Luke 5:1-11
Depart from me, for I am a sinful man
After a night with nothing, he lets down the nets on a carpenter’s word and the nets break. His reaction to the catch is not gratitude but fear, and he asks to be left alone.
People of the Bible
Peter
Said the best thing anyone said about him and the worst thing anyone said to him, in the same conversation.
Also called Simon, Cephas
Peter is a fisherman from Bethsaida working the lake with his brother when he is told to leave the nets. He is first in every list of the twelve and first into every situation: out of the boat onto the water, into the argument, into the high priest’s courtyard, into the empty tomb. He is also the one who has to be corrected most, and the gospels keep it all in. He confesses that Jesus is the Christ and is called blessed, and six verses later is told to get behind me, Satan.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of Peter
- 01
- 02
Matthew 14:22-33
Why did you doubt
He asks to be called out onto the water, walks, sees the wind, and begins to sink. The hand catches him immediately, and the question comes afterwards.
- 03
Matthew 16:13-23
Blessed are you, and get behind me
He answers the question nobody else answers and is told flesh and blood did not reveal it. Then he takes the Lord aside to rebuke him about dying, and receives the sharpest words in the gospels.
- 04
John 13:6-10
You shall never wash my feet
He refuses, is told he has no part otherwise, and swings straight to the opposite extreme: not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
- 05
Luke 22:54-62
Before the cock crow
A servant girl, a bystander, and an hour later a man who is sure. At the third denial the cock crows, the Lord turns and looks at him, and he goes out and weeps bitterly.
- 06
John 21:15-19
Do you love me
A charcoal fire on the shore, breakfast, and three questions to answer three denials. Each answer is met with a command about feeding, and the last with a word about how he will die.
Why it matters
What makes Peter the pattern rather than a warning is the restoration. He denies three times beside a charcoal fire, and the next charcoal fire in the gospel of John is on a beach where he is asked three times whether he loves him and given a flock each time. Nothing is pretended about what happened; the count matches. From there he preaches at Pentecost, and the man who could not hold his nerve in front of a servant girl stands up in front of the city.
39 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11; John 1:35-51
Leave the Nets
Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15
Give Ye Them to Eat
Matthew 26:47-75; Mark 14:43-72; Luke 22:47-62; John 18:1-27
Before the Cock Crow
Matthew 26:1-16; Mark 14:1-11; John 12:1-8
The Fragrance and the Silver
Matthew 26:17-35; Mark 14:12-31; Luke 22:7-38; John 13-17
This Do in Remembrance
