The New Command That Christ Gave The 11 Remaining Disciples Essay

As Jesus and his disciples departed Jerusalem for the Garden of Gethsemane his heart was now aching with sorrow. It was at Gethsemane, which lies across the Kidron Valley that Jesus predicts that all his disciples, his closest friends, would deny him. This included Peter who would deny him, not once but three times. Although, his disciples, along with Peter, say that it will never happen, Jesus knows better.

Yet only in Matthew does Peter have a role in the story. Upon seeing Jesus on the water, he calls out, "'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water'"(Mt. 14.28). He almost succeeds, yet he suddenly gives in to fear and begins sinking. Jesus scolds him by saying, " 'You of little faith, why do you doubt?'"(14.31). This draws a strange picture of Peter. He no longer simply listens to Jesus, but tries to become actively involved in his teacher's lessons. This idea is again shown in Matthew 15.15. After the parable of the blind leading the blind, Peter asks, " "Explain this parable to us." Jesus replies with a rather impatient remark, but dives a little further into the meaning. He often comes to Jesus with questions throughout Matthew and these questions always ask for clear definitions of stories or truths about some spiritual detail. Many times Jesus snaps a little at him, but Peter obviously is not swayed by any impatience his teacher bestows. This seems to paint a closer relationship between the two men, where Peter is not afraid of Jesus and Jesus is not simply polite to Peter, as teachers tend to be. Jesus' obvious favoritism of Peter, shown in the transfiguration and throughout the gospel, leads one to believe that the two are indeed close friends with trust and mutual respect, which allows them to be freer with their words to one another. Friends tend to be less polite and more open with

voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice’. Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.”

“Simon Peter asked him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus replied, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may

came to him fulfilling his mission to spread christianity; he never gave up, day by day. Even

Many times we see those that are called to follow after Christ yet don’t answer that very call. In Matthew 4:21-22 we see that Peter answered this call, “And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” It is here in Matthew that we see one of the most important strenghts that Peter had, courage. Peter had the courage it took to get out of the boat and follow after Christ! There are many things we can say about Peter but one of the most important things is that he was courages and willing to take that first step. This courage of Peter highlights the first character strength that we will look at and that is that Peter was man of loyality.

We must not look back or turn back longing after the things that are not of God; because it will only lead to destruction! We must not miss the boat that’s sailing by because we were standing on the shore not where we needed to be in order to catch it as it began to set sail! If we are not where we need to be in God when God does return, we will simply be left behind and lost for all eternity from God! We all breathe separately and we all will be judged separately! Therefore, we can’t take anyone along with us to heaven. We must seek and serve God for ourselves to have personal salvation with the Lord. We must have a made up mind to be with the Lord because full devotion and full determination is what it takes to stay with the Lord. Therefore, we don’t have all the time in the World to make up our mind to follow after

He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same

The New Testament is characterized by the existence of imperative Biblical figures, with the likes of Jesus Christ, the Apostles, among many others. Peter was among Jesus’ first disciples. From his turning point, as manifested in the book of John 21, to his progress as a dedicated leader as manifested in Acts, to his final emergence as a co-elder as manifested in the Epistles of 1st and 2nd Peter, Peter exhibited traits of a transformational and charismatic biblical figure (Neil & William 409).

•“I’ve come from above to rescue those below and call them to higher things, just as the One who sent me to you commanded me.” (Infancy Gospel of Thomas 8:2)

When Jesus first called him to be his disciple, he dropped all his fishing gear and followed Jesus, without a doubt. What makes Saint Peter stand out is the fact that he crucified himself of shame and regret because he denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus had predicted. Peter is considered by the Roman Catholic church to be the first of the unbroken chain of popes. He is also known as the leader of the twelve disciples.

In both the Old and New Testatments on multiple occasions individuals were called to a major crossroad. Two examples, Abram was called by God to go without knowing where he was going Gen. 12:1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. As Jesus was walking by the sea He called two brothers saying "...Follow me. And I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him." Matthew 4:18-20. In both cases those being called did not know what was ahead, but in faith they followed and their lives were never the same. It is my turn to go and to follow knowing that the Lord is with me and is my Guide. I too now step out in faith..."Relocation dead

This five-step process begins by creating a definition for what it is we are addressing as disciples. It’s important to ask the question “what is…” because it helps us distinguish from other topics that are closely related. For example, if we are talking about what discipline is, we would want to distinguish if we are speaking about the punishment of a child, the act of training in a habitual manner, or a branch of knowledge. Our world is a very complicated, intricate, and interwoven place. Though people often want things to be straightforward, they’re not always that simple. It’s important to define exactly what we’re talking about in order to understand the topic as clearly as possible.

Saint Peter the Apostle, original name Simeon, or Simon (died AD 64, Rome), disciple of Jesus Christ, recognized in the early church as the leader of the disciples and the Roman Catholic Church as the first of its unbroken succession of popes. Peter a fisherman, was called to be a disciple of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. He received from Jesus an Aramaic appellation Cephas which means “Rock.” This was translated into Greek as Petros (from the Greek Petra, “rock”) and became a Latin Petrus and the English Peter. Jesus told Peter he was the Rock upon whom the Christian Church would be built. Throughout the public life of Jesus, Peter is represented in the Gospel as the Spokesman and principal member of Jesus’ followers. He is the first named in the entire list given of these followers and was present with a privilege at few special occasions, example, the daughter of Jairus brought back to life by Jesus. He was also the first to see Jesus after his resurrection from the dead.

When Jesus is preaching He always says “Come, walk with me”. For us, it is sure that Jesus is with us in our everyday lives. We are sure of this because of our faith to Him. Therefore Jesus wants us to realize that if we follow him with all our hearts we are sure that we are in his protection but if you are away from Him, He is still with you that is because sometimes if we are making sins we come to realize the things that we’ve done wrong.