John 1:42 “And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be(Aramaic uses a pefect tense – are) called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.”
Years ago I worked in a mailroom and one of my co-workers was a sweet little Christian woman that we all affectionately called Miss Betty. Miss Betty loved Jesus and would not hesitate to tell you that she did. She was also not afraid to lay her hand upon you and pray over you if you so requested. And her prayers were powerful, carrying a simple childlike quality to them. I suppose this was the case because she was very childlike herself. One day I walked into her workstation and found she was livid. She had just read in the paper that the President of the United States announced a plan to land a space ship on Mars. She was beside herself, “What we doin’ going to Mars anyways?” she declared. “Right,” I responded getting into the mood. “We could use that money for much better things here on earth.” Miss Betty seemed to ignore my contribution and went on, “We go up there and what do we do, we will turn them into slaves.” “You preach it Miss Betty,” I joined in, “We will only turn them into…Huh?” Miss Betty still ignoring my input continued: “You don’t see them coming down here bothering us do you?” “Uh,” I interrupt, “Who coming down…where?” Miss Betty looked at me as if I just stepped off the turnip truck and said: “Why the Martians, of course, you don’t see them coming here do you?” Through a mouth forming a perfect circle I replied: “Well, yeah, I mean, well, I guess I haven’t seen any Martians walking down Michigan Ave lately (although I was wondering about those students from the Art Institute I saw recently).” Miss Betty didn’t miss a beat, “Right, I say it is their planet, let them have it!” Well, I guess I couldn’t argue with that.
Miss Betty was dead serious. She had a very simple mind, a childlike mind. She was, what the Aramaic speaking Semitic people of the first century would call a Cephas. We render this word in English as a stone, which it is. Some translations rightly render it as a proper name using the Greek form, Peter. Yet, it is also a colloquial word and a nickname to describe someone who is a little slow to grasp things, sort of childlike. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an insult, it could be an affectionate expression for someone who is well meaning, loyal, dependable, but not quite on the intellectual level of others. Peter’s given name was Simon or Shimon in Aramaic which was a common name of that day and meant one who listened very closely and had keen perception. Perhaps Peter was a Shimon because he was not mentally quick and it took him longer than most people to process information. Because of this he was nicknamed Cephas or a stone. There were many Simons in those days and when Jesus first met Peter he basically said: “So you are Simon, the one they call Cephas.” In other words Jesus was letting Peter know that He knew all about him, even down to the point that He knew what his closest friends and family called him.
We learn in Matthew 16:18 that although Peter was known by a name which suggested that he was intellectually inferior to others, Jesus declared that it would be that very thing that He would build His church upon. “You are Cepas (one who is a little slow and childlike) yet it is upon these Cepas’s that I will build my church.”
In Luke 19:40 Jesus declares to the Pharisees “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” These brilliant, learned Pharisees had just told Jesus that he should tell his followers who were declaring Him a king and blessed that they should shut up. Jesus responds by saying that if He did that then the Cepas’s will only pick up the chorus because they don’t stop to question like the scholars do, they just simply believe.
Jesus declared that he would build his church on the Cepas’s. Yet, in our culture we build our churches on the intellectuals, the learned, and the scholars. We honor the brilliant and brightest and send those who are a little bit slower, the Cepas’s to work in the nurseries, or perform the janitorial services. People call me a scholar, but I am not. A scholar must be ready to question his own position. He must be willing to present his position to others of similar credentials and let them question it and provide evidence that he could be wrong and if enough evidence is presented, then he must alter his position and belief. I cannot be a scholar, because I believe and teach that Jesus was born of a virgin, walked this earth as a human being and yet was God incarnate. I believe He died and rose again bringing salvation to the world and gave us his Word, the Bible which is inspired, infallible and inerrant. I will listen to evidence that may attempt to disprove my belief, but no matter what evidence is given, I will never, ever stop believing this nor will I change my belief. In this I am Miss Betty, a Cepas, and as a result I will never be a scholar.
I tell you something else, if I am ever in need of prayer, I am not going to the academically skilled clergymen, who find it hard to believe in something they cannot see, but to the Miss Bettys who believe in Martians without question. For if the Miss Bettys can believe in Martians, they can believe that a God you cannot see will hear and answer your prayers. Truly, God builds His church on the prayers of the Cepas’s, those who have a childlike faith.
Chaim
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