The disciples had a front row seat. Peter was there, not only when Jesus drove out demons, or preached the Sermon on the Mount, or when he was baptized, but Jesus also allowed him to be there when Jairus’s daughter was raised from the dead, during the gut-wrenching moments of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, or on the mountain at the transfiguration.
These were things that Peter saw. He heard Jesus speak. He sensed. He felt. He knew what he was seeing, and I can only imagine that he was having a hard time believing his own eyes, his own ears, or any of his other senses.
But the story was his. He could tell the story because he was there. Sometimes the story happened to him. Sometimes the story happened around him. And then he went on to tell the story, and that is Peter’s point now as he begins his second letter to the believers, those other people who had received the gift of having faith in Christ and were saved from the coming wrath of God. He was a witness:
For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
2 Peter 1:16-18
Peter and the rest of the disciples may have had a certain advantage. They were there when Jesus walked the earth. They experienced all of it. They saw it all.
But does that mean that we are underprivileged and that we are not able to experience Christ in a similar way to Peter and the disciples? Can we not also know Christ?
Yes, we can. If we want to.
Yes, we can. If our faith goes beyond words.
Yes, we can. If our experience of Christ exists within the community of Christ, but also goes beyond the community to the risen and living person of Jesus, to our Lord and Savior who is also called our friend, our brother, our co-heir of the inheritance from our heavenly Father.
Jesus promised his disciples that he would be with them. He is also with us. He walks with us. As we go, he is there. As we read his word each day, we receive him. We soak him in. We live a life with Christ, and we see him move and work within our daily experiences.
We are also his witnesses. Peter and the other disciples were there when Jesus was physically here on the earth. We also are here now because, in us, Jesus is spiritually here on the earth. Not in the metaphorical way. In a real way. Through the word of God and through his Spirit. We can also experience Jesus, and we can also tell the stories of how he has changed us, or how he has changed our circumstances, or how he has moved in people or in situations around us. We are eyewitnesses to these things as well. We have seen it, and we, like Peter, testify to his majesty so that he will receive glory for both who he is and what he has done.