Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial

36 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 afterwards.’³⁷Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’³⁸Jesus 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.

The wise lectionary gives this little passage for the morning of Good Friday. This drama is played out in my life all the time. Jesus indicates what I know only too well: that he is going towards suffering, not because he wants it, but because that is the fate of God’s love in this world. His oneness with God’s love makes him vulnerable to evil. Indeed his oneness with God’s love leads him through evil to another place “where Peter cannot go”, namely into the eternal presence of the Father. I don’t like it when Jesus points out the limited nature of my love for him. “I’ll do anything, suffer anything, for you,” I want to say. But he knows that I’ll draw back at  the first threat of serious suffering. Only because he has gone there and come back with forgiveness for my betrayals am I able to stay on the road in the hope that next time maybe, like Peter, I can stand firm.

 Given the current prevalence of religious suicides, it’s important to say: Jesus is for life; that is why death is so grievous to Him; he suffers and dies because he holds to God’s love for the world. He does not want my death but rather my life passionately committed to life for others.

Peter gives me hope that perhaps this time, when the cock crows I’ll only have denied him once.