What Is Your Name?

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to meet Jesus in person? Every Christian does. All kinds of questions run through your head:

What does He look like?
How tall is He?
What does His voice sound like?

Peter knew the answers to these questions. Meeting Jesus was a life-changing moment for him.

Paintings of Peter show him as an older man, full-figured and slightly balding. There exists to this day, in the catacombs in Rome, a graffito with the name PETRUS in bold red. Rome is where Peter was crucified at the hands of Emperor Nero in AD 64. But Peter first encountered Jesus more than thirty years earlier. As we meet him for the first time in John’s gospel (John 1:35–42), he was probably around thirty years old, roughly the same age as Jesus.

Peter and his brother Andrew, along with the two brothers James and John (elsewhere known as Boanerges, or Sons of Thunder, a nickname given to them by Jesus because of their committed preaching; Mark 3:17), had an established fishing business in Bethsaida, Galilee (John 1:44). Bethsaida had been raised to the status of a city by the infamous Philip the Tetrarch, who later married the equally infamous Salome, the one who asked for the head of John the Baptist on a plate.

Peter was a fisherman. Scholars often doubt that Peter could write the complex Greek of the epistle known as 2 Peter. But Bethsaida was a thoroughly Hellenistic city. Peter would have been taught Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, as well as possibly some Latin, in the established synagogue education system. Even today, lack of a formal education doesn’t mean that someone is uneducated. I have known many who never went to college whose language skills and knowledge of Scripture were profound. My late mother left school at sixteen to care for her ailing father, but she could hold her own on literature and music. Just because Peter and some of the other disciples earned their living fishing the Sea of Galilee does not mean that they were poorly educated.

Peter’s Aramaic name was Simōn and denoted the idea of “obedient.” Transliterated into Greek, it became Symeon. Jesus called him “Peter” (initially at the time of his calling as a disciple [John 1:42] and later reaffirmed at Caesarea Philippi [Matt. 16:18]) because He either saw something in him or desired something from him. The name means “rock” or “stone.” Its Aramaic equivalent was Kephas (its English cognate is Cephas). “Andrew,” the name of Peter’s brother, is an entirely Greek name, indicating some degree of Hellenization (Greek cultural influence) on the part of their parents.

But something had happened that had taken Andrew and Peter down south to Bethany, on the eastern side of the river Jordan. An extraordinary preacher had emerged by the name of John the Baptist. Huge crowds were going into the countryside to hear him preach and receive the baptism of repentance he offered.

Priests and Levites were sent from Jerusalem to inquire about his identity (John 1:19). Some wondered whether he might be the long-awaited Messiah, the One prophesied in the Scriptures who would deliver the people of Israel from their sins. But he was not (v. 20). Neither was he Elijah. Since the prophet Elijah had not died but instead been taken into heaven alive, a belief emerged among Second Temple Jews that he might return one day. An empty seat was kept for him in Jewish homes at the celebration of Passover.

John was none of these. Instead, he identified himself as the one depicted by the prophet Isaiah as “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” (John 1:23, quoting Isa. 40:3). Furthermore, John the Baptist pointed to another, One who stood among them, “the strap of whose sandal [he was] not worthy to untie” (John 1:27). He was referring to Jesus, who had also come down from Galilee to hear His cousin preaching in the wilderness.

John the Baptist was the forerunner, the one who prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry. He preached a message of repentance, calling Israel to turn from its sins, and offered a baptism of repentance in the Jordan River. On this occasion, Jesus was there and asking for baptism. After John identified Him as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), something extraordinary happened: the Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove (John 1:32). “And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God,” John declared (John 1:34). And elsewhere, we read that a voice was heard from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).

Why was it necessary for Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God, to receive a baptism of repentance? Why should He undergo this water ordeal of judgment? The answer is substitution. He was identifying Himself with our sin. Even the Baptist balked, protesting, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matt. 3:14). But it was for this reason that Jesus had come: to provide a way back from the wilderness to Eden. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

The long-awaited Messiah had come!

An Eyewitness of Jesus

Peter came to Bethsaida to see and hear John the Baptist. But he did not know that God had other plans for him, plans that would change his life completely.

It was the day after Jesus’ baptism. Andrew and an unnamed disciple, probably John (John 1:35, 40), overheard the Baptist refer to Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). The expression would have evoked powerful images in the minds of devout Jews. They would have recalled the incident with Abraham when a ram was caught in the thicket by its horns and the sacrifice of Isaac was averted (Gen. 22:1–24). They would have remembered the annual ritual of sacrificing a lamb for Passover (Ex. 12:43–51). And they would have recollected that the prophet Isaiah, in the fourth Servant Song, referred to “a lamb that is led to the slaughter” (Isa. 53:7).

There is always something about Jesus that entices and attracts attention. Andrew was bold enough to ask where Jesus was staying (the account in John covers several days, and Jesus would have needed somewhere to eat and sleep [cf. John 1:29, 35, 43]). We are not told who these hospitable folks were, but imagine the stories they could relate in later years about Jesus’ having slept in their house!

Before leaving for the place where Jesus was staying, Andrew did something significant that had consequences. He went and found his brother Simon and brought him to meet Jesus. This may well have been the most important thing Andrew ever did! On one level, this is a small matter. It is perfectly understandable that a brother might want his sibling to experience meeting Jesus for the first time. But on another level, we never know when small things will end up having significant outcomes. God is in the details.

John, the gospel author, is recalling a day when he and Peter, along with many others, saw Jesus for the first time. They were eyewitnesses. John is writing not about myths and fables but about actual historical acts that he witnessed with his own eyes. The Apostles were eyewitnesses. Later, after the betrayal of Judas, Luke records that Judas’ replacement as one of the twelve Apostles must be “a witness to [Jesus’] resurrection” (Acts 1:22).

Scholars sometimes scoff at the reliability of eyewitness recollections, particularly after many years have passed. In today’s legal system, testimonies often reveal wide-ranging recollections of past events, giving eyewitness accounts little credibility. But recent scholarship has demonstrated that when issues of deep religious significance are witnessed, the story is recalled over and over and embedded in the mind with accurate details.¹ John is recalling his own first meeting with Jesus, and he remembers places and conversations and the passing of days (“the next day” [John 1:29, 35, 43]). Peter would later recall Jesus’ transfiguration and write, “We were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). Peter wanted us to know that he was there when it happened. “I saw it with my own eyes!”

And for Peter, having these eyewitness accounts written down in Scripture was even more important. Why? Because “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). The Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God. Its testimony is true and can be relied on. It is the source of all wisdom, in every circumstance of life.

A Seeker, but of Whom?

Initially, Peter was a seeker of John the Baptist. Intrigued by the news that had reached Galilee about a rather strange figure who was clothed in camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey and who had appeared out of nowhere, one who reminded people of the prophet Elijah, Peter, joined by the rest of his fishing company, went south to meet this new figure. The outcome of this journey proved very different from what he might initially have expected: Peter not only met John the Baptist but also met the Messiah!

Peter had been a student of the Scriptures since he was a small boy. He knew the Scripture that spoke of the “offspring” of the woman (Gen. 3:15), the prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:18), the King like David who would “establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2  Sam. 7:13), and the Suffering Servant who would bear “the sin of many” (Isa. 53:12). And now Peter saw the fulfillment of these prophecies. The Messiah was here.

The promised Messiah, the One whom Peter will later confess as “the Christ” (Matt. 16:16), was standing before him in the flesh! “We have found the Messiah,” Andrew told his brother, and John, recalling the incident, translates it in parentheses as “Christ” for his Hellenistic readers (John 1:41). Peter had been brought to see Jesus by his brother Andrew, and both brothers were invited to spend the day at the place where Jesus was lodging that week. Intrigue drew them to Bethsaida, but they did not yet know that in God’s providence, greater things were planned for them. Roughly contemporaries, Jesus and Peter had been raised less than twenty miles apart, but they had apparently never met. In those silent years of preparation, Jesus kept His identity a close secret. But on this day, His identity was a matter of public record. Peter came face-to-face with Jesus and became a disciple.

It is not important that we know the exact day on which we became disciples. Some are brought to Christ as a mother greets her sleeping baby—“with a kiss,” as the hymn writer Christina Rossetti once said.² Some come to faith before they are ever conscious and only later express their faith. But some, like me, can recall the actual day (and even time) that they first came to believe in Jesus Christ and celebrate it every year thereafter. What is crucial is that we find Jesus and, when we do, that we believe in Him. Without Him, we are lost. When we find Him, we also find ourselves. With Jesus, life takes on an entirely new meaning and purpose.

A New Name

Our names are important to us. I have three names, two of which are my two grandfathers’ names. It has made me think of them almost every day, particularly when one of them died when I was seven. I can recall details of events and conversations I shared with both and a message that one gave me a week before he died of cancer. And what was that message, you ask? He gave me a green Parker fountain pen and told me to write a book!

We read that when Andrew brought Peter to Jesus, He looked at him and said: “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (John 1:42). As we have already noted, Cephas and “Peter” are from the Aramaic and Greek words for “rock” or “stone.” John, the author of the gospel, translates Cephas as “Peter” for his Greek readers. In making this statement, Jesus anticipates an event that would be hardly fathomable for Peter at this moment. It would take place way up north, at Caesarea Philippi, in the foothills of Mount Hermon, when Jesus would tell Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The Greek is a play on the name “Peter” (petros) and the word “rock” (petra). We will examine this incident in greater detail later, but on his very first encounter with Jesus, Peter was to be known as Rocky. He had a part to play in the emerging, fledgling church that would be of immense significance. After all, when you read the first twelve chapters of Acts, the account is almost entirely about Peter.

Having one’s name changed is deeply significant in Scripture. Think of Abram/Abraham, Jacob/Israel, and Gideon/Jerubbaal, for example (Gen. 17:5; 35:10; Judg. 6:32). Each one was pivotal in the shaping of redemptive history. Jesus seems to be telling Peter: “I am going to build My church, and you will be important in that story. You will be a foundational rock.” Though Peter will stumble, Jesus will restore him so that Peter can play the part destined for him and play it magnificently. John, in telling the story, knows that his readers will already be aware of Peter’s threefold denial, but John also realizes that his readers will know of Peter’s recovery, too, and depending on when John’s gospel was written,³ they may also be aware that he was crucified in AD 64 at the hands of Emperor Nero. A “rock” indeed!

Humanly speaking, none of this would have been possible had Andrew not searched out his brother in the immense crowds attending John the Baptist’s preaching and brought him to meet Jesus. You might have only one significant work to do in your life, and you must make sure that you accomplish it. And what could be more significant than introducing a sibling to Jesus?

Peter has been found, and he has become a disciple of Jesus.