阅读经文 

想像一下你生活在第一世纪或第二世纪，听说了基督教。你通过约翰福音知道了耶稣和祂的门徒们，以及早期教会的事。（参徒）你甚至也听说了彼得否认主的事。（参约 18:15-27）接着你便意识到，彼得后来成了使徒们的领袖，开始建立许多教会。

你会怎么想？当你知道这场运动是由一个公开有污点的人所领导的，他在艰难时离弃了耶稣，你还会对他充满信心吗？

对有些人来说，这可能是一个障碍。 他们可能没信心加入由这个过去有污点的人领导的运动。人们倾向于把领袖理想化，期待他们完美。但约翰福音让我们不能这样看待彼得。

这就是问题的关键。约翰选择了这个故事，即使这让早期教会的一个关键人物看起来很糟糕。事实上，约翰正是以这个彼得回转的故事作为本书卷的结尾，强调了耶稣对罪人的仁慈态度。

作为读者，我们应该在彼得身上看到我们自己。彼得的故事就是我们的故事。在这里，我们最后再次被提醒，我们的信仰不是关乎我们，以及我们为神所做的。相反，它完全是关乎耶稣为我们所做的一切，正显明神是谁。

Imagine living in the first or second century and hearing about Christianity. You learn about Jesus in the book of John, and about his followers and the early church (book of Acts). You even learn about Peter's betrayal of Jesus (see John 18:15-27). And then you realize that Peter became a leader of the apostles and helped to start many churches.

How would that strike you? Would it fill you with confidence, knowing that this movement was led by an openly flawed guy who had turned his back on Jesus when things got difficult?

For some people, that might have been a deal-breaker. They might not have felt confident to be part of a movement led by this person with a past. People have a tendency to want to idealize leaders and expect them to be perfect. But John's gospel makes it impossible to see Peter that way.

That's exactly the point. John chose to include this story even though it makes a key figure in the early church look bad. In fact, John actually closes the book with this restoration story to highlight Jesus' gracious attitude toward sinners.

As readers, we are meant to see ourselves in Peter. His story is our story. And here we are left with a final reminder that our faith is not about us and what we do for God. Instead, it's all about what Jesus has done for us, to show us who God is.