CMP Review 2026-08-09

Of the four Gospels, only John’s book records what Samuel Ngewa describes as our Lord’s “informal contact” with his future disciples, a contact which took place “before he issued the formal call recorded in Matthew 4:18–22 and Mark 1:14–20.”

John’s sacred account reveals the profound moment when Peter first met Christ. Ngewa describes it this way: “Jesus looked at Andrew’s brother and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas…’ Cephas is an Aramaic name, translated into Greek as Peter, meaning ‘a rock’. Like most African names, this was a name with a meaning. Jesus saw in Simon what he would become: someone who would be as firm as a rock in continuing the work of the kingdom once Jesus had departed.”

Charlotte Mason too reflected on this moment. In her poem entitled “Andrew brings Simon,” she notes that the same Jesus who saw what Simon would become also sees deeply into each one of us. Mason writes that Cephas was the “new name given by Him who knows to name Us all.” Read or listen to Mason’s poem about what happens when a name is given by the Savior of the World. Find it here.

@artmiddlekauff

🖼️: The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew by Caravaggio