Someone tells about a pastor who was late for church. He flagged down a taxicab and instructed the cabdriver to do everything within his power to get him to church on time. So the cab sped off and weaved through traffic for about ten blocks. The dangerous driving ended in a fatal accident. Both the cabdriver and the pastor died.
When their spirits arrived at the entrance of Heaven, they met Saint Peter. The Pastor, confident of his entrance into Heaven, allowed the cabdriver to go ahead of him. After chatting with the cabdriver, Saint Peter allowed the cabdriver into Heaven.
Then Saint Peter turned to the Pastor and said, "Pastor, I’m afraid I have bad news for you. You aren’t going into Heaven."
The Pastor, shocked at what he heard, asked, "Why would you let a cabdriver into Heaven and not let one of God’s servant into Heaven?"
To which Peter replied, "Well, whenever the cabdriver drove, people prayed. Whenever you preached, people slept."
This is one of more than a dozen Saint Peter jokes that come from a false understanding of verses 19-20. The reason why Jesus gave Peter the keys of Heaven and then told His disciples not to tell anyone that He is the Christ is because if others knew Jesus was the Savior, they wouldn’t allow Him to die on the cross. We read in verse 22 that even Peter was tempted to prevent Jesus’ death on the cross.
...