Jonah was God’s prophet and he wilfully disobeyed God but he was graciously re-commissioned. God is the God of second chances! As Christians we may appreciate the truth of Jonah as one might appreciate the aesthetics of a Shakespearean play but we may be very reluctant to apply these truths to real situations. Jonah is all the more mystifying because he is not pleased with the ‘success’ of his mission. In fact at the end of the book there is no evidence to suggest that he was remorseful for his wrong attitudes.

It would be unfair to describe Abraham as a liar and a coward. But there was on occasion in his life when fear caused him to lie. Jacob was a cheat. Noah’s drunkenness contributed to an incestuous incident. Moses was a murderer. Elijah became delusional to the point where he thought he was the only faithful servant of God, when in fact there were seven-thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal and he became despairing to the point where he wanted to die! This is not an apologia for apostasy but a reflection on the rehabilitative grace of God!

Scripture is full of examples of failures and the church is not a club for perfect people. Peter was passionate for God and Jesus wanted to reap what he had invested in this man’s training. The presence of such people in Scripture is not meant to justify complacency about human frailty or indifference to wrongdoing but rather to keep us from conceit and self-righteousness. We should rejoice that Jesus is a friend of failures. The process of progressive regeneration is often experienced in the intense heat of the crucible because it is there that the dross is burnt away and our refinement is perfected. There is no recorded objection to Peter’s reinstatement because who could conscientiously object? Who could say that they had not forsaken Christ? Condemnation is most likely to come from those with self-righteous attitudes who feel morally superior. Before we judge Peter or anybody else let us look into the face of the Master and learn of our need for mercy and grace. Let us be thankful that Jesus is the minder of mercy and guardian of grace for we are poor custodians of such perfect compassion.

I am inclined to think that Peter has got a bad press because in truth all the disciples had failed and deserted Jesus at this point and Peter alone tried to stay in touch. He followed physically but his faith failed and he ceased to follow as a disciple. This does not mean that he ceased to be a disciple; rather that he failed to follow spiritually at that point. In some ways Peter was a better disciple because he followed farther than most of the others (John was also present in the courtyard when Peter denied Jesus) at that point. Perhaps John’s presence emphasises the tragedy of the failure because Peter, despite having another disciple so close, still failed in such a dramatic way. We tend to remember that Christ rescued him from drowning but forget that his faith enabled him to walk on water. I doubt any of us would have behaved differently under the circumstances on the night Jesus was arrested. I think Peter is a hero of history from whom we can derive lessons in leadership. This is not to excuse his failure but to realise that heroes have faults and sometimes fail. Peter fell but he got up again. He lost a round in the great fight but he did not give up. He was knocked down but he was not knocked out.