The Lord Turned & Looked Straight At Peter
Truth
Luke 22:54-71 | Gospels during Lent: Matthew 15-16
It really is interesting just how much the gospel has to do with the truth. Just look at our passage today:
Peter can’t tell it.
They mock Jesus by hiding it concerning who’s hitting him.
The leaders seek it from Jesus, but can’t see it standing right in front of them.
Truth is central.
Luke 22:54-71
After they arrested Jesus, they led him away and brought him to the high priest’s house. Peter followed from a distance. When they lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.
Then a servant woman saw him sitting in the firelight. She stared at him and said, “This man was with him too.”
But Peter denied it, saying, “Woman, I don’t know him!”
A little while later, someone else saw him and said, “You are one of them too.”
But Peter said, “Man, I’m not!”
An hour or so later, someone else insisted, “This man must have been with him, because he is a Galilean too.”
Peter responded, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about!” At that very moment, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the Lord’s words: “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And Peter went out and cried uncontrollably.
The men who were holding Jesus in custody taunted him while they beat him. They blindfolded him and asked him repeatedly, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” Insulting him, they said many other horrible things against him.
As morning came, the elders of the people, both chief priests and legal experts, came together, and Jesus was brought before their council.
They said, “If you are the Christ, tell us!”
He answered, “If I tell you, you won’t believe. And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. But from now on, the Human One will be seated on the right side of the power of God.”
They all said, “Are you God’s Son, then?”
He replied, “You say that I am.”
Then they said, “Why do we need further testimony? We’ve heard it from his own lips.”
Prayer
God,
Help me to tell the truth.
I’d add, “…with love,” but I’m not sure there’s any other truth, so help me understand that and tell it.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.