Easy English Stories
Jesus Teaches Peter
New Words
Arrest: To take someone away to prison or court.
Follow: To go where another person goes. To follow Jesus is to believe in Him
and do what He said to do.
Messiah: God's chosen person. Another name for Messiah is Christ.
Sword: A long knife used for fighting.
Worry: To think much about something that troubles you. To think about something
bad that might happen. To think much about what you should do when you do not
know what to do.
Jesus talked with his eleven closest followers soon after he came back from the dead. He talked with them many times. Once he came to them on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is a large lake in Israel. Jesus' friends were fishing, and Jesus called them. He asked them to come to land. He cooked bread and fish for them. One of those men had been unfaithful to Jesus. That man was Peter.
Peter jumped into the water when Jesus called. He swam ahead of the boat. He was excited. It is easy to think he might have also been afraid. Peter had not been faithful to Jesus. Peter was very afraid in the last hours before Jesus died. He said he did not even know Jesus.
Peter was one of Jesus' closest followers before Jesus died. He’d been very faithful. He knew Jesus came from God, and he wanted to follow him. Jesus had showed him the way to Heaven. He wasn't going to let what Jesus taught him go away. He would fight before he did that.
Peter got ready. He knew Jesus’ enemies wanted to kill Him. He knew they would make his death look like fair punishment. Peter knew it would not be fair. He also knew the man they wanted to kill was very important. Jesus was the Messiah. The Messiah was God's special man. The Messiah must rule as King someday. He must rule over Israel first, but he must also rule the whole world. Peter was a follower of the Messiah. He wanted to keep him safe. Peter started carrying a sword. Carrying a sword was like carrying a gun today.
Jesus told his friends that his enemies would kill him. He said he would come back from the dead after three days. Peter did not understand these words. They were different from what people said about the Messiah. These words were different from what he believed. Jesus' words did not make sense to him. He forgot about them.
Peter said he would be faithful to Jesus even if he had to die. Jesus did not believe what Peter said. Jesus told Peter he would lie and say he did not even know him. Peter did not believe these words.
Then, the sad night came. Jesus knew bad things were coming. He asked Peter to pray. Jesus went by himself and prayed for help. Peter went to sleep. Some of Jesus' enemies were from the government. These men came with soldiers. They came to arrest Jesus. Peter took out his sword and started to fight. Was he brave? He was very brave. He could not win if Jesus did not use God's power in the fight. Jesus used God's power, but he did not fight. Jesus used his power to heal the man Peter cut. Jesus also told Peter to put away his sword. Then, Peter’s Messiah let them arrest him.
It was easy for Peter to fight for a king. It was not easy to let bad men take away a holy man. Peter never thought bad men could beat the Son of God. Peter's world fell apart.
Jesus' enemies didn't like Peter either. He thought he was in danger too. He did what Jesus' other followers did. He ran away into the night. He wasn't as brave as he wanted to be. He was like a soldier running from a war.
Peter did better than many of his friends. Most of them hid. Peter came back to see what was happening. A young man named John came back too. John did something braver than Peter's sword fight. He went to the house where Jesus was in trouble. The the people who worked for the ruler knew John. They let him in. John came to that unfriendly place. He came because he loved Jesus. Peter did not know the workers. They let him in because he knew John.
Peter did not use his sword in this place. He was quiet. He didn't want anyone to know who he was. The rulers were not fair. It was not a safe place for Jesus' friends. He said he would die before he hid their friendship. Now Peter was hiding their friendship. He loved Jesus, but he also loved himself. He did not really want to give up everything for Jesus.
Hiding his friendship with Jesus was not easy. Some of the workers thought they knew who he was. “You’re one of Jesus' followers aren’t you?” A girl said.
Peter thought he was in danger. He lied. “I am not,” he said.
Another working girl said, “I saw you with him. You are one of his followers.”
Peter said, “I am not.”
Another man looked at Peter. The man Peter had cut was from this man's family. He said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” Other people said, “He was there. He even talks like he came from where Jesus lives.”
Peter used bad words. Then he said, “I do not know the man.”
It was very early in the morning. The rooster crowed, and Peter stopped talking. Jesus had said Peter would lie about their friendship, but he said more. Jesus said Peter would lie three times before the rooster crowed that morning.
Peter thought about what he had done. He felt very sad. The Son of God was about to be killed like a lawbreaker. Jesus' friend who promised to be faithful had been afraid of workers. He tried to fight earlier. Now he lied about knowing the Son of God. It was too much. Peter was a strong working man, but he began to cry.
The next three days were very, very bad. Jesus was killed in a way that hurt very much. A rich man buried his body. Peter and his other friends hid in a locked room. They were afraid the soldiers would come for them. It seemed like they had lost everything they believed in.
Then, Jesus rose from the dead. Peter saw the empty grave. Peter saw Jesus alive and healthy. Peter still had things to worry about. Jesus once said he would not take people who said they did not know him to Heaven. We don't know what Peter thought, but we can understand his problem. Jesus had done something bigger than Peter’s biggest dreams. Peter thought Jesus would be king on the earth. Now Jesus would be more than that. Jesus would be king in Heaven. Peter had found the kingdom of Heaven. He found it, but he had already said he was not part of it.
Peter was not like Judas. Judas killed himself, but Peter was still there. Was he sorry? We are sure he was. Was he as proud as he had been? We are sure he was not. But he was still with Jesus’ friends. He was with them when Jesus called them to shore. He was there when Jesus gave them bread and fish for breakfast.
That day was an important one. Jesus' friends ate with the first person to truly come back from death. It was also the day when Jesus and Peter talked about their friendship.
Peter didn’t have much to say. Jesus said, “Do you love me more than the others, Peter?” There were three words for love. Jesus asked if Peter had the best love for him. This was the kind of love parents have for children.
Peter said, “I love you as a friend.” This was good love, but it was not the best love.
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” He wanted Peter to help others to know and follow him.
Jesus asked Peter the same question again. He said, “Peter, do you love me?”
Peter said, “I love you as a friend.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
Jesus said, “Peter, do you love me as a friend?”
Peter said, “You know I love you as a friend.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
Peter was sad when Jesus said, “Do you love me as a friend?” Jesus loved him with the best love. Jesus loved him enough to die for him. He only loved Jesus enough to be his friend. Peter could see he needed help. Jesus still wanted Peter to follow him.
That is the Peter we see when we read the story of Jesus.
There is another Peter. He is the same man, but he has changed much. He was filled with the Spirit of God after Jesus went back to Heaven. Peter had lied about knowing Jesus. Now he became a leader of the Christian church. Peter lived in God's power. He did unusual things to show God's power. He spoke for all Jesus' followers. He spoke for Jesus himself. Peter stood up to the rulers he had been afraid of before. They put him in jail. An angel let him out. The rulers told him not to talk about Jesus. He told them he had to obey God instead of them.
Then he told everyone what Jesus will do for those who believe in him. He said Jesus will forgive their sins. He said Jesus will give them peace with God. Peter said Jesus will give them never-ending life as a free gift. Peter knew these things were true. He knew they were true because Jesus had done them for him.
Peter became a leader of the Christian Jews. He was the first to tell people who were not Jews about Jesus. God showed him what to write in two books of the Bible. Peter showed his faithfulness by dying for Jesus Christ.
Peter is remembered as a great Christian. He was a man of faith. He was brave. He was a leader. It did not seem like he would be these things when he lied about Jesus. It did not seem like he would be these things when he said he did not love Jesus enough. He felt great shame. It seemed like he had lost his last chance.
Peter had not lost his last chance. He had done wrong. He had given himself shame. He gave his sin and shame to Jesus. Jesus forgave him. He also gave him a whole new life.
***
Do you have shame? Did you start out to do what was right but did wrong instead? Did you plan to be good and then became bad? Did you try to live your own way? Did you find out you were not big enough to make your own way? While others do well spiritually do you wish you could hide? Did you dream big things for God but did not do them?
Do not give up if you have not done well. Jesus forgave Peter and gave him a new life. He wants to do the same for you. Ask him to help you today.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:9
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. –Romans 8:33-39
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