The text above is pulled from the account where Jesus is
arrested and brought before the high priest. Jesus looked at Peter in response
to the rooster that crowed, indicating that Peter had denied Christ for the third
time before a public audience…something Christ predicted would happen, yet
Peter adamantly proclaimed would not happen. When I read the words above in
verse 61…”The Lord turned and looked
straight at Peter”…I find myself almost cowering, as if I were Peter,
seated there before the Lord, having denied him as predicted. Did I cower
because I was imagining what it would be like to be in Peter’s shoes? Or did I cower
because I realized that I am actually walking in Peter’s shoes every day? Each
time that we choose a sinful path, we are essentially denying Christ…denying
his commands, denying the way of life that he prescribed, denying the will of
his Father. It’s a sobering realization, a humbling place to stand in those
shoes, feeling the Lord’s eyes upon us as if he were saying, “See, I told you that you would deny me, I
told you that you would wrong me”. Much like Jesus knew what Peter would
do, he knows the mistakes that we are going to make even before we make them…he
knows that we are going to deny him, ignore him, choose the world over him. And
when he willingly took on that punishing cross for Peter that day, he also took
it on for each of us…so that when we return to him with a repentant heart, he won’t
have to turn us away. Instead he can embrace us with incredible love, for the
price has been paid, the sentence has been completed, the punishment is no
more. He took it on for us, and he defeated it! May we live our lives each day
with his sacrifice in mind, committed to make our every thought, word, and action
bring a smile to his face! To God be the glory!
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