Episode Details

Remsen Bible Fellowship, 06/22/2025

Text:

Mark 14:66-72, And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

I remember that morning alongside the Sea of Galilee. My back was sore from hauling in nets full of fish throughout the night before. We were finishing up with a few more casts before the sun rose and the fish went into deeper waters. Our fishing partners had already pulled ashore and were mending their nets.

It was my brother who looked down the beach and saw him approaching. We had met this man a few months ago when we were down south listening to a wilderness preacher—the same preacher had pointed my brother to another man—a wandering teacher from a podunk town. And the preacher told my brother to follow this other man instead. After my brother met him, he came and found me, claiming he had met God’s Anointed One. That made me wonder about his sanity—but I went with him and met this supposed Anointed of the Lord. This guy was from Nazareth. Nazareth, of all places.

But then he spoke to me. And he didn’t simply speak, he spoke with the weight of authority. And he gave me a new name: “Peter.”

But we were back in Galilee now. Back to fishing. Back to real life. Back to my father and my wife. Back to life as Simon, son of John.

I wondered what Jesus was doing there along the shore. As he drew nearer, he called out to us—“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” There was that authority. How could we do anything but listen? How could we not follow?

That next Sabbath he came with us to the synagogue service in Capernaum. His teaching astounded everyone who heard—that authority. The weight of his words. We’d never heard anything like it. Then a demon-possessed man came bursting into the synagogue, saying crazy things—calling Jesus the “Holy One of God”. Jesus rebuked the spirit and healed the man.

That night, we returned to my home. My mother-in-law had been sick for some time, the fever left her bedridden. As we entered the house, we told Jesus about her situation. He came and took her by the hand—I thought maybe he would pray over her. Instead, he lifted her up. Then she got up—and made the evening meal! The word spread so quickly of this, and the incident at the synagogue, that everyone with any kind of illness—physical, mental, or spiritual—was gathering at the door and trying to burst in. They just wanted to see and hear—and experience—this Jesus.

It was a similar situation a few weeks later, after we had gone on a preaching tour. We were gathered back in my home and the crowds pressed in. But then part of my ceiling started to fall in. People were pressed in so tight to hear Jesus teach that I was stuck there, watching my ceiling fall on the heads of all these people—and then it opened up. A group of men on my roof dropped a paralyzed man down in front of Jesus. And then Jesus did what no one expected—he told the man his sins had been forgiven. The teachers of the law were scandalized. So Jesus proved he had the authority to do it—and healed the paralytic right then and there.