03-30-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 30, 2024
On what is often called Dark Saturday, I am looking a little further into Matthew’s telling of Holy Week, specifically after the arrest and torture of Jesus. In Matthew 26:71-72, we read of what is often called Peter’s Denial: “When Peter had gone out to the gate, another servant girl saw him and said to some people there, ‘This man was with Jesus from Nazareth.’ Again, Peter denied it, and this time he swore, ‘I don't even know that man!’”

By the time Saturday rolled around and Jesus was dead and buried, I wonder what Peter was thinking about in regard to his blatant denial of Jesus, bending over backwards to refute any connection to the Nazarene. Was he feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt? Was there anger toward Jesus for putting him in that predicament? Was he finding ways of justifying his actions? At the end of chapter 26, it says that Peter cried bitterly, so I sense some remorse in that moment, but the grief Peter must have experienced had to have played itself out in some pretty strange ways. 

I do not believe Peter is alone in this experience, and though our moments of denial may not be as dramatic or written into scripture, we need to acknowledge how the denial of our core convictions plays itself out. Do we play a blame-game? Do we make excuses? Or is there space for honesty, remorse, and repentance that can lead us to something new? On this Dark Saturday, I believe those are some important questions to ask ourselves.

Whether today resembles faithfulness or failure or something in between, I pray for the capacity to reflect on my actions through the lens of your grace, O God. If tomorrow is to be a better, more faithful day, I cannot ignore what I have done today. Amen.