This past Sunday, our priest made an interesting observation. The Gospel reading was from Luke 5, the familiar story of Jesus telling Peter to let down his nets into deep water. Peter and his companions had fished all night in vain. It was now mid-morning or later, definitely not the time to fish. And the nets had been washed and stowed away. Most, if not all, know how this story plays out. Peter complies and he and his partners catch so much fish, the volume threatens to break the nets and sink the boats. Peter’s reaction to this incredible event was to proclaim to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord, I’m a sinful man!” Peter knew he was in the presence of someone great and his reaction was to tell Jesus to leave.

Now contrast this with a similar fishing episode three years later. Jesus has been crucified. Everything Peter had hoped for in Jesus was gone. And to make matters worse, Peter is simmering in the shame of having denied Jesus three times during Jesus’ “trials”. So he and his friends have gone back to fishing. But similar to what happened three years earlier, they fished the night in vain. Then a figure on the shore tells them to lower their nets. Complying, they catch a large number of fish. 

Here’s our priest’s observation. When Peter realizes it’s Jesus on the shore, his response is completely different than the first fishing episode. Peter dives into the water and swims to Jesus. Three years ago, he wanted Jesus to leave. Now, in the midst of his pain and shame, he rushes to Jesus. This observation made me think about what had happened to Peter in those three years.

Peter is often portrayed by modern preachers as a constantly brash and impetuous man who gets himself into trouble. He rushes into situations and conversations with both feet first. Oftentimes, one of those feet ends up finding its way into his mouth. And because of this approach to situations, he’s constantly corrected by Jesus. While this portrayal is accurate, I truly believe something is taking place deep within Peter through all of these missteps we see in the Gospels. And it’s something so life-altering that within three years, he changes from a sinful man who begs Jesus to leave him into a man that can’t get close enough to Jesus, even while haunted by his darkest moment of failure.

Below the surface of a brash and impulsive personality, formation has been occurring. All those moments of impetuous speech and behavior, followed by Jesus’ caring correction, has made Peter trust Jesus. He knows Jesus is safe, even during the worst mistakes and harshest correction. I mean imagine being called “Satan” by Jesus.

But through his impulsive mistakes and Jesus’ corrections, Peter is growing, changing, and transforming. He is a constant “work in progress” throughout the Gospels. Peter’s growing interactive experience with Jesus has convinced him that Jesus is the master of life. 

So when many other disciples ultimately abandon Jesus, Peter will remain close and keep learning. He tells Jesus, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life” (John 6:68). Peter had grown. When others walked away from Jesus, he proved that he could and would stay with Jesus.

Maybe it was this event — remaining with Jesus when the teaching and circumstances caused others to leave — that filled Peter with confidence to declare prior to Jesus’ arrest, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will! Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” 

But now, Peter’s confidence overreached his current state of formation. Jesus knew that even though Peter had been growing, he still did not have what was necessary to fulfill his confident declaration of loyalty and faithfulness. So he tells Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Perhaps all of this was going through Peter’s mind during that second fishing episode. He failed terribly. When Jesus needed him the most, he’d proven himself to be a coward, disloyal, and unfaithful. Why? When others left before, Peter had stayed. So why did he cower and deny Jesus this time?

But somehow, Jesus, knew Peter would fail. As always, Jesus seemed to know Peter better than Peter did. In fact, during Peter’s overconfident bragging during that final meal, Jesus predicted his failure. Those words, like most of Jesus’ correction over the past three years, stung and hurt. But while they stung, Jesus also told him that he had prayed for him. And that Peter would turn back. Jesus knew Peter. Jesus truly was the master of life!

Interrupting his thoughts, a figure on the shore tells Peter and his companions to put out their nets. They catch a tremendous amount of fish. And three years of mistakes, correction, growth, and forgiveness, culminating in his most shameful failure so far, flood Peter. He launches himself into the water and sprints to the shore. It’s Jesus! And the greatest place in life is with him.

After they all eat together on the beach, Jesus takes Peter on a walk. He addresses Peter’s threefold denial. It’s embarrassing, awkward, and cutting. Jesus goes to Peter’s heart, his love and loyalty. But again, as always, the corrections are filled with forgiveness, love, and restoration. 

For the rest of his life, Peter remains a “work in progress.” But there is always progress. He will continue to make mistakes. For example, in Galatians, Paul records that he had to confront Peter for his betrayal of the Gospel. Intimidated by some Jewish Christians from Jerusalem, Peter withdrew from table-fellowship with Gentile believers. And by doing so, he caused other Jewish believers, including Barnabas, to do the same.

But Peter stays close to Jesus and keeps learning and growing. And over more time, we discover an older and wiser man who pens 1Peter and 2Peter. Over the years of living his daily life with Jesus, Peter’s faith in Jesus has matured and transformed into the faith of Jesus. He knows God to be good, kind, compassionate, caring and always faithful. There seems to be less impulsiveness and a more relaxed and gentle wisdom. We can hear in his words, the Spirit of Jesus shining through.

All because, he chose to remain a work in progress.