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| Peter's Tears (Luke 22:54-62) | |||||
 Printer Friendly Version - opens in separate window This is what the LORD says through Jeremiah:"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer.17:9) Who indeed can understand it? Peter, perhaps, above all might give us an insight into the way our hearts betray us. When the deceit of the heart comes to fruition there is that terrible moment, perhaps triggered by the most inconsequential occasion, when the full weight of realisation hits us. For Peter it was the crowing of the cock that brought him to a dawning of what he had done and we are told that "he went outside and wept bitter tears". The Bible gives us details in its story that can seem unimportant, details nevertheless that give it an air of authenticity and cannot be lightly dismissed. In the story of Peter's betrayal for instance we read in John's account that Peter had to wait outside the high priest's courtyard while John was allowed in because he was known to the high priest. Later we learn that the high priest's servant who challenged Peter the second time was "a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off". So it might seem with Peter's bitter tears. Of course, we should expect that he would weep for what he had done and, no doubt, lessons might be drawn about repentance, but there is a mighty significance to Peter's tears that is not immediately apparent to the modern reader. We are not surprised at his tears, although we might easily identify with his bitter regret. Neither are we surprised that this story is told. After all, it is an otherwise unextraordinary episode, but that is where we would be mistaken. There is something quite wonderful about the very telling of the story and we should be able to take encouragement from it. You see, to us it seems natural that the storyteller should pause to relate this episode simply because this is what happened next in his story. However, in the Ancient World the tears of the common man were not deemed worthy of serious attention. The common man was considered as little more than a beast of burden and his tears more often an occasion for mirth than pathos. Only the tears of the noble could be tragic; only the noble were capable of fine feelings; only the noble were considered to be even fully human. The story of Peter's betrayal, remorse and bitter tears, told at some length and included in all four Gospels, is a significant departure from the conventions of the day. It indicated a profound shift in the status of the common man as a moral being. Before Jesus the common people had been invisible but because of Jesus that which had been invisible took centre stage. He was born to a common carpenter and his wife At his birth it was to shepherds in the fields that the angels appeared and first proclaimed the good news. In his ministry it was with the poor and the outcasts that he identified declaring, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." (Lk.4:18) In his death he hung on a Cross between two thieves God chose to reveal himself among the poorest, the least of men and women and to exalt them to the dignity of sons and daughters of the King. Peter's tears show us that every soul has significance in God's purposes and in the telling of God's story and no one can be so easily cast aside because of lowly status, poverty, weakness. As we approach Easter perhaps we need to discover all over again the miracle that makes it possible for even the greatest rebel and the meanest traitor to know acceptance with God. That the poorest among us, the least significant and most needy can find a place at God's table (Lk.14:15-24). And perhaps we need to reconsider how we view those to whom we will witness. Who knows but that they are closer to God than we imagine or dare hope? |
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