Passion Week XXIV

But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.  The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”  And he went out and wept bitterly.

Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him and beating Him, and they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, “Prophesy, who is the one who hit You?”  And they were saying many other things against Him, blaspheming. (Luke 22:60-65 NASB)

Only in Luke does Jesus look directly at Peter when the rooster crows.  It’s probably a literary device for heightened dramatic effect.  But it’s also inspired Scripture.  To ask if Jesus did or didn’t misses the point.  The point is made in the combination of verses 31 through 34 with these verses.  Yes, Jesus predicted Peter’s denial.  But He also prayed for Peter’s faith, that he would return and strengthen his brothers.  Left by itself, without the additional context of verses 31 through 34, this can seem to be Jesus’ accusing stare.  But with the context it can be better understood as Jesus’ understanding and encouraging stare.

Peter had wandered away from his intent in the courtyard.  He had been sifted like wheat.  It was brutal.  It was a testing few of us have had to endure with such stakes.  Arguments can be made that he didn’t have the Holy Spirit at the time; Peter didn’t have the death, burial, and resurrection to bolster his understanding at the time; or whatever we can come up with to explain Peter’s struggle in the courtyard.  Whatever our explanation, the truth is that he failed to acknowledge his relationship with Jesus, and so have we.  The additional truth is that Jesus already saw that part, but looked forward to Peter’s return, and so He does with us.

What I gain from this is a view of something my Master has given me as a purpose.  He has told me that I am to wait, worship, and walk before Him.  Part of the truth of that third element is that, when I too fail, my Master looks right at me.  When I fail, my Master locks eyes with me.  He doesn’t turn away.  He doesn’t ignore what I did.  He doesn’t point a finger, but looks into my eyes, the windows of my soul.  And I believe He acknowledges that it’s time for the next step, returning.  His look is not accusatory, not a look of disappointment, not a look of disdain or rejection.  His look is one of understanding and invitation.  It’s time to return.  This is part of “walking before Him”, not that I won’t fail as I do, but that as I fail in in His presence, He calls me back.

Peter remembers his Master predicting his failure.  He leaves and weeps bitterly.  But he returns.  In the moment, it’s not about his return.  In the moment the rooster crows, and Jesus looks into his eyes, all Peter can think of is his failure.  He was sifted and found lacking.  The accuser shouts in his head that he failed, and is not worthy to even follow Jesus, perhaps even that what’s happening to Jesus is somehow Peter’s fault.  He weeps bitterly.  Judas will feel remorse and weep bitterly, but from there the paths diverge.  Peter returns and strengthens his brothers.  Judas does not.  Both betrayed Jesus in a sense.  But only one returned.

Feel the stare of Jesus.  Look into His eyes.  When you fail, stumble, or fall, what will you do?  Will you look into the eyes of Jesus and think only of your failure?  Or will you hear His voice calling you back, and when you have returned, strengthen your family of fellow believers?  It’s okay that your failure distracts you and to weep bitterly.  But don’t let it consume you.  Your Master calls you back.  We need your strengthening.

I was going to go on about how ironic it was for the guards to ask Jesus to prophesy who hit Him.  He had just had a recent prediction come to completion with Peter’s denial.  But this sort of wrote itself.  It was ironic.  I’ll leave it at that.  Now, Jesus is calling you back.  What will you do?

What’s your view of Jesus through your knothole?

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Passion Week XXIII

Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance.  After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.  And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.”  But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”  A little later, another saw him and said, “You are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”  After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.”  But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.  (Luke 22:54-60 NASB)

This is perhaps one of the most striking depictions of Peter in Scripture.  It is so important to the good news of salvation through Jesus that it makes it into every Gospel record.  Each is different, but each records a version of it.  Isn’t it interesting that Peter’s denial of Jesus is given such importance?  Why would that be?  Why is Peter’s failure to follow Jesus all the way to the cross so important?  It wasn’t like he was unique among the other disciples, none of them went to the cross with Jesus either.  They all fled Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested.

But Peter is caught between what he wants to be, knows he should be, and his fears.  He’s close, but afraid to be closer.  He wants to know what’s happening, what will happen, but not willing to endanger himself.  In John the ironies are pronounced as John lets Jesus in and is there as well, but isn’t bothered.  People already know him, and seem to have no problem with him.  But Peter fears being known and associated with Jesus.

Peter finds it easier to deny his association than risk not knowing what happens to Jesus.  But then the denials become the focus, and he’s less concerned about knowing what happens.  Eventually Peter discovers he’s sold out just as predicted, and leaves, not knowing what happens to Jesus.  He fails to get what he wants by trying to protect his getting what he wants.   He wants to be that strong follower of Jesus, to be that one who goes to the very end.  But Peter discovers that he doesn’t have it in him.

How is this not a depiction of us?   Which of us has not denied our association with Jesus for far less?   When have we’ve resisted bringing up our faith in conversations with our neighbors and family, or perhaps we’ve skipped church or personal time with Jesus to be around our friends, go on a vacation, or have “family time”?  How often have we made clear our priorities, and where our relationship with Jesus falls in those priorities, when we subordinated Jesus to everyone else in our life?

Jesus loves us.  He’ll understand and forgive.  We can treat Him this way.  We somehow convince ourselves we get away with it.  Think about that.  What does that even mean?  How do we get away with it?   Can we really have convinced ourselves that we can suffer no consequences for living with Jesus as a minimal priority?  Seriously?

Peter understood and wept bitterly when he discovered what he had done.  He felt remorse.  But more, he returned to the disciples.  In the beginning of the song, What if I stumble by DC Talk, Brennan Manning can be heard saying,

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him with their lifestyle.   That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

So, yes, Peter denies Jesus three times, just as Jesus said he would.  And so do we.  The question for Peter was what he would do with that failure.  And so it is for us.  Will we continue to live in that manner, or feel remorse but go no further than feeling?  Or will we, like Peter return to our brothers and sisters to strengthen them?  Jesus has prayed for us, and continues to pray for us, that our faith might be strengthened.

Jesus wants us to return after failure.  He doesn’t want us to remain in the failure, believing that His understanding us means there will be no consequences.  He wants us to treasure our relationship with Him so highly that everything that endangers that relationship is too much for us to bear.  Jesus wants the loss or diminishing of our relationship with Him to be consequence enough.  But in case you believe that there would be nothing beyond that, please read this:

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33 NASB)

Brennan Manning’s statement may be sobering, but please let this be terrifying.  Do we we really think risking being denied before the Father in heaven is worth whatever discomfort we avoid here?  It certainly isn’t comfortable to deny Jesus with our lives.  For a while it nags at us.  Fear the day it stops nagging at us.  Return!  If we deny Him three times, return!  If we live as if we are dead, return!  If we have chosen to drift with the current of this world, return!  Return to Him, and He will rescue us.  Return to Him and His love will extend to us.  He will restore those who return, He will certainly do it.  But we must return.  We must.

That’s my view through this knothole.  What do you learn of our Master from Peter?

Passion Week XXII

While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him.  But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”  When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”  And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.  But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.  Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber?  While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.” (Luke 22:47-53 NASB)

The arrest is the “Garden Scene” all four Gospels record.  Yet, again, all record different details.  Together they give an interesting picture of the event.  Even so, the details in Luke and John are my favorites.  The character of Jesus is so completely at odds with the event it’s startling.

In Matthew and Mark the account is nearly word-for-word the same.  But in Luke, while similar, there are some important differences.  In Luke, Judas approaches to kiss Jesus, but Luke never says Jesus let him.  In stead, there’s a “…but Jesus said to him…” response, and we’re left wondering if Judas ever did.  I like to think that he tried but Jesus didn’t receive it.  It’s not clear from Luke he failed, Matthew and Mark say Judas kissed Jesus, and John ignores the whole attempt.  Luke alone records Jesus’ reply to Judas of betraying with a kiss.  Matthew has the enigmatic, “Friend, do what you have come for” reply of Jesus.

John has Jesus going to the soldiers and Judas first, and asking who they have come for.  They are so startled they fall back, some to the ground.  He then repeats the question and His answer and says to let the disciples go since they’re only after Him.  This picture of Jesus is the beginning of John’s depiction of Jesus leading everyone involved to the cross.  In John alone, Jesus goes to the cross, He is not taken to the cross.  If you’ve seen the movie, The Passion of the Christ, this is where that quality of Jesus is derived, from John.  It’s actually hard to watch, from the beating all the way through to Jesus crawling to the cross to lay on it, Jesus leads the way.

At this point of the arrest, all four agree someone (in John it’s Peter) cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest.  In John we also learn the servant’s name was Malchus.  In Luke and John, it’s Malchus’ right ear that gets cutoff.  So, if you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes,  Criminal Minds, or some other cop show, you’re probably already going, “Hey! Peter’s left handed!”  There are other explanations actually, and that’s probably not the right one.  Left-handedness was so unusual that it would have been noted before (like in Judges of Ehud, Judges 3:15).  All that we can know for sure is that the blow resulted in a glancing cut.  Even so, it’s hard to say that Malchus was “fortunate”, that had to hurt.

At this point, Jesus’ response to the attack is different.  In Mark, Jesus doesn’t address it at all.  In Matthew, Jesus rebukes the attack, states that those living by the sword die by the sword, claims to have twelve legions of angels if He wanted them, and then states this fulfills Scripture.  In Luke, Jesus simply says, “stop it!” and heals the servant’s ear.  In John, Jesus tells Peter to “stand down”, that this is what is supposed to happen (the cup the Father has given Me).  I love that Luke includes the detail that Jesus heals Malchus.  The love of Jesus does not take a break in this dark time.

Jesus’ comment to the guards is great, but Luke’s version is greatest.  In Matthew, Mark, an Luke, Jesus points out they come to him as if against a robber, even though He was with them in the Temple all week.  But Matthew and Mark point out the fulfillment of Scripture, where Jesus simply says, “…but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.” The literal construction in Greek is, “…, but this is of you the hour and the authority of darkness.”  It’s an economy of grammar where the pronoun is feminine singular, and, in Greek, so is “hour” and “authority”.  This is the time (hour) when the authority of darkness reigns.

The word for authority or power is a compound Greek word made up of the preposition, “out of”, and the word for “existence”; so out of the fact it exists.  In other words, the basis of this power or authority is that it is.  It’s existence is it’s explanation or support.  It’s kind of like God saying, “because I said so.”  We don’t like that as post-modern Americans, but that’s just the way it is.  At this point, can you hear Huey Lewis singing the response, “…Oh, but don’t you believe it,” while playing his piano?  I hope you can, because in this particular instance, the time of the authority of darkness truly is only an hour.

That’s my view through this knothole.  What do you see of God through yours?

Passion Week XIXf

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me” (Luke 22:31-34 NASB)

God, the Father, has granted Satan’s request to sift Peter like wheat. But Jesus intercedes for Peter, which is Jesus’ role after His ascension. Awesome! With Jesus interceding, Peter can’t fail, right?  Well, not exactly. In fact Jesus doesn’t even pray that Peter won’t fail. How is that even possible? Doesn’t Jesus want Peter to succeed?  And I think we would agree that, of course, Jesus wants Peter to succeed.  So why didn’t Jesus pray that Peter would succeed?  Trick question alert! If you look at the wording above, you see that Jesus did pray for Peter to succeed.

Jesus didn’t pray that Peter wouldn’t deny Him. He prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail. In other words, the definition we have of failure was different than Jesus’. Success as Jesus defined it wasn’t that Peter never make a mistake, but that Peter never let a mistake keep him from Jesus.  That’s an important distinction. Isn’t it true that when we think our mistakes are failures to Jesus that we also think our relationship with Him is dependent upon us? But when we continually repent of our mistakes, our relationship with Jesus remains dependent upon Him; it’s no longer based on  our success rate.

This is proven when Peter declares his unwavering support to Jesus, and Jesus responds predicting Peter’s denial. Jesus knew of Peter’s denial, and prayed that his faith would not fail.  And what Jesus meant by unfailing faith is found in His continuation, “…and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  Success for Jesus is Peter’s repentance back to leading his fellow disciples; his return to his calling.

So, success for me in my walk with Jesus is repentance from my mistakes back to my calling in His service.  It is Satan who wants my mistakes to define me. Only the enemy of my soul has a vested interest in using my mistakes to distract me from my Master’s call on my life.  And when I give in to such distractions, I deny my dependence upon my Master for my relationship with Him.  What is true is that I am Matthew Scott Brumage, son of Lloyd, Knight of the Realm, Servant of the King, and that He loves me, He has my back, and I am at His service; and He has called me to wait, worship, and walk before Him. That is what is true about me.

So, what is your view through your knothole this morning?

Passion Week XIXe

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”  And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.” (Luke 22:31-34 NASB)

The beginning of Job is almost as disheartening as the rest of the book (except the ending).  We read that, and think, ‘Wow, that guy was setup!’  And we’re sort of left with the unsettling feeling that God was complicit in the setup, after all, He points out Job to Satan!  Many of us probably settled into some sense of relief that this is the only place we see God do this…except, for this one.

The wording of Jesus in this passage implies that God gave into Satan’s demand.  The context supports that too, but the choice of words and tense support it all on its own.  So, God does this thing using His people in some sort of challenge with Satan, still.  It’s not just with Job.  With Job it was God’s idea, with Peter, it was Satan’s idea.  Either way, it happened again.  And I suspect still happens.

This is one of those places where we experience a sense of depersonalization in our relationship with God that is very counter to our self-centered culture.  Even in those who see themselves as philanthropists, they are generally shocked when they are mistreated and disrespected.  There’s just something about human beings that refuses to let us believe that all this is not really all about us.  Even in cultures that are more enmeshed in either family or cultural groups, they still think life is all about them (examine modern Japanese culture right now…it’s as if WWII never really happened).

On a personal level, the inconvenient or catastrophic circumstances we encounter about which we have no control we consider personal attacks.  But from this we learn that it’s possible it has nothing to do with us at all, and God and Satan are just pushing each other around the “heavenly realms”.  It’s a bet, and we’re the one’s being bet on or against.  We’re the horses, the greyhounds, the players on the field, and we run, race, and play for the sport of others.  It’s gladiatorial combat all over again, and we’re the combatants.  The really frustrating this is that we signed on for this.

Here’s the deal.  God and Satan argue over us.  When Scripture says that Jesus intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father, we need that for reasons we aren’t even aware.  We think it’s to help us in our lives, make us happy, something like that.  But now we see that  actually it’s to help us survive the game the Father and Satan are playing.  That sort of changes how we see this relationship with God which we have given everything to gain.  We give up everything to be pawns and gladiators in the cosmic contest in the heavenly realms between the Father and Satan.  But it’s okay, because we have Jesus interceding on our behalf with the Father; kind of like “legal cheating”.

If this all sounds like we have been duped, then now is the time to read the end of Romans 8.  We win and our victory is inevitable.  We cannot be separated from the Love of God in Christ Jesus, not even a little.  We win.  To be specific, we are on the winning side when we give everything to be a disciple of Jesus.  The alternative is to be on the losing side, just to state the obvious.  So the question is how valuable is it to us to be on the eternal cosmic winning side.

But to those of you still stinging from our lack of status, or feeling duped because we’re merely pawns, let me just ask, “So you thought the Maker of the Universe would make you some sort of ‘general’ in a fight you didn’t even know was raging?  What are you, some sort of numbskull?”  I’m sorry to burst your bubble that this really isn’t about you at all, but it isn’t.  It’s about God, Maker of the Universe (and probably a lot more) soundly and embarrassingly humiliating the rebellious pompous narcissistic enemy of all creation.  You want in on it, then you get in as a private; not a sergeant, not an officer, not a specialist, or corporal; a private.  That’s the deal.  Study to show yourself approved a workman rightly handling the Word of truth, and you can be a “lead private”.  But seriously, until you actually get there and see the fight, how would you even know what you’re doing?

Trust that God has it all under control, stay the course, fight the good fight you have before you, and hang in there until you finally get to see what’s really going on.  You do that, and maybe in the Kingdom to come you gain rank.  Until then, just hang in there.

That’s part of my view through this knothole.  The other part has to do with the foreknowledge and grace of Jesus’ statement.  But that will be for tomorrow.

What’s your view through your knothole?