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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated.
If this sound had not been heard, everyone would have noticed. But when this sound was heard, only one man heard it. And he heard it with shame and with guilt. And that was Peter and the cock crowing. For everyone else, it was a normal sound. In fact, had it not been heard, they would have wondered what was the problem. But for him, that normal sound meant, I failed. It is I. Peter was brought back from this fantasy that he had in his mind, and we are tempted to have the same fantasy. The fantasy is that we can love the Lord and it will not cost us persecution. And that is a fantasy. Peter was brought back from this fantasy and was taught that there would be persecution with loving the Lord.
Earlier, before this ever happened, Jesus had said to his apostles, a servant, that would be you and me, is not greater than his master, and that would be our Lord Jesus. If they persecuted me, Jesus said, they will also persecute you. But Jesus added this most glorious promise after He had said that warning. He said, If they kept My word, then they will keep yours also. Meaning, there will be those who come to faith because of Jesus proclaiming that word that the Holy Spirit uses to work in their hearts. And if they did it for Jesus, and you are carrying His word as His servant, the promise is they will also do that for you, but there will be persecution.
It was out of great love that Jesus had warned Peter about betraying Him. It was not out of gotcha that Jesus said what He said to Peter. It was not, I told you so, that He warned Peter. It was out of love that you and I have been warned by friends and sadly even by parents, and we’ve said it to our own children as well. The intent was not to warn them, but what comes out of our mouth after they have fallen is, “‘Gotcha’ or “‘I told you so.'” That was not and was never Jesus’ intent when He warned Peter. It was out of pure and gracious love. And He warns us with the same love that we may then with joy bear witness to our Master and not be afraid.
It is not as if Peter woke up that morning thinking in his head, how am I going to deny my Lord Jesus this day? It is the same for you. You do not wake up any given morning and think in your head, how am I going to deny my Lord Jesus this day? But by word or by action, we do. And though we may not hear the cock crow in the distance, our Lord, by His Holy Spirit, does remind us. Peter was placed in a very precarious position. He was scared because of what he had seen done to Jesus by the soldiers taking Him away. He was uncertain of what his role was. Does he stop this? He tried to, remember, with the sword in the garden. And he said, put the sword away, Peter.
Peter was very scared and very uncertain and very uncomfortable. God puts you in those same scary situations. God puts you in those situations where you are uncomfortable, where you are uncertain. Not for the sake of punishing you, but for the sake of growing up your faith in the midst of persecution. His desire is not to crush you, no more than His desire was to crush Peter. He wanted Peter to grow. In fact, do you remember in Luke’s Gospel? In Luke’s Gospel, when Jesus tells Peter about this, He even adds this last statement: and when you return, strengthen your brothers as well. Meaning, in your humility, uphold your friends. And uphold them not with, I am better, or I have my stuff together more, but that isn’t God’s grace full of forgiveness. Do not be hard on yourself or let Satan beat you.
Peter was confronted with his weakness when that cock crowed because Peter had said boldly and proudly, I will never deny you, O Lord. And our loving Lord knows that you have pride too. Oh, do you and I have pride. We love to mask it and cloak it so that it’s not so obvious, but pride is what we all have. And the roaring lion pounces always on the proud. The humble, the roaring lion doesn’t touch because he is protected. But the proud, oh my, the proud. God has to let the proud be humbled. You’ve experienced that being humbled, haven’t you? Maybe it’s even caused you and me to weep bitterly over being shown that we’re not all that.
What were the words that Jesus used to describe Jesus when He was asked the third time? This is the man whom Jesus was His brother, Peter. This was the man Jesus whom Peter was His faithful beloved. And he calls his beloved this man of whom you speak. How your son or daughter would be crushed by the words, you are not my son, you are not my daughter. And yet those were the words that flowed from the lips of Peter toward Jesus in that garden. Jesus did not turn his back on Peter, did He? Jesus did not push away Peter, cross His arms upon His chest, and give him the parental scowl which we have seen and which we have given.
Peter was received back by our Lord Jesus with open arms, not with closed arms. This is also the one He has just fed the very flesh and blood at the Last Supper moments before He says, this man of whom you speak. We can leave this church having just fed upon that, and things will flow from our lips that after having spoken them, they’re already out there in the air and we cannot take them back. We can only confess. We can only repent. We can only receive the forgiveness that He offers us. And that is all.
Prior to all of this as well, in the upper room when He gave him His flesh and blood with the bread and wine, Jesus taught them these very important words. John records it in his Gospel. And he says, You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. In other words, you’re not hated because you are you. You are hated because you are mine. But not, here’s the promise, but not a hair on your head will perish. So he tells them they’re going to be hated, but then he tells them such great comfort: not a hair on your head will perish. By your endurance, you will gain your lives.
He does it again in another way. Jesus said, are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of those sparrows is forgotten before God? Amen. Fear not, he says, you are of more value than many sparrows. Peter was more fixated with what he was going to do for Jesus rather than what Jesus had told him of His love for him. Peter wasn’t fixated on the promise that not a hair of his head will be perished. Peter was not fixated on the promise, fear not, are you not of more value than many sparrows. Peter was fixated, like you and me, on our own promise. How it will affect us.
When Jesus overthrew sin and the power in your life and my life because of sin, it is a conflict that we will never have to fight. It was fought there. But because we are the servants of the Master, it does flow downhill to us from the cross. But what flows from the cross downhill to you? His blood and His water from His side, the forgiveness of sins flows down. Not the punishment. Not the tsk-tsk. Not the I told you so. Not the gotcha. Jesus did say, “‘Everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.'”
Jesus always confesses you as His beloved child. You are His. Peter grasped that and wept bitter, sorrowful tears. And we too repent in our great need to witness both in words and in actions. We’re never called to explain all of the mysteries or all of the paradoxes. In the Christian faith, we are only called to proclaim. And that’s all. Just proclaim. Confess the Master and let Him do what He wishes to do in the lives of those who our lives touch and receive the forgiveness for all of our times like Peter when pride did come before our fall.
In the name of Jesus, Amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
