Galatians 2:11-14

Galatians 2:11-14New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Poor Peter.

After denying Jesus, Peter was probably at his lowest point. He wept in fact at his own failure. He probably didn't think there was any coming back from that.

In some ways, Peter's story from there sounds like a fairy tale.  With Jesus' resurrection and then ascension, Peter moves into the leadership role. At Pentecost, he has his shining moment. He seems to move from lowest of the low, to highest of them all.

We love stories of people who persevere and get redeemed - bad boys made good.  We love our stories of heroes and often with those heroes, we can often ignore the human fallibility that still lurks beneath.  

For Peter, all it took was Paul to come around a knock him from his pedestal. The hero had clay feet after all.

Peter wasn't perfect.

Rather than being on a linear trajectory following Jesus' resurrection, Peter in fact was still human.  As tempting as it is to think that once he became the first leader of the church, he no longer made mistakes, the truth is that Peter still made the wrong call sometimes as a leader.  He still fell into peer pressure.  He still misjudged his calling.

And he had Paul right there to call him on his mistakes!

Starting a church isn't easy. Leading a group of people isn't easy, and sometimes the leader everyone looks up to is going to make the wrong call.

Yet, despite his imperfect leadership style, the wonderful community Peter started with Paul is still going strong.

What wonderful thing can you get started despite your own imperfections?

Lord, remind not to put leaders or anyone else on a pedestal - and when someone gets knocked off of theirs, help me to show them grace. Amen.