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PETER'S HOME LIFE!

      This past week I found the following cartoon in the paper.  It reads:

(cartoon not available... sorry)

      The facts may not tell us everything about Hammie but they say more about him than he would like his mother, as well as us, to believe.   The rules he ignores and the things he breaks do define who he is at this stage of life.  In fact,  in general a person's behavior speaks volumes about who they are regardless of their stage of life. 
      But in Christ, as we noted last week, someone can be redefined.  This is what Jesus did for Peter when he initially looked at him and said "You are Simon son of John.  You will be called Cephas."  Even before Andrew formally introduced Peter to the Christ, Jesus sized him up as the man to be the first stone in what would become known as the church.
      The transformation, of course, didn't take place overnight.  Peter's impulsive- ness, his tendency to listen to the wrong voices, his stubbornness, and his bent toward being a people-pleaser habitually made life difficult for him and for those around him.  Nevertheless, Jesus saw him as the first stone and transformed him to the point that indeed he became the first stone of the church.
      Many years later in his first letter to those scattered throughout Asia Minor Peter did the same thing for others what Jesus did for him.  That is, as a shepherd of a struggling body of believers, he helped define them, and he helps in defining us by the words he wrote in I Peter 2:9 - 12.  We read:
      But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
      Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
      Peter not only made an effort to define his brothers and sisters in Christ, he encouraged them to live up to their new identity, their true identity.  How about us?  Do we make an effort to redefine others?  Do we help others see that they have been created for a purpose?  Do we help others to see who they really are in Christ?  Do we encourage them to be a reflection of their true identity?
      Now, let me introduce you to two people who, at this stage in their life, have been well-defined by their choices and by their relationship to Christ.  Neither of them are bashful so your job is to penetrate the facts and discover how God has worked in their life to define who they are today.1
      The first is LaVerne Terbush.  Here are the facts as e-mailed to me within two days of my request.
      - I was born in Detroit, Michigan at an early age and was an only child.
      - The most traumatic time of my life was when my father, who worked at
         General Motors, was transferred to Memphis, Tennessee.  I was ten years
         old.
      - I received my education in Tennessee from 5th grade thru two years of
         college and one year of business college.
      - I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 12.
      - I met James Arrowood through a mutual friend and we married two years
         later when he was discharged from the army.
      - Jim and the wife of a couple with whom we had been friends for 36 years
         died within four months of each other.
      - I married Ivan Terbush and we had fourteen wonderful years together.
         God must still have a plan for me.
      What do the facts suggest to you?  What fact, or which facts, would you like to explore?  What questions do you have of LaVerne that would give you a peek into her inner world?
      The second person is Milo Beck.  With hesitation, though he too is not bashful, he sent me the following seven facts:
      - Sue and I are newlyweds - 2 1/2 years.
      - We spent our honeymoon night in a haunted hotel room in Prescott.
      - I'm a retired airline pilot.
      - I worked as a pilot for three different airlines and each one declared
         bankruptcy.
      - I'm working on constructing two airplanes in my garage.
      - I'm named after my half-Choctaw Indian grandfather; sheriff of Logan
         County, Oklahoma during Prohibition.
      - I invested in a gold mine in Nevada; soon to hit the bonanza.
      What do the facts suggest to you?  What fact, or which facts, would you like to explore?  What questions do you have of Milo that would give you a peek into his inner world?
      Facts don't tell us everything, but they give us a glimpse as to who a person is in reality.  For example, we know Peter was married which meant he had a mother-in-law.   For in Luke 4:38 - 39 we read:
      Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.  39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
      In the first place, in light of the culture of Israel, Peter's mother-in-law should not have been in his home.  It's not that she wouldn't have been welcomed into his home, it is just that if her husband was still alive she should've been living with him.  If not, one of her sons was obligated to take care of her.  If she had no husband and no sons her own family was supposed to take care of her.
      Her presence in the home of Peter suggest an openness on his part to not only take care of his wife but to take on an extra burden of love by caring for his mother-in-law.  Granted, it may have been from sheer necessity.  Then too, the fact that she was in his home doesn't automatically mean they had an harmonious relationship.  However, as I will show you momentarily, I believe Peter had an amicable relationship with his mother-in-law and admired her.2
      But first let's look at the facts of this little story.  After Andrew, Simon, and Jesus left the synagogue along with James and John they made their way to the home of Simon and Andrew.   Upon entering the home they found that Peter's mother-in-law had become quite ill.  This was not simply a case of an inconvenient bout with the flu.  For Dr. Luke informs us that she had a high fever and in that day, as somewhat in ours, a high fever could spell death.3
      They asked Jesus to look in on her.  Jesus went into her room, took her hand, and "rebuked" the fever.  Having no choice it immediately left and the woman got up and went about the business of serving those in Peter's home.  There is no recovery time, no hint of Jesus telling someone to bring her something to eat.    She simply got up and did for Jesus and others what she undoubtedly did for every visitor in that home.
      What effect did the presence of this woman have on Peter and those in his home?  The facts are meager, but this snapshot of selfless servanthood must have spoken volumes to any visitor.  For here was a home where hospitality was practiced, not because it was dictated by the culture, but because it came freely and easily to Peter's mother-in-law and probably to his wife as well.
      I suspect that Peter had his mother-in-law, as well as his wife, in mind when he wrote the following words in I Peter 3:3 - 4.  Addressing wives, Peter said:
      Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.  4 Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.
      Obviously, this is speculation.  However, the beauty of purity and reverence as lived out in the lives of others is not speculation.  It is a beauty that Peter saw played out somewhere and I believe it was played out in his own home.
      Finally, as an adult Jew over twenty years old Peter was required to pay a temple tax of half a shekel/year; this was equivalent to two drachmas.  One day the IRS showed up at Peter's home for apparently neither he nor Jesus had paid the tax for that particular year.  The story, as told by Matthew who probably knew the tax-collectors personally, is found in Matthew 17:24 - 27.  We read:
      After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"
Matt. 17:25 "Yes, he does," he replied.
      When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes-from their own sons or from others?"
      "From others," Peter answered.
      "Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him.  27 "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."
      Peter, as you can easily imagine, opened his big mouth and made a commitment on behalf of Jesus that he had no right to make.  Paraphrasing, he told the tax collectors, "Of course Jesus and I will pay our taxes!  Do we look broke to you?  Come back in an hour and we will have your money waiting for you."
      Graciously, before Peter had a chance to tell Jesus about what just happened  the Lord asked him a question as to whether kings collect taxes from their own sons or from others.  Indirectly, Jesus was telling Peter that not only he as King should be exempt from paying taxes but that his His disciples who are sons of the king should likewise be exempt.  For they too had a privileged position.
      However, at this point in history Jesus chose not to make an issue of it.  Instead, he told Peter to go do something he really enjoyed doing.  He told him to grab his fishing pole and go fishing for a largemouth bass; or as it came to be known - the four- drachma bass.
      Matthew really doesn't tell us the end of the story.  It may be assumed, however, that Peter did as he was commanded, caught a four-drachma bass, and paid his taxes as well as Jesus'.
      What I want you to note is that I suspect Peter learned an important lesson here - one that he probably needed to be re-taught from time to time.   There are some things in life that just aren't worth turning into a major issue. 
      Maybe it is this incident that Peter had in mind when he told the recipients of his first letter to think twice before exercising their rights and to have respect for the governing authorities.  In I Peter 2:16 - 17 we read:
      Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.  17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
      You see, Peter was a whole lot like you and me.  He was married, had a mother-in-law, paid taxes, went to Home Depot when he had to repair his roof, and sometimes opened his mouth and said the wrong thing.  In his humanity, and despite his humanity, the Lord worked a maturity into Simon.  So much so, that in Acts it is not Simon we see as much as it is Cephas!    

1     My hope in this part of the lesson is for us to see how God has worked in the life of others.   I want us to see that their story is really the story of God at work in their life.
2     Here are two mother-in-law jokes.  I've shared the first one with you before and it is the best. 
      During their vacation and while they were visiting Jerusalem, George's mother-in-law died.
      With death certificates in hand, George went to the American Consulate Office to make arrangements to send the body back to the states for proper burial.
      The Consul, after hearing of the death of the mother-in-law told George that the sending of a body back to the states for burial is very, very expensive. It could cost as much as $5,000.00.
      The Consul continues, in most cases the person responsible for the remains normally decides to bury the body here. This would only cost $150.00.
      George thinks for some time and answers, "I don't care how much it will cost to send the body back; that's what I want to do."
      The Consul, after hearing this, says, "You must have loved your mother-in-law very much considering the difference in price."
      "No, it's not that," says George. "You see, I know of a case years ago of a person that was buried here in Jerusalem. On the third day he arose from the dead !
      I just can't take that chance.
      OR
      You may have heard of the guy who had a mother-in-law who slept with her glasses on.  As she explained it, it was so she could have a better view of her son-in-law suffering in her dreams.
3     Mark 1:29 - 31 reads:  As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.  30 Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her.  31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

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