The Bible as Mirror: Trump and Peter

Last updated on: April 25, 2017 at 7:49 pm by John C Holbert

The Bible as Mirror: Trump and Peter 2017-04-25T19:49:46-05:00 John C Holbert

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As we once again exit the events at Easter, I was reminded of the craven lying that the Great Fisherman, Peter, engaged in around that Jerusalem courtyard fire nearly two millennia ago. This is, of course, the same Peter to whom Jesus earlier in Matthew’s Gospel handed the keys to the kingdom, metaphorical keys that in later history became quite literal as the Vatican announced that lying Peter was in reality the first pope. According to the Book of the Acts, Peter became after the resurrection the first great evangelist for the risen Jesus, herding more than 3000 new followers into the movement as a result of the stem-winding sermon at Pentecost.

I would hardly consider any of the “sermons” of our 45th president to be in any way stem-winding—rather more clock stopping in nature—but they were for many, enough people at least, effective enough to win their vote. He announced over and over an ambitious first 100 day plan that would roll back Obama Care and replace it with “something far cheaper and far better,” would name the Chinese as “currency manipulators,” announce a massive infrastructure project to rebuild America, and of course build a huge and impenetrable wall between us and Mexico, forcing the Mexicans themselves to pay for it! 100 days of the Trump presidency have now been concluded (though I admit it seems more like 100 years), and precisely none of those things has happened. What we get instead is the nauseous lie, again and again, that he won the popular vote in the now long ago election. The fact the Hillary Clinton won that vote by nearly 2.9 million has no effect on The Donald’s constant bold-face lying about it. I continue to be astonished and dismayed that our president is bent on lying far more than on getting anything accomplished for the country.

Perhaps more dangerously, he flips and flops from idea to idea, missile-hurling belligerent one day, NATO-hating the next, diplomacy-minded the next, NATO-cheering the next, and on and on. My head spins as Trump slides from one thing to the next with no long-term strategy of any kind for anything in sight. He acts the same when it comes to advisors. Steve Bannon was his beacon light during the campaign and was early on in the presidency ensconced at the heart of the Oval Office. Now he is banished as “one of my workers.” Kelly Anne Conway was ubiquitous on TV, speaking absurd drivel day after day in attempted defense of the latest tweet storm or mangled English half-sentence. Now, her blond head is seldom seen. We are far more likely to see the blond beauty of Ivanka Trump and her photogenic husband, the power couple of the day, supporting their father at every turn. Insiders have quickly become outsiders while the family grabs the stage.

When Jesus called Peter from his nets, the man dropped everything to follow, uttering not a word of questioning or hesitation. And when Jesus asked him who Peter thought him to be, the leather-lunged man of the water blurted out that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah long expected by Israel. He seemed to be t he ultimate insider, even accompanying Jesus up the spooky mountain to witness his apparent superiority to Moses and Elijah. True, his babbling response to what he saw suggesting that he build some

houses to shelter the three worthies on the mountain was perhaps less than clever, but he was still allowed to witness something intimate and astonishing.

But now he finds himself faced with nothing less than profound danger and possible death. And just as Trump found health care “more complicated” than he imagined, so Peter finds following Jesus rather more than a lark in the park. While Jesus is being interrogated before the High Priest Caiaphas, Peter is outside sitting in the courtyard. He is confronted by a servant girl who says rather matter-of-factly “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” Peter’s response? I don’t know what you are talking about!” Then he moves further away from the place where Jesus is at the moment, “out to the porch,” and another servant girl turns to those standing around and says, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” This time he denies any knowledge of Jesus with an oath, that is he swears by God, “I do not know the man!” A bit later some of the bystanders approach Peter, and make a clear accusation: “You certainly are one of them, for your accent betrays you!” Quite horribly, Peter first curses, then swears by God again, shouting, “I do not know the man!” I long have imagined that he tries in this third denial to disguise his northern Galilean accent by speaking in a southern-like dialect. But the cock crows anyway, just as Jesus had predicted and Peter had claimed he would never do—namely deny his Lord.

How this sounds like Trump! He slithers and slips through and around the truth, claiming he never said what he clearly did say, denying that he spoke as he did. Unfortunately for him, everything in our modern world is recorded on one device or another and kept by someone for posterity. Even when Trump was on a bus with only one other person with him, his foul comments about his sexual power over women were recorded and made available for us all whether we wanted to hear or not. Peter could just deny any connection to Jesus, but Trump, while he may deny any number of things, is caught in his own words and actions again and again.

As I have said, Peter is forgiven by his Lord, despite his craven denial, and becomes a great lion of God for the remainder of his life. Can we hope for such a thing from Donald Trump, a kind of repentance from his inveterate lying? It seems highly unlikely, given what we have seen of his actions to date. But, all of us, especially me who has been very hard on the man in these blogs, must always have hope that something new and grand may emerge. With God, after all, all things are possible. Donald_Trump's_hair_from_behind,_2007

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