”

Obedience without objection was the quality Jesus had seen in Peter right from the very beginning.  At that early encounter, Peter questioned slightly but obeyed without objection.  When getting out of the boat, Peter asked merely for the call, then obeyed.  And here, yet again, when asked to do something which seemed, quite frankly, insane, he hears the voice of God and obeys.

I have heard it said that Peter’s readiness to speak out was one of the leadership qualities that God shaped and used in him to help build the early church.  But of even greater importance was Peter’s attitude of “because you say so, I will…”  Courage without obedience is merely misplaced bravado.  What was it Jesus truly treasured in Peter?  I think it was the love he had for Jesus and his unquestioning obedience.  Sure, he messed up big time, but he never lost that willingness to take a bold step of obedience in faith, no matter how crazy it looked…

• leave my job, livelihood and home? If you say so, Lord.
• get out of the boat and attempt the humanly impossible? If you say so, and in your power, Lord.
• abandon my cultural comfort zone, possibly facing criticism from those within my own close circle?  If you say so, and with your guidance, Lord.