March 25, 2005 Good Friday John 13:36-38

 March 25, 2005                                  Good Friday                                       John 13:36-38

 

John 13:36-38 “Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward." Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.”

 

Do you have younger siblings?  How about a younger cousin that follows you around?  One who asks the same question over and over again?  Nothing you do can stop them, not shouting, getting angry, nothing.

That’s what Jesus wanted to do with Peter.  He wanted Peter to get ‘it.’  And what was ‘it?’  It was that Peter wasn’t ready to lay down his life for Jesus.  But Jesus knew what the outcome was going to be… Simon Peter would not lay his life down, but rather would deny Jesus three times.

How many times do people deny Jesus?  They pray and promise to do something and wind up forgetting.  And once they remember, the remorse and pain they feel hits and then they begin to understand the message of Good Friday.  They nailed him there.  Their every denial was another swing of the hammer, driving the nails into the hands and feet of Christ.

Their connection with our Lord comes from the guilt they feel at failing to stand beside him… Wait a minute… I just realized that I’ve written this entire devotional in the third person when I should have been referring to me.  God forgive me… And he has!!

 

Gracious Lord, forgive me/us when I/we see the faults of others and not our own.  Hear our prayers of gratitude for the grace you give us through Christ. Know Lord, the pain we feel when we think of what he did for each of us.  This we ask in His precious name.  Amen

 

Contributed by Rachel O’Dowd