Mark 16 opens with the women going to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with spices. It was going to be one last act of service to the Lord they loved. N. T. Wright observed, “They were not going in order to witness Jesus’ resurrection. They had no idea any such thing was even thinkable. They were going to complete the primary burial. …They got the shock of their lives.”
“…You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
He has risen; he is not here.” — Mark 16:6
Peter was the main character in Mark’s Gospel (other than Jesus!). His given name was Simon, but Jesus renamed him Peter, which means “Rock”. Outspoken, impulsive, open, a man of action, Peter was an inner circle friend of Jesus. He confessed his faith in Jesus, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29).
Peter proclaimed loyalty when Jesus revealed that they would all fall away. Mark 14:29-31 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you…” Jesus knew the coming denials but loved Peter anyway. Jesus was crucified and buried. Peter was absent, buried in shame and remorse. But that was not the end of Peter’s story.
Peter doesn’t appear again in Mark’s Gospel until almost the very end. At the empty tomb, an angel tells the women, “Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:7-8). William Barclay wrote, “How that message must have cheered Peter’s heart when he received it! He must have been tortured with the memory of his disloyalty, and suddenly, there came a special message for him. Jesus was far more eager to comfort the penitent sinner than to punish the sin.”
Tell Peter…those words open up the door to sinners and failures, people who fall short and can’t get it together, all the ragamuffins – all of us. Jesus doesn’t reject or leave us behind – He invites us to continue on along with him.
Jesus invites us to hope! Peter’s first epistle is saturated with the good news of the gospel. They are words of hope! “…God … raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:20).
Jesus invites us to an imperishable inheritance! In 1 Peter 1:3-4, Peter exclaims: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…”
Jesus invites us to respond to his invitation! Peter explains our prescribed response to the resurrected Jesus in 1 Peter 3:21-22: “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” The response is ours to make, the power is in the truth of the resurrection!
After Peter is restored on the sandy shore of Galilee, he never again failed to confess Jesus in his life! On the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, Peter declares fearlessly that “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24).
The resurrection of Jesus is not an annual remembrance but a daily calling -a living in honor of the risen Savior! He is alive! He is Here! He is waiting for you!
Peter’s story had a shaky start, but it ended in faith. Tradition says that he was crucified upside down – a request since he felt unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. All of this was because Jesus would not give up on him. Go tell Peter! How will the story end for you today? Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed! His presence, your hope!
John Dobbs
