Today I want to talk to you about somebody I think is a great favorite of most people who read the Bible, and that is Simon Peter. There is so much we can say about Simon; the question is, "Where do you start?" It reminds me of a preacher who went to talk to a group of students on one occasion. He said, "I have so many things to tell you; I just don't know where to begin." So one of the students rather helpfully replied, "Why don't you begin near the end?"

Well, I can't begin near the end as far as Simon Peter is concerned, but I will select three incidents in his life, all of which are connected, that I think will give us some helpful lessons. It all started one day when Jesus, with His disciples, got some very sad news. The sad news was that John the Baptist, his relative, his colleague, his forerunner had been brutally murdered. Now naturally, Jesus was deeply bothered about this, and He wanted to get away quietly after getting the bad news. He took His disciples with Him because they also needed a break, and they went off into a deserted area on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

But word had got ahead of them that that was where they were going, so 5,000 men brought their wives and children to meet with Jesus. We read that when Jesus saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion towards them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He did something really quite remarkable. He put His own grief on one side when He saw the enormity of the need of the people around Him. That in and of itself is a startling response on the part of Jesus.

There is a tendency for us to feel that when we're dealing with our own problems, that we really don't have time or energy to deal with anybody else's problems. In fact, it has been shown conclusively that very often the best therapy for our problems is to get involved in the needs of those that are greater than ours. Remember the old Chinese proverb: "I grumbled when I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet." If you begin to minister to the people who have no feet, it's amazing how the fact that you don't have shoes doesn't seem all that important. Jesus ministered to these people. He put His own private grief on one side, when He saw the enormity of human need.

In fact, He became so absorbed in dealing with these people, that He allowed time to get by. Eventually the disciples came to Him and said, "Look, Master, it's all well and good you are looking after these people, but they have made no provision for food, they have no provision made for accommodations. They've come out here and really messed up the quiet day that we were going to have, and what you really need to do is send them away; just send them away. Get them out of our hair! We don't need these people; they are not our problem.

The problem was, basically, the attitude of the disciples. Imagine their consternation therefore, when Jesus' response was, "No, I won't send them away, you feed them." "You feed them!" Now their attitude was they are not our problem. Jesus countered that by saying in effect, "They are your problem!" The disciples would counter that by saying, "Look, we didn't ask them to come; they were totally irresponsible; they had not brought food with them; they've not thought in terms of accommodations, send them away. They are not our problem." Jesus, no doubt, said to them "You are absolutely right; we didn't invite them, and they have been irresponsible. They have not made proper plans, but they are still your problem. You feed them!"