Cry

Luke 22:54-62 (The Message)

54-56 Arresting Jesus, they marched him off and took him into the house of the Chief Priest.

Peter followed, but at a safe distance.

In the middle of the courtyard some people had started a fire and were sitting around it, trying to keep warm. One of the serving maids sitting at the fire noticed him, then took a second look and said, "This man was with him!"

57 He denied it, "Woman, I don't even know him."

58 A short time later, someone else noticed him and said, "You're one of them."

But Peter denied it: "Man, I am not."

59 About an hour later, someone else spoke up, really adamant: "He's got to have been with him! He's got 'Galilean' written all over him."

60-62 Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about."

At that very moment, the last word hardly off his lips, a rooster crowed.

Just then, the Master turned and looked at Peter. Peter remembered what the Master had said to him: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."

He went out and cried and cried and cried.

What's the worst you've ever "messed up?"

Whatever it is...it can't be as bad as Peter's.

He had been so brave before the hard times came. He had told Jesus that he would stand with him no matter what. He had said that he was ready to lay down his life.

But in the end, he just wasn't ready.

In the heat of the moment...in the turmoil and swirl of Jesus' arrest...he faced more pressure and danger than he had ever imagined.

He wasn't ready. Not yet.

One of the saddest and most broken pictures in all of scripture is that of Peter, weeping.

He had promised more than he could deliver. Head in hands, eyes weeping bitter tears, he is most pitiable because he believes that his is a failure than can never be undone.

If this was the end of Peter's story, it would be terrible news for us all.

Each of us is capable of good intentions, and promising more than we can provide. Each of us has experienced bitter failure, but we know that this is not the end of the story.

For now...we sit with Peter in the bitterness of his tears. There will be more darkness before the dawn, but the dawn of good news will surely come.

Father, we thank you for this picture of brokenness, because it mirrors the feelings that we have sometimes had in the wake of failure. Remind us of what can yet be, when you redeem our failures and give us your grace.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.