Of all the men and women in the Bible, of all the amazing stories of faith and failure, one person stands out for me. The apostle Peter.
I think many of us can relate to Peter and his interactions with Jesus. Peter was a fisherman, a normal guy who heard Jesus’ call to follow.
Like Peter, we want to follow Jesus, even when the going gets tough. We want to hear Jesus’ assurance that because of his help, we will be able to do amazing things. We want the faith to respond to Jesus’ call to “Come”, to get out of the boat and walk on water. But, like Peter, our faith wavers and we find ourselves sinking in a sea of pain and doubt.
As we enter Holy Week, I invite us to use our spiritual imaginations and consider the events of Jesus’ final week of human life through the eyes of Peter, the fisherman who, the Bible tells us, was the first disciple Jesus called and the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
Entering Into Jerusalem
Let’s journey together with Peter through these final days from Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem to cheers of Hosanna to the cries by many of the same people who now yelled “Crucify Him!”
As the people of Jerusalem greet Jesus’ entry into the city on that Sunday morning with waving palms and shouts of Hosanna!, it must feel very good to be one of Jesus’ closest disciples. If People magazine had existed, Peter would certainly have been interviewed, basking in Jesus’ reflected glory
The next days are filled with some of Jesus’ most profound teaching. We hear Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees’ question about the greatest commandment, saying “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Thursday Evening
And now it’s Thursday—the day before the start of Passover, one of the most important times in the Jewish faith where the exodus from Egypt and God’s promises of faithfulness are remembered. Together with all the disciples, we find ourselves in Jerusalem, with Jesus in a room on the upper level of the house where we are visiting.
Jesus shocks every one of us in the room as he kneels down and washes first one and then the next disciple’s feet. Remember, this was traditionally the job of a slave. As Jesus comes to us and reaches out to place our feet in a bowl of water that is now cooling, we, who want so much to prove how much we love Jesus, yank our feet back and say, “You’re never going to wash my feet.” Jesus looks kindly up and responds, “If you don’t let me wash your feet, you have no part of what I am doing.” Again, we try so hard so we say, “then not just my feet but also my hands, my head.” Jesus says, “if you had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed and you will be clean.” So we give in and Jesus gently washes each of our feet before drying them off with the towel tied around his waist.
After Jesus finishes the last disciple, he returns to his seat, Jesus tells us, “and now, you have seen what I have done and I call on each one of you to do the same for one another.”
Then Jesus shocks us all again when he says Judas will betray him. He goes on to break his bread and offer his cup with the words we remember each time we take communion.
I now invite you to again imagine yourself as Peter and you want Jesus to know how much you love him as you hear Jesus’ words: "You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written, "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' but after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee." You say to Jesus, "Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you." Jesus says to us, " Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” As Peter, again with so much love for Jesus, we say, "Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you." And so said all the disciples.
Rather Die Than Deny Knowing You
We hear ourselves as Peter crying out. "I would rather die than deny knowing you." We cannot begin to imagine a situation where we would reject this man who has taught us so very much. That Jesus could even think such a thing is incomprehensible.
We now move to later that night. We have left the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus has been arrested after Judas kissed his cheek to identify him to the Roman soldiers. In the courtyard of Caiaphas, Jesus is accused of blasphemy and the people shout for him to be put to death. We watch as people spit on Jesus and hit him and slap him as he is led away.
It’s now very late. It’s cold. As Peter, we are tired. We are afraid. Will we, as one of Jesus’ followers, be arrested? We try to stay in the shadows as there are many people still around, huddled around fires, talking about what has just happened. After two servant girls accuse us of being a friend of Jesus, we respond to a third person’s accusation by cursing and swearing an oath before shouting, "I do not know the man!" And it is, at that moment, that the rooster crows three times.
As Peter, we leave the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
What are we, as Peter, thinking? We love Jesus. We want to follow Jesus. We want to obey Jesus. But now…we have completely and utterly failed him. We did the one thing that we said that we would die before we’d ever do. How could Jesus, the Messiah, ever care for us again given how we just let our fears cause us to do such a dreadful thing and say we don’t know him. We’re ashamed, we’re alone, we’re hiding in the shadows. That had to be a very dark night for Peter.
While the Bible doesn’t tell us specifically, we might assume that Peter is present the next day, watching as Jesus is flogged, forced to carry the heavy cross, and capped with a crown of thorns. We don’t want to be there but we can’t not be there either. We stay in the background, behind the crowds of people, praying that Jesus will not look at us. We’re afraid of the judgment we expect to see in his eyes.
Our heart crumbles as Jesus suffers on the cross. Unable to endure any more of Jesus’ pain, we turn to walk away. And as we do, Jesus cries out in anguish, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (pause) What we hear, is “Peter…How could you have rejected me?
For Reflection (either individually or with a group)
Read the blog. Read it a second time, maybe reading it aloud or asking someone else to read it aloud so you can hear it with different intonation and emphases. Invite the Divine to open your heart to allow the light of new understanding to pierce the shadows of embedded assumptions, stereotypes, and ways of thinking so that you may live more abundantly. Then spend some time with the following questions together with anything or anyone who helps you reflect more deeply.
Download a pdf including the Reflection Questions to share and discuss with friends, family, or members of your faith community small group.