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In the name of Jesus, amen.
Of all the Lord’s disciples, which one would you have liked to have known personally? My name is Andrew, so growing up I always wanted to know more about the disciple Andrew. He appears so little in the New Testament. But I think, even though our answers may vary, most of us would probably want to know the disciple Peter. Not only do we have a lot of information on Peter in the Gospels, he’s such a character. He’s so very human. He seems to be the first one to speak up and say something, but also the first one to stick his foot in his mouth. He wants to be brave and then he falters. He wants to believe and make a clear confession of faith, and he does, but then he has a way of forgetting what he said and having doubts.
But here’s the point for tonight. Jesus is faithful even when Peter is faithless. Jesus is faithful even when we are faithless. This evening I’d like to focus in on one of the sections from the past, Peter’s denial. But to better understand our text, we need to rewind a little bit. Jesus has just predicted earlier in the that Peter would fall away from him. And Peter, being one of the disciples and being a bold man, says, “Though the others deny you, Jesus, I won’t ever deny you. I would rather suffer death than deny you.” That’s when Jesus gave Peter this warning: “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” And that brings us to our text tonight.
Jesus is on trial for his life before the high priests and the rulers of the Jews. And Peter is there, not at the actual trial, but in the courtyard of the high priest because the disciple John has access. And you can imagine that Peter wants to know what’s going on. He wants to know what’s going on with Jesus, but he doesn’t want to be seen. He doesn’t want to be known by anyone. But it’s cold in Jerusalem. It’s early spring in the mountains, and they’re all gathered around a fire.
You can imagine that a flame of fire lights up Peter’s face, and a servant girl looks at him intently and says, “This man also was with him.” But Peter denies this, saying, “Woman, I don’t know him.” Peter, the faithful one, who had proclaimed to Jesus, “You are the Christ,” has now acted faithlessly. Well, many of you know how this story goes. It only goes from bad to worse. It’s honestly tragic. Peter goes from disowning Jesus, “I don’t know him,” to outright denial of being a part of his group, “Man, I am NOT,” to cursing and swearing and professing ignorance about the entire situation, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
And then, the rooster crows, just like Jesus said it would. No doubt the sound of that rooster pierced the heart and mind of Peter, and he remembered what Jesus had said. He remembered his prediction, and in case Jesus forgot, or in case Peter forgot, Jesus turns and looks at Peter, and Peter remembers Jesus’ words: “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” And he breaks down and weeps.
Now on the one hand, we aren’t Simon Peter. We aren’t a disciple of Jesus 2,000 years ago on the night of Jesus’ trial before he’s crucified. We haven’t denied him in the face of his executioners, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t denied our Lord in other ways. You know, the second commandment is, “You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.” And the Catechism says this is about using God’s name rightly, of prayer, of calling out in praise, and this is right. But in the Old Testament, it’s even broader. It’s about bearing the name of God.
And as Christians, the name of God has been tattooed on our forehead. When we were born, the name of God was put on us, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so, in what we say and what we do, the name of God goes with us and we reflect in what we reflect on God and that name. And so, we have to ask ourselves how many times by our words, our thoughts, and our deeds, do we say, “Peter, I don’t know the man. I don’t know Jesus.” How many times have our words been no different than those of the world around us, angry, bitter, gossip?
Our actions serve ourselves, what we want, what we desire instead of serving each other. And it gets even worse when we realize that Jesus sees us in our denials. He hears our thoughts, words, and deeds that proclaim to him, “I don’t know the man.” And this is honestly terrifying because we know Jesus’ judgment on the last day: “You help me, I’ll help you. You reject me, I’ll reject you,” and so on and so forth.
For Jesus, even when we are faithless, hear these words: “With Jesus we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we disown Him, He will disown us. But if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” Our faithlessness, He is the faithful one who faithfully obeyed His Father. He is the one who said, “Not my will, Father, but Yours be done,” and He went to the cross to die for your sins and my sins.
As Isaiah the Prophet says in that very Lenten chapter, Isaiah 53, “By His stripes we are healed.” You see, as long as we live, God’s final words are never judgment. As the collect said today, God’s glory is always in having mercy. God always desires for us to turn to Him, to be forgiven, and to live in His grace because of what Jesus has done.
After all, we see this in the life of Peter himself. Peter denied Jesus three times on the very most important night of Jesus’ life when it really counted the most. But Jesus is faithful. After His resurrection, Jesus comes to Peter and all the disciples. He stretches out His hands. They see the holes in His hands, the marks of His crucifixion, the price of their forgiveness, and Jesus proclaims, “Peace be with you,” forgiving their sins.
In John chapter 21, in His resurrection appearances, Jesus takes Peter aside personally and he absolves him. Three times He forgives Peter for the three times he denied knowing Him. Jesus is faithful even when Peter was not and even when we are not. And as in Peter’s life, the emphasis falls on what Jesus has done. His life, His death, His resurrection for you and for me. His faithfulness instead of our faithlessness.
You know, sometimes in Lent, as Lutherans and as many liturgical church bodies, I get concerned that sometimes we get the impression that we need to constantly be sorrowful as Christians, that we need to really work ourselves into a state of depression during the season of Lent. You know, there’s the moving hymns in minor keys that have us reflect on the suffering and gore and pain of Jesus’ passion, and there’s the black ashes that begin the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday that are smudged across our foreheads and really drive home the severity of our sin and death, the wages of sin.
These are good things that I would never want to get rid of. They’re good things to do. But Lutherans have always confessed that repentance has two parts: confessing our sins, one, and trusting God’s promises, trusting Jesus for forgiveness. And we get it wrong if we focus only on that first part. Because we can never mourn or weep enough over our sins to gain God’s forgiveness. We can never enumerate every single wrong thing we’ve done or feel bad enough about them.
Repentance ultimately turns to Jesus and His faithfulness and the promises He has made us. And our thoughts, words, and actions may cry out, “I don’t know the man.” But when we return to the Lord, Jesus cries out, “I know you. I know all of you. You are my beloved bride. I died for you on the cross and I forgive you.”
That’s why the second part of repentance is so important: trusting God’s promises. Going where Jesus comes to us like He came to Simon Peter. In the Lord’s Supper. In holy baptism, where He claimed you. In the Word and in the absolution, where the pastor just said, “I forgive you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Those are the places Jesus promises us faithfully to be there for you.
So yes, mourn your sins. Lament the darkness in your hearts, particularly in this situation that we see all around us. But trust even more firmly in the promises of your Lord Jesus. For Jesus has been and always will be faithful to you, whether in life or in death, in sickness and in health. And in that, there’s always reason for joy.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.