In the Hour of Denial

For this week's blog post, I'll use a piece of my own writing.  The following message was written as one part of a seven-part series of messages delivered by various clergy members at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, New Ulm MN on Good Friday 2014. The traditional Three Hour Service followed "The Hours of Jesus' Passion."   My section looked at "The Hour of Denial" -- when Peter repeatedly insisted he did not know Jesus.

- David Sellnow

About The Electric Gospel

 

"Jesus Turns and Looks at Us"

Disciples of Jesus, who live in the courtyard of this world:

Joe worked on a road construction crew with a pretty rough group of guys.  Joe was a religious man, but didn’t want to be hassled for his faith.  So he just did his job, earned his pay, kept to himself, didn’t talk much.

Gina went to college at a major university.  There wasn’t much evidence of faith in the people living up and down the hall in Gina’s dorm.  Gina was a Christian, but didn’t really advertise that.  She wanted to fit in and didn’t want to be criticized or challenged.

Sam was single and looking.  He went to a speed dating event, hoping to meet interesting women.  He decided in advance he wasn’t going to say anything about his religion.  He only had five minutes to meet each person.  He didn’t want to put up any obstacles that might keep someone from wanting to get to know him.  And he didn’t want anyone to think his faith was the main thing that defined him.

As Christ’s followers, we act like that sometimes.  We want a connection to Christ, but we don’t want to be hassled about it.  We want Christ to be with us, but we’re not always eager to let others know we’re with him.  We may be bold and loud when we’re in here (in church), among ourselves, where we can sing our hymns and say our prayers without hesitation.  But when we’re out there, rubbing shoulders with persons who’ve given a cold shoulder to Jesus, we grow timid.  We get quiet.    We claim—like Simon Peter claimed—to be ardent followers of Jesus, but when the pressure is on we are more prone to deny him than to identify ourselves with him.

Let’s look at Peter’s denial—and in it see our own failure to stand strong in faith, but also see our Savior loving us and calling us back to him.   Let's look at Luke’s account of the events, since Luke notes an important detail about what happened just as Peter’s denial reached its loudest point. 

Seizing Jesus, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance.  And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.  A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”

But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.

A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”

“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.

About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”

Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.  The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”   And he went outside and wept bitterly.

(Luke 22:54-62)

We can understand Peter’s fear, why denial spilled from his lips instead of confession – because we get scared like that.  But did he need to be afraid?  What would they have done with him if he’d said, “Yes, I was with him; yes, I know him; yes, I am one of his disciples”?  Probably they’d just have ridiculed him and mocked Jesus.  If they were going to arrest Peter and do him bodily harm, they’d have grabbed him in Gethsemane.  There he was full of bravado and slashed an ear off one of the high priest’s men.  But Jesus had put an end to the swordplay.  And the authorities weren’t interested in Peter.  They were after Jesus.  Peter’s safety wasn’t really in jeopardy as he stood in the priest’s courtyard.

But Peter was afraid the way we get afraid, even when our personal safety isn’t at risk.  If we are open and transparent about our relationship with Jesus in the midst of people who are not Jesus’ disciples, what’s the worst we usually have to fear?  Ridicule.  Scoffing.  Verbal abuse.   And yet, like Peter, we become weak.   We are cowardly instead of confident.   While we may make brave proclamations about Jesus in the safety of our own gatherings, when we’re face to face with Jesus’ enemies in the world we are likely to hide our relationship with him.

Peter's Denial by Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834-1890)

But then comes that look.   Luke tells us that just as Peter was denying Jesus for the third time, just when a rooster crowed (just as Jesus had predicted), Jesus turned and looked straight at Peter.  I suppose you might have difficulty imagining how that could happen.  Wasn’t Jesus inside the high priest’s residence and Peter was standing out in the courtyard, by the fire?   I don’t want to spend too much time here on details, but renowned archaeological architect Leen Ritmeyer’s reconstruction of the Palatial Mansion of the high priest in Jerusalem shows how the layout of the building and the courtyard was such that there was a clear line of sight from the edge of the courtyard through a doorway into the main reception room where Jesus stood before the high priest.  We were told (by Matthew) that after a servant girl had pegged Peter as a follower of Jesus, Peter had moved over toward the gateway (Matthew 26:71).  It seems that with each confrontation Peter edged further toward the edge of the courtyard, closer to the exit.  And from that spot there was a view through another archway right into the center of the reception room.  And so as Peter was confronted a third time … and with even more forceful words than before he swore he did not know Jesus … and the rooster crowed … Jesus was able to look out, through the doorway, and look directly at Peter.  “Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times’” (Luke 22:61).

That look of Jesus – what did that look look like?   Luke only tells us that Jesus looked at Peter, he doesn’t specify how he looked at him.  But from what has been revealed to us about Jesus, we can know something about that look.

It could not have been a look of shock or outrage.  Jesus knew exactly what Peter was going to do that night.  He had told Peter in advance about how he would deny his Lord three times.  Everything was playing out just as Jesus had said it would go.  So Jesus was not taken aback by what Peter was doing.  His look at Peter was a reminder.  His eyes said what he had already told Peter in words earlier that night:  “You will deny me.”  Jesus didn’t have to say anything further.  Peter knew Jesus had spoken the truth.  Peter was reminded that Jesus is the Truth.

It could not have been a look of spite or hatred.  Jesus was not doing what he was doing because he hated Peter or anyone involved in what was happening.  Jesus came into this world because God so loved the world.  Jesus “loved his own who were in the world; he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). And he demonstrated his love for us in that “while we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). While Peter was sinning against him, denying him with curses, Jesus still loved Peter and was reaching out to him.  When Jesus looked at Peter, it could not have been a look of indignation.

It could not have been a look of rejection or condemnation.  “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).  And specifically toward Peter, Jesus had shown his constant love and care.  Earlier that night, before telling Peter the prophecy about how he would fall into denial, Jesus had said to him:  “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.   But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32).  Jesus was not intent on condemning Peter; his overriding concern was to preserve Peter, to save him.  Even if we are faithless in our actions, Jesus “remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).   So says the promise of Scripture.  And Jesus made good on that promise to Peter.  Satan sifted him like wheat, that’s for sure.  But Jesus held on to Peter.  With just one look, through the doorway, out into the dim light of the outer court, Jesus grabbed hold of Peter’s eyes and his heart.  And Peter ran out and wept bitterly.  He was ashamed.  He was acutely aware of his failure.  But he had hope.  He had a Savior who had told him he was going to fail but that he would be brought back.  He had a Savior who led him to hear the rooster’s crow as a warning.  He had a Savior who in the darkest moment looked at his friend with a look that showed that he knew Peter, that he loved Peter, that he was seeking Peter’s soul.

We also have our failures, our cowardice, our weakness of faith.  But as with Peter, our Lord does not look at us with outrage or hatred or condemnation.  The look in Jesus’ eyes is the look of the eternal God who stooped down from heaven to stand trial in our place, the look of someone who was willing to suffer unimaginable pain and horror for our sake, the look of a Savior who was willing to give himself up completely in order to win us back to God.  And we have been turned back to Jesus, again and again.  So with renewed strength, forgiven of our denials—like Peter—we can strengthen one another, strengthen our brothers and sisters.