Luke 22.54-62

PETER

(Luke 22.54-62)

The Lord turned his head and looked straight at Peter, and into his mind flashed the words that the Lord had said, 'You will disown me three times before the cock crows today'. And he went outside and wept bitterly. St Luke 22.61-62

Only nine hours earlier, Peter had protested to Jesus in the Upper Room: 'Lord, I am ready to go to prison, or even die for you.' Now he refuses to admit even knowing Jesus.

This very human story could only have come from Peter himself, for there was no one else there to witness the incident. No matter how embarrassed he later felt when he recalled this incident, Peter was still prepared to share it with his friends, and subsequently with the church through the centuries.

It is a story of human weakness in the face of adverse circumstances. Why did Peter change his mind so quickly? Why did Peter the 'brave' so easily become Peter the 'coward'? Why did he deny Jesus so readily?

Perhaps it was out of fear? After all, Jesus had been arrested and it was not unreasonable for him to think that he too might be arrested as one of his friends.

Perhaps he was ill prepared? After all, he had only been a follower of Jesus for a comparatively short time - three years at the most, and was therefore not ready to ‘nail his colours to the mast'.

Perhaps he felt unsure of himself? After all, he was amongst strangers in that courtyard. His Galilean dialect had already marked him out as a stranger. Therefore, in the presence of sophisticated city people, this ordinary Galilean fisherman chose to remain silent and hide in the crowd.

Or, perhaps, he was angry and disappointed with Jesus?

After all, he and he alone had sought to defend Jesus at the time of his arrest. In fact he had cut off a person's ear with his sword. Instead of receiving well-deserved praise in the struggle which followed, he had received a rebuke from Jesus and been told to put his sword away.

Fear, unpreparedness, uncertainty, anger and disappointment - all these are natural human reactions and may well have contributed to Peter's denial of Jesus. But before we are tempted to throw the first stone, let us remember that he and he alone of the twelve disciples was prepared to follow Jesus after his arrest, albeit from a distance.

We have tried to look at the situation from the point of view of the person concerned. Let us now look at it from the point of view of Jesus.

As in the case of Judas, we are again faced with the question: did Jesus make a mistake when he invited Peter to join the apostolic band?

After all, he was just an ordinary fisherman, with little or no education. It is doubtful whether he could even read and write because he uses Mark to record his reminiscences. Psychologically, he had an erratic and unpredictable temper. He was given to emotional bursts of enthusiasm and despair. In fact, it is extremely unlikely that he would have ever got through a selection conference for the ministry today, let alone be recommended for ordination.

And yet like Judas, Jesus chose him to be a member of the apostolic band. We can only conclude that Jesus was more interested in his potential than his pedigree. He was much more interested in what Peter was capable of becoming than in what he was.

When one considers Peter's subsequent ministry in the life of the early church, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, including his eventual martyrdom in Rome, we can only conclude that Jesus did not make a mistake.

This is not to say that he was not disappointed with him at times, not least when he looked at him after he had denied Jesus three times. Nevertheless, in spite of this shameful downfall, Peter made good in the end and was not too proud to share his personal embarrassment and humiliation with others. He is therefore a source of encouragement and hope to us who may deny Christ in our life of discipleship.

The cockerel is the symbol often used in connection with Peter. The cockerel reminds us of his cocksureness which so easily evaporated in the face of trouble. We know only too well that pride comes before a fall in our own lives.

The cockerel reminds us of Peter's need to be watchful. Again, we too need to be always to be on our guard against denying Jesus, especially by the lives we live or by our silence.

Finally, the cockerel welcomes in the rise of a new day. It reminds us that it is never too late to turn over a new leaf and start again. For Peter, this happened on Easter Day, and there is no reason why Easter Day cannot mark a new beginning in our life of discipleship.