For and Against

At one point in the Gospels, the disciples come and tell Jesus that they found a man who was casting out demons and doing all kinds of amazing things in His name, but that they stopped him because he was not one of the disciples. That is, he wasn't in the inner circle. And Jesus told them, "Don't stop him. Whoever is not against us is for us." (Mark 9, Luke 9)

This would seem to say that Christ was only concerned about those who were vocally or actively against what He was doing, that anyone who was not staunchly opposed to His work was no problem for it.

But then, at another point in the Gospels, the Pharisees begin talking about how Jesus must get His power from the Devil himself, casting out demons by the power of the head demon. When Jesus responds to them, He says, in part, "Whoever is not with me is against me." (Matthew 12)

And all of a sudden...what?

If you are not against Him, you are for Him, but if you are not with Him, you are against Him. That gets a little thick to wade through.

What we cannot say to ease the tension between these two statements is that they were spoken in two very different contexts and so, each is true according only to the situation in which Jesus spoke it. We cannot say this because it introduces both a circumstantial element to God's nature and a contradictory element to His character, neither of which can be true if God is, in fact, God. That is, the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever cannot be changed by circumstances and cannot contradict Himself. 

Yet we have to say something, don't we? 

These statements, when taken in their respective contexts, are actually increasing depths of the same statement, not contradictory ideas. They build on one another and draw us closer to the Christ, but only if we see what was actually going on here.

In the first statement, a man is using Jesus's name to cast out demons, even though he is not part of the formal discipleship. In other words, the disciples don't recognize him. Who even is this guy? But Jesus says not to stop him because whoever is not against Him is for Him. 

What's really happening here is that Jesus recognizes that the man is using the name of Christ to do a rather Christ-ly work. He is not misusing the name of Jesus, and so every demon that he casts out is a call for the people to come to know more about the name by which the demons were cast out. What this man is doing is creating a pathway to Christ, not one that leads away from Him, and this can only be a good thing. This can only be done for Him, for it leads to and not away. Thus, even though the man is not one of the disciples, he is not against them and he is not working against them. He is actually working for them, even if he doesn't know it. Persons will come to Christ because of this man.

And yet, there is another very real truth at play, as well, and that is reflected in the second statement of Jesus - whoever is not with me is against me. Anything that does not come from an intimate fellowship/relationship with Christ is something dramatically lesser. Only what comes directly from Him is the fullness of itself; everything else is less. 

So if we take this back into the context of the man who was casting out demons, Jesus recognizes that although this man's actions may help to pave the road toward Christ, not everyone will walk it. Some will be satisfied with just hearing the name, with just having the demons cast out, with witnessing the man and not the Man of God. And in this sense, the man who is for Him because he is not against Him is also against Him because he is not with Him. 

Put it into the context of the Pharisees, who are the real target of Jesus's words (rather than the devil). 

To their own minds, they are doing nothing wrong by not being Jesus believers. They are trying to keep the religion pure, trying to keep the people on track, trying to keep the Jews faithful. They are doing all of the "right" things, and in their minds, this makes them friends of the Kingdom of God, not enemies of it. But they are not "with" Jesus. Not by a long stretch. And Jesus here says plainly, "If you are not with me, you are against me." In other words, if you are not on board with the Messiah, you are against the Kingdom of God, the very thing the Pharisees believed they were most "for." This is the second statement. 

But the truth goes even deeper, back to the first statement. They are clearly against Him. They are blazing a path away from Him and making it really easy for others to follow them down that road. At every turn, they question and refute what He tries to teach. There is no universe in which you could say they are for Him, for they are clearly against Him. 

These two passages, though they seem contradictory to us, are nothing of the sort. They are complementary. They build on one another, no matter which side of them you fall on. Sometimes, we are not against Jesus and may even be cutting a path toward Him, but if the world is content to stop short and never truly encounter Him, we are fundamentally against what He is doing. If we never actually take the world down that road, they never meet Him, and we have done detriment to His work. Though we were for Him, we were against Him. 

Or maybe we think we've got it right and don't need Jesus. Maybe we aren't Christian, but we still have an interest in "holy" things. We claim that you have God without the Christ or even that you can have the Christ without the Cross, and in this, we are not with Him. It doesn't take long from here before we are blazing a path away from Jesus and inviting others to follow. Because we are not with Him, we cannot be for Him. We are against Him, through and through. 

Simon the Magician

Thus far, we have spent the week looking at Simon Peter - the bold, impetuous, speak-without-thinking, tender-hearted disciple-turned-apostle born Simon but named Peter by Jesus Himself. But as we saw on Monday, there were a number of Simons in the New Testament, one of whom is Simon the Magician. So this is not a story about Simon Peter, per se.

Except, of course, that it is.

The story comes in Acts 8. Stephen has just been executed, and the disciples fanned out once more throughout the region to preach the good news about Jesus. Philip found himself in a region of Samaria - yes, that Samaria. While there, he not only spoke the good news, but lived it. Many miracles were done, demons were cast out, people were healed, and even the Samarians came to Christ. Even Simon the Magician came to Christ. 

Sort of.

Prior to Philip's arrival, Simon had been the guy in town. The magic that he worked by his own hand had the people rapt. They were in awe of his abilities. He was the one who was doing all of the unbelievable things. He was the one who could get it done. Think about the magicians in Pharaoh's court, way back in Egypt before the Exodus. Whatever God had done through Moses and Aaron, for awhile the magicians were able to also do through their magic. That's the kind of illusion that we're talking about with Simon in Samaria. 

Because of Philip's preaching, teaching, healing, and loving, a large number of Samaritans were coming to believe in more than magic. They were starting to understand the power of the resurrected Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. And when the disciples heard about the success that Philip was having, they sent Peter and John to Samaria to join in the prayers over the new believers. 

When they arrived from Jerusalem, Simon the Magician knew that this was his moment. He boldly came to Peter and John (yes, "Peter" - this is extremely important) and offered them money if they would give him the gift of the Holy Spirit that enabled them to do all the things he was doing by his own hand...and more. In other words, he wanted God to increase his capacity for magic, for the sole purpose that Simon could do even more amazing things among the people of Samaria and wrap them tighter around his own finger. 

It is Peter who answers him. Some translations say that Peter rebuked him. 

Read that again - at the outset of ministry, as amazing things are starting to happen through the Holy Spirit, when God's Word starts to come alive outside of Jerusalem and the church, the very church that Christ said He would build through Peter, starts to take root...Peter rebukes Simon. 

This is no accident. In fact, it's exactly the kind of thing that God would do. Isn't it? It's beautiful.

It's because Simon has in his head all these grand ideas about himself, but Peter has in heart all these grand ideas about God. And this is the moment, the turning point in all of it when Peter, too, could think of his own greatness. When Peter could ponder what "he" was doing throughout the region. When Peter could start to witness success in the fledgling church and maybe even think that he had something to do with it. But that would be such a Simon thing to do, wouldn't it? That would be the kind of impetuous, speak-without-thinking, turned-inward-to-his-own-heart Simon thing to do, and God loves Simon, but He does not want to lose Peter.

So He calls him to Samaria, where it is Philip who has done the work and Simon who wants the glory and here, Peter speaks.

Back to Basics

So how does it come to be that Jesus, who boldly proclaimed over Simon a new name, Peter, and declared him to be the foundation of the church and James, who heard this proclamation and called the man Peter along with the rest of the disciples, at times revert him to his former name, to calling him Simon in some of the most tender and powerful moments of the age of the resurrection, the very age when the church ought to be being established - the very thing Peter was so named for?

Quite simply, these moments did not require a Peter; they required a Simon. They were not about building the foundations of the church, but about getting at the heart of a man. Simon had to know who he was before he could ever be who he would be. 

Sometimes, he had to be reminded of that.

Take the tender scene on the seashore, when Jesus calls the disciple to Himself and asks, three times, Simon, do you love me? He could have called the disciple Peter here. After all, He's been resurrected and the church age has come; now is the time to start building the church. 

But Peter is distraught, distressed with himself. He has just done the thing that he swore he wouldn't do - denied his Lord and abandoned him, turned his back and tucked his tail the way all the other disciples had. They were, as Jesus predicted, scattered like sheep without a shepherd, and Simon here is feeling deeply his own sheepishness. He certainly doesn't feel like a Peter. He is no rock. He is not a worthy man to build the church...or anything else. 

That's why Jesus calls him Simon. Strip away all that. Take away all the expectation, the heavy burden of becoming the one that Jesus has named you to be. Hearken back to that first call, to that day just three years before when Jesus had not called a Peter, but a Simon. Simon.... All of a sudden, his head picks up. He looks, with tears in his eyes, at the Rabbi, the Savior whose call in this moment sounds just like that first one. None of the expectation matters right now - it's one Man to another. Simon....

It gives him the opportunity to go back and get his own firm footing again, to remember who he is. Who he has always been. He is the same Simon who left his boat three years ago to follow this man. The same Simon who, without hesitation, declared, "You are the Messiah." The same Simon who had traveled around, cast out demons, seen miracles, climbed the mountain and witnessed the Transfiguration. He might, one day, by the mercy of God, be the Peter he has been named to be, but he never stops being Simon. On the seashore, Jesus lets him touch that. 

The same kind of distinction is being made in Acts when James refers to him as Simon, not Peter. He is the apostle, yes, who is building the church, but this debate stems from what happens when someone believes. What is the sign that a true witness is being made? And it is not Peter who is the witness, but Simon. Peter is the proclaimer; Simon has always been the disciple. 

So when he stands in the assembly and talks about all of the things that he's seen, the word of God given to him, the miracles he's witnessed, and his confidence in the acts of the Holy Spirit, he's not being Peter. He's not building the church. He's Simon, the witness, the testifier. He is the one who was with the twelve, the one who was with Jesus Himself. He's not the apostle; he is the disciple, and James uses his name, Simon, to honor that. 

Neither of these makes him any less Peter. In fact, it's quite the opposite. The more Simon this man is, the more Peter he is. He could not be the latter if he ever came out of touch with the former. Jesus may have called him Peter, but neither of them (and none of us) should ever forget that He called Simon. These moments help him to remember that, they touch on something at the very core of who he is that, regardless of personal failure or ministerial success, hasn't changed. 

He is Simon...Peter.

Simon Peter

Somewhere in the middle of the course of His ministry, Jesus changes the name of the Simon that we are talking about. No longer will this disciple be called Simon, but he will be called Peter ("rock"). Jesus says, "On this rock, I will build my church." And thus, the Gospel writers refer to him as Peter.

But not everyone does.

You have to pay close attention because it's so easy for us to read right past, knowing that Simon is Peter is Simon and so not thinking another thing of it. But at some very key moments, even after it's clear that Jesus intends for Simon to become Peter, the name Simon comes up once more. And these are not only after Jesus intends for Simon to become Peter, but even after the church age has come - after the resurrection of Jesus.

For example, when Jesus predicts that the disciple will deny Him three times before the rooster crows, He is speaking, as recorded in our Gospels, to Peter. It is Peter who will, and does, deny Jesus. But John tells us that when Jesus arose and appeared to the disciples on the shore, He did not speak to Peter, but to Simon. 

Simon...do you love me more than these? Simon...do you love me? Simon...do you love me?

Three times, Jesus looks into the eyes of the devastated disciple whom He has named Peter, for on this rock..., and He calls Him Simon. 

And then again in Acts 15, well into the ministry of Simon Peter who is the rock on which God will build - and is building - His church, we see his name once more. There has been a dispute about circumcision in the Gentile churches, a heated debate that has caused not only a lot of tension, but a lot of heartache. Paul and Barnabas have returned to Jerusalem, to the council of believers, to settle the matter and have come, apparently, to the disciples themselves, for many of them are present. 

Peter, we are told, stands and testifies, being himself an expert in the missions work of building the early church and having gone to both the Jews and the Gentiles and seen firsthand what God is doing among them. After he has finished speaking, James stands up and takes the floor. And the first thing he does is refer to Peter as Simon, saying, essentially, Simon is right. 

So Simon has become Peter has become Simon, who is Simon Peter. And it's not even that it is Simon Peter who cannot seem to shake off the old to become the new; it is Jesus Himself and his fellow disciples who continue to know him by both names, who continue to call him by both names, who continue to speak to him and of him by both names. 

It's not easy being Simon. Or Peter. Or whoever. 

Stay tuned....

Simon

While certainly, Jesus takes center stage in the Gospel stories, there is a man who always seems to be rather close at hand. He is one of the first disciples whose calling we are told of, one of the first disciples (often) to speak, the first disciple to enter the empty tomb in search of His master. 

He is Simon. 

Kind of.

The first thing we have to do when we think about Simon the disciple is to separate him from other individuals named Simon in the Gospels and in the New Testament. And there are a fairly good number of them. It seems that Simon was quite the popular name around that time. 

Well, it might be easy, you say. We shall just call him Simon the Disciple. That way, we distinguish him from other Simons we might know or read about. But very quickly, this does not work, for there were two Simons among the twelve - the Simon currently in question and Simon the Zealot, with whom we should never confuse our current Simon. 

There's also Simon the Leper, as we saw briefly last week. Simon the Leper is the man who hosted Jesus and a number of others at his house in Bethany near Jerusalem just days before Jesus sacrificed Himself on the Cross. It was at Simon the Leper's house that the sinful woman poured out the expensive bottle of nard as an offering/an anointing. We should not confuse this Simon with our current Simon, either.

And then when we get to the book of Acts, we see yet another Simon, the Magician. He is known for his amazing deeds and acts of wonder, and he comes seeking the gift of the Holy Spirit - not because he thinks it will be of life-giving benefit to him but because he is fairly sure it will improve his magic ten-fold, if not more. Again, we should not confuse this Simon with our current Simon (although we will look at this Simon later this week, for it is quite an interesting story and just the sort of thing that God would do). 

So our first challenge when we say that we are going to look at Simon is to answer the question: which Simon? Who is he, and how do we set him apart from all the other Simons in the story? 

The Simon we're talking about is impetuous. He speaks, or acts, often without thinking about it first, and this causes some very interesting ideas to come out of his mouth. For example, when witness to the Transfiguration, Simon is the one who pops off and says, "This is great! Since we're here, we can build little shelters for each of you!" It makes no sense; why would three holy spirits need shelters on a mountain, and just how long does Simon plan to be on that mountain, anyway? In the blink of an eye, what was is gone, and there is just Simon and the echo of impetuousness left. 

That echo of impetuousness follows him. He just can't let things sit; he always has to answer, always has to speak. In the courtyard at the trial of Jesus, as Jesus remains silent before His accusers, Simon speaks quickly to his. "No, I don't know the man. I'm telling you I don't know Him. Would you give it up already? I do not know the guy." Unable to keep quiet, he denies the Lord three times, just as predicted.

It is Simon (we think) who cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus is arrested. He's the one who draws the sword and starts swinging it, even though Jesus Himself doesn't seem all that concerned. 

And when Jesus asks the disciples who they say He is, it is Simon who says, "You are the Messiah" without missing a beat. And when Jesus asks His disciples if they, too, would like to desert Him, it is Simon who quickly says, "To whom else would we go?" 

It is Simon who plows into the empty grave while John merely peeks around the corner to see what might possibly be going on in there, and when the disciples are fishing in the days after the resurrection and discover that Jesus is the one on the shore calling out to them, Simon jumps into the water to swim toward Him. 

Over and over and over again, this Simon we're looking at is one who speaks, and acts, quickly, without a whole lot of thought to it. He is a man driven by his passions, reckless to his heart. He is all-in, wholly devoted to what he's got going on. 

And there's something endearing about him, isn't there? There's something about Simon that we deeply love, not the least of which is that we love the way that Simon loves Jesus.

But there's a lot more to this man than we often consider, a lot more woven into his story than we often read. It takes the patience to sit down and listen not for his mouth, which is so easy to hear, but for his heart, which is not unlike our own. And the way that Jesus handles Simon's heart, the way that God writes his story, is breathtakingly beautiful.

Stay tuned...