So a few weeks ago, I was doing cameras at church. Or maybe it was during the 6:33, our Tuesday men’s group. In either case, the subject was brought up in the sermon that after Jesus’ crucifiction, Peter had denied Jesus three times, and all that, he basically got really depressed, dropped his calling and went back to fishing.

The verse that really got me in this sermon though, was Mark 16:7 – “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Many think this means he was saying, “Go tell my followers, oh and Peter if you want to because Peter doesn’t want to be part of the inner circle anymore.” However, a point was made that really struck a chord with me.

Only three times does Jesus specifically refer to Peter as “Peter.” All the other times we hear “Peter” mentioned, it’s by the author. However, MOST of the time, Jesus refers to him by his birth-name, Simon. “Peter” was Jesus’ new name for him, and basically was a way of calling out his true destiny. You THINK you’re Simon, but I see your true calling in that you’re a rock!

So the thing that really struck me wasn’t the fact that Jesus singled Peter out as “not part of the group” when he said, “Go tell my disciples and Peter,” but more that he called Peter out by his true name. Peter had gone back to being Simon after Jesus was killed. He went back to fishing for a living. Then Jesus came back and said, “Hey, Peter. You might THINK you’re not gonna do what I told you you were gonna do, and you might be going back to what you knew before, but I still believe in you.”