Was St. Peter the greatest of Jesus' original Twelve disciples?
St. Peter is certainly the most commonly mentioned of the original Twelve. He always stands at
the head of the list whenever the names of the Twelve apostles are listed in the Bible.
And he was clearly part of Jesus' inner circle, even within the Twelve. He is, unquestionably,
the most prominent of the Twelve.
But did Jesus give him a special role among the Twelve, a special position, or was he
just more active than the others?
Jesus gives us an answer to this question, and in an unexpected place . . .
Jesus took three disciples with him to the Transfiguration: Peter, James, and John. These
three were uniquely privileged to witness the Transfiguration, and they--together with
Peter's brother Andrew--formed Jesus' inner circle within the Twelve.
After these three received the special privilege of seeing their Master's glory, it's not surprising
that a dispute broke out among the Twelve concerning their relevant ranks. This provided
Jesus with an occasion to give them both a lesson in humility and a lesson in true leadership.
In Luke 9, we read . . .
[46] And an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.
[47] But when Jesus perceived the thought of their hearts, he took a child and put him
by his side,
[48] and said to them, "Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever
receives me receives him who sent me; for he who is least among you all is the one who
is great."
It's possible for us to learn several lessons from Jesus' response to the disciples' quarrel.
One is that it was foolish--although still very human--for the disciples to be concerned
with rank in this way.
A second is that, as so often the case, the nature of Christian truth is paradoxical.
The one who is great in God's eyes is not automatically the one who is great in man's
eyes. It can even be the one who seems least, like a little child.
That is why it is important to receive even the least of God's people with Christian love,
for to do so is to receive Christ and to receive his Father.
But there is another lesson that some may be tempted to draw out of this passage, which
is that the apostles weren't just foolish to question who was the greatest among them
because it revealed a preoccupation with pride and position rather than service to others.
Instead, this view would hold, it was foolish for them to ask the question because there
simply was no greatest among them, that they were all equals, with none having any special
position.
That would be a little hard to square with the fact that Jesus had just taken three,
who we know from other passages were members of his inner circle, to witness the Transfiguration.
Indeed, Jesus himself indicates that some are greater than others in God's eyes, and
who they are has to do with who serve others.
But we don't have to leave the matter there, surprisingly, it comes up again in Luke's
Gospel, and the second time, Jesus gives a specific answer to the question.
The next time the dispute comes up is in Luke 22, during the account of the Last Supper,
but this time Jesus gives a much fuller answer. We read . . .
[24] A dispute also arose among them, which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.
At this point it's easy to roll our eyes. Jesus may have rolled his, too.
Why didn't the disciples take the hint last time the subject came up? Why are they bringing
it up now, at the climax of Jesus' ministry?
Whatever the reasons, Jesus gives the apostles a three-part answer.
The first thing Jesus does is spell out to the apostles the principle of servant leadership--a
leadership model that he himself employs: The one who leads is to be the servant of
all. He tells them:
[25] And he said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and
those in authority over them are called benefactors.
[26] But not so with you; rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the
leader as one who serves.
[27] For which is the greater, one who sits at table, or one who serves? Is it not the
one who sits at table? But I am among you as one who serves.
The second thing Jesus does is to assure the apostles that they will all have a prominent
place in his kingdom. He tells them:
[28] "You are those who have continued with me in my trials;
[29] and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom,
[30] that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging
the twelve tribes of Israel.
The third thing Jesus does is indicate that one of the apostles does indeed have a special
role--a leadership role--among the Twelve. He says:
[31] "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
[32] but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again,
strengthen your brethren."
If you look at the structure of Jesus' answer to the apostles' question, it becomes clear
what he is doing:
1. He explains the general principle of servant leadership--something that applies to everyone.
2. He assures them that they will all have prominent places in his kingdom--something
that applies to the Twelve in particular.
3. He assigns Peter a special role among the Twelve--something that applies specifically
to him.
And so we have an answer. Peter wasn't just an especially active and thus especially prominent
disciple. Jesus gave him a unique pastoral role among the Twelve.
He doesn't just come out and say, "Peter is the greatest." That might have solved the
controversy, but then the apostles would not have had the assurance that they all had special
places and, even more importantly, they would not have had the lesson on the importance
of servant leadership.
He thus teaches them the important spiritual point before answering the question directly.
The passages where the apostles discuss who is the greatest are sometimes thought of as
proof that there was no special role for any of the apostles and therefore that Peter did
not have a special role.
But as we've seen, that's not the case. In fact, quite the opposite.
As we've shown in another video, Jesus also declared Peter was the Rock on which he would
build his Church. That's another passage in which Peter is given a special role--a role
that would be inherited by his successors, the popes.
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