Peter: What Can We Learn From Peter's Life?Sample

"We Cannot But Speak"

In today’s reading, Peter experienced his first real threat as an apostle of Jesus. The religious leaders in the temple were not impressed that he was spreading the idea that Jesus had risen from the dead. They had Peter and John arrested. This was what Peter had tried to avoid when Jesus was arrested. He had fled the scene, and later denied Jesus to avoid getting himself in trouble with the authorities.

When Peter and John were brought before the religious leaders the day after their arrest, they found themselves in front of Caiaphas, the high priest, and his father-in-law Annas who had been high priest before him, among temple leaders. These were the same men before whom Jesus had been tried. When it happened to Jesus, Peter stood in the shadows. Now, he stood firm in front of the very men who had condemned the Messiah.

In verse 8, the author of Acts points out that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit as he gave a confident message to these powerful men. It is so easy to see how Peter was changed, directed, and influenced by the power of the Spirit. His confidence had a firm foundation and his faith was mature. The religious leaders certainly recognized the impact, if not the Source, of Peter and John’s boldness. These former fishermen were not extraordinary by worldly standards. They were not wealthy or highly educated or of the upper class, and yet they spoke with such authority and knowledge. They were not cowed in the presence of the highest Jewish religious authority in Israel, as most would have been. These leaders even recognized them as having been with Jesus during his time on earth - the very thing Peter had denied so strenuously during Jesus’s trial. This time, though, he wasn’t afraid to be known as someone who had been with Jesus and been changed by Him.

Peter and John refused to stop teaching in Jesus’s name, no matter what the consequences would be. They had experienced their first arrest and their first confrontation with the Jewish authorities. It would not be their last, but they simply could not keep quiet about what they had seen and heard.

Reflection:

Would people recognize you as having been with Jesus?

How would you like the Holy Spirit to impact your faith and character, as He impacted Peter’s?