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Peter's Tears (Luke 22:54-62)
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?