Alive - by Dave Smith

know the man!”’ And immediately the rooster crowed for the third
time. ‘Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before
the cock crows, you will disown me three times.”’ Then, in one of
the saddest verses in the Bible, we read: ‘And he went outside and
wept bitterly’ (Matthew 26:74–75).
• Deserts the ship when it’s sinking Unlike the women followers
and ‘the disciple whom [Jesus] loved’, Peter was conspicuously
absent at the crucifixion (John 19:25–27).
Wow! What a list of failures. Would you pick this man for a key
leadership role?! And yet, stunningly, just over 50 days later, he stood
up in Jerusalem to tell a huge crowd that the Jesus that they had
crucified was now alive from the dead and was their true Messiah
and Lord (Acts 2:14–41). The results of this sermon were some of
the most ‘successful’ in Church history: 3,000 people became
followers of Jesus and were added to this new church, of which Peter
was initially its main leader. And this was not a one-off: for the next
few years Peter stood out as a bold, courageous leader who
performed mighty miracles – even raising the dead (like his master) –
and steadfastly refused to compromise his newfound integrity, even
under persecution. He went on to truly become the ‘rock’ that Jesus
had foretold, and is today known, alongside Paul, as one of the two
key foundational leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ.
So, what led to this most dramatic of transformations? And how did
Peter not only recover from such a dramatic litany of failures, but
begin to exemplify a wonderful track record of strength and success?
Two factors stand out. The first is that Peter met the resurrected
Jesus. In fact, Peter’s transformation is surely one of the greatest
pieces of evidence for the historicity of the resurrection. It’s