GODLY MEN IN THE BIBLE (Peter)

HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div

PETER

Jesus affectionately gives his closest friend, Simon, the nickname “Rocky,” though the Greek form of the name is “Peter.” Peter is a fisherman until Jesus calls him to be a disciple or “a fisher of men.” Peter soon becomes the “rock” on which Jesus would build his church, even giving him the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

But even Jesus’s closest confidant betrays him, as, on the eve of the crucifixion, Peter denies knowing Jesus three times. Following Jesus’s death, Peter spreads Christianity abroad, and while in Rome, tradition holds that in 64 C.E., Nero had Peter crucified upside-down — a request Peter makes so as not to denigrate Jesus’s death. His tomb is now encased within St. Peter’s Basilica.