Today’s Reading: Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:54-65, John 18:15-18,25-27
While Jesus was being questioned at the home of Caiphas, the high priest, Peter had slipped into the courtyard unnoticed. While the other disciples had kept running, Peter had paused and then followed the soldiers at a safe distance. As the night went on, Peter moved closer to the action.
The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there. A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, “This man was one of Jesus’ followers!”
But Peter denied it. “Woman,” he said, “I don’t even know him!” – Luke 22:55-57
Peter was the only disciple brave enough to be here, and yet the limitations of his courage were now evident. Perhaps he denied being one of Jesus’ followers out of fear that they would make him leave, or perhaps he was afraid he, too, would be arrested. Either way, when the moment came for Peter to stand for Jesus, he cowered in denial.
After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!”
“No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted. – Luke 22:58
Perhaps Peter’s first response came from a place of fear, but this one seems to come from a place of anger. Peter sharply and angrily responded to the accusation. Leave me alone; turn your attention to someone else. I am not who you think I am!
About an hour later someone else insisted, “This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.”
But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. – Luke 22:59-60
The sound of the rooster crowing must have struck a heavy chord with Peter. He turned his attention from those around the fire, and he looked towards where they were questioning Jesus.
At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly. – Luke 22:61-62
When I consider this moment in Peter’s life, I wonder what I would have done. Instead of finding myself shocked and irritated by Peter’s denial, I find myself understanding. I would love to believe that I would have courageously stood in confidence of who I am and what my relationship with Jesus means to me, but I know from experience that fear is a powerful emotion.
We have all felt that fight or flight response when faced with a potentially harmful situation. We have all had moments of regret that we did not stand boldly for Christ while those around us mocked Christianity. We live in a world that does not understand our faith. The tolerance for religion is weakening, and it is important for us to make a decision today about how we will respond tomorrow.
The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and said, “Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?” And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him. – Luke 22:63-65
Jesus could have called down angels to protect him in this moment, but he willingly received every cruel statement and physical blow. He felt the pain of each insult, and I believe he felt the pain of Peter’s denial. Everyone whom he had invested in for the last three years was now gone. He stood there and received the world’s hatred, bearing the penalty for all of our sins — for the betrayal of Jesus, for the denial of Peter, and for each and every one of my sins.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. – Isaiah 53:3-6