One look from Jesus
"And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.” - Luke 22:60-61
You're Peter. You've spent three years with Jesus, day and night, hoping and believing he's the Christ, the one to save Israel. And you've boldly said you'd go to prison and even die with him (22:33).
But very soon after, you find yourself outside in front of a fire while Jesus is inside being blasphemed. All manner of justice you're used to is gone. Jesus was arrested at night by the authorities you're supposed to respect. And Jesus isn't doing anything to show his authority like he usually did! On top of that, people keep looking at you and saying you were with him, which you deny every time.
Then, while you're in the middle of saying that you don't know what they're talking about, the rooster crows. And then you see Jesus in the distance, in the middle of being censured in the high priest’s house, and he turns and looks straight at you. That’s when it all comes back to you: “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” (22:34).
If I was Peter, I think I would’ve crumpled into a million pieces. He had just spent all that time with Jesus. He witnessed countless miracles and heard Jesus’s gentle wisdom day after day. He had just said he was ready (22:33)! And yet, after all that, in the moment of truth and when it was the worst time for Jesus, Peter denied that he even knew him.
Sadly, it wasn’t the first or last time God would be denied. For centuries, people have disregarded God, made him less than priority, and chosen their own life over him.
Some realize the sin that they’ve done and be brokenhearted over it, but will let the devastation of sin overwhelm them. They stop at the shame and pain without further seeking God, like Judas did when he hanged himself. Then others will realize the sin, understand the shame and pain, and yet seek the hope that God graciously gives. And this is where we find Peter.
But it’s not where we leave him
The next time Peter is mentioned in Luke, he is running to the tomb of Jesus after hearing the women say that he has risen from the dead. He hadn’t lost hope. He went home marveling at what he saw when he’d stooped in to look inside: only linen cloths by themselves (Luke 24:12).
Peter then go to see Jesus raised from the dead, hear his voice, and have his mind opened to understand the Scriptures (24:45). And as for the rest of Peter’s story, we can see it lived out, just as Jesus said that he and the others would be witnesses of what they had seen and heard. It’s all in the book of Acts!
“If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11-13)
Dying with Christ means eternal life. Enduring with Christ means a kingdom. Denying Christ means being a stranger to him.
But if we are not faithful to Christ, we still have a way back to him — because he will never abandon us. He cannot deny who he is. He will remain faithful to be there for us, even when we’ve given up on him in the worst of times. It is never hopeless. We don’t need to be like Judas, letting the sin and shame overwhelm us, driving us to eternal death. God has always given us hope to come back to him. He waits, ready with compassion, to hear us say we don’t want sin anymore, but that we want God (Luke 15:20-21).
So when we feel that Jesus has turned and looked right at us, we know that in his eyes, with the sorrow is the love — the love that we cling to and that gives us the strength to pick ourselves back up and walk with our eyes fixed on him alone (Hebrews 12:2).
If you haven’t already checked out The Luke Study, whether for personal use or for teaching other women or teen girls, it is now available to help you study (and share) the beautiful Word of God in the book of Luke!
