Longer study: Peter- a good steward “Peter: a steward with the ‘special offer’ sign. Going deeper: “Stewards are both a ruler and servant; they exist to please their master.” Let us get this thing straight, right from the beginning; Peter is a good steward. But anyone who knows of his journey from fishing boat captain to fisher of men understands that Peter’s narrative is one of a flawed character turned good. Peter shifts from a non-listener, a big mouth, an emotionally intense individual to a gifted speaker, wise counsellor, and flexible leader of a new community that we know as the Christian church of Acts. How does he do it? How does he - and how can we - change from being the type of person who leads with their emotions to being a reflective and caring healer who listens with heart and head and who offers willing, serving hands? Here’s the short answer: through painful, arduous surgery performed by his master, Jesus. What type of surgery? It strikes me that it is Peter’s ‘offers’ that reveal the idol that had to be removed. So many times we read of Peter offering to help both Jesus and other men, and together they build up a picture of one who habitually strives to please people. Those offers might look like selfless acts of service, but in truth they are attempts to win favour and respect.

We see Peter in full people-pleasing action in Matthew 18. Peter hears Jesus’ teaching on forgiving a brother who sins against you, which includes the key principle of going to the person who has sinned against you and getting them to listen. In response to hearing this teaching, (verse 21) Peter asks, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Peter wants to know a number. He wants to know how to measure out his forgiveness. When will he have given out enough? When can he sit back and know that he has done enough? In Peter’s mind, seven servings of forgiveness must have seemed very generous. A fisherman by trade, Peter made his living by counting his catch exactly. Numbers mattered. Fish equalled money. So his question is natural for someone in his trade. Peter, like any trader, was negotiating. Jesus gives an outrageous answer: “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” And he follows it with the parable of the Unmerciful Servant. In it he paints a picture of a king who forgives the massive debt of a steward who falls to his knees and begs for mercy. That same day, the freshly-forgiven steward refuses to forgive a fellow servant a relatively small debt. The king hears of this unjust and unmerciful act and asks the steward: “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” The master sends the steward to jail, and Jesus closes the parable with a defining statement on how to forgive: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Verse 35) Jesus counters Peter’s limited offer of forgiveness by introducing the notion that forgiveness should be total and complete. Jesus desires the whole heart, not a portion. But Peter is controlled by the desire to please people first. He can’t totally give his heart until this desire is dealt with. Earlier in Matthew 17, Jesus has already begun to help Peter see the truth. It comes after Peter gives Jesus an unasked for ‘special offer’:

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

“Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”

“From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its

mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

Peter is asked by the temple tax collector: does your master pay tax? He responds, “he does”. But that was not true. Jesus immediately talks to him and asks Peter a mini parable-like question “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”

Following up on Peter’s answer, Jesus instructs Peter to go fishing, catch a fish containing a four drachma coin, and pay both his and Jesus’ tax. We know this because the temple tax was two drachmas a person. Peter’s amazing offer to Jesus: I am so loyal to and for you, I will lie for you.

Jesus’ desires are not to offend anyone, and to speak truth. He has Peter catch the fish and pay the tax. He wants Peter to go back to the tax collector in person. Jesus wants Peter to face the man he lied to and make the lie right. By paying, Peter admits that he lied for his master. This is a part of the healing heart surgery Jesus is performing on his servant. His heart begins a journey to please Jesus, not people.

So how does Peter go from being a bad to a good steward? Simple; he allows Jesus to correct him. Time and time again. “Stewards are both a ruler and servant; they exist to please their master.” Stewardship PO Box 99, Loughton, Essex IG10 3QJ t 020 8502 5600 e: enquiries@stewardship.org.uk w: www.stewardship.org.uk Stewardship is the operating name of Stewardship Services (UKET) Limited, a registered charity no. 234714, and a company limited by guarantee no. 90305, registered in England © Copyright Stewardship 2013