Reflections

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Peter said to him, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”
(John 13:37-38)

Peter is always so eager to defend you, my Jesus, and to carry your words to the extreme. “No, you will not wash my feet…..Oh, then, wash all of me.” He is sincere in his offer to lay down his life, and later he will, indeed, be martyred, but first he must be chastised. His boast becomes his humiliation. If even Peter can deny you, Lord, how can we hope to follow you? It is only by your grace.

Will I deny you when others demand to know what I believe? School children were shot at Columbine after affirming their faith. I will probably not face that crisis. What, then, can keep me from proclaiming you? Is there something I fear more than death? How shameful it would be to remain silent because I didn’t want to be criticized! I don’t need to preach a sermon, but I do need to uphold the truth.

Please help me this week to be open and honest in all my conversations, to take the risk, when necessary, of being misunderstood. Only you can understand me, even when I don’t understand myself. Spirit of God, give me whatever words I need, or to be quiet if that is wiser. Never, though, let me keep still because of human respect.

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