Luke 22:31-34
“Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.”
And then comes the heartbreak.
If you listen closely, you can almost hear it. Peter (here called Simon, his original name) is told that he will be sifted, tested, tried by Satan.
He is also promised that he will endure. That Jesus has prayed for him so that his faith won’t fail. That he will turn back and strengthen the others.
This nuance in the story, like many other small but poignant details we will encounter, is unique to Luke. He is gentler in his descriptions of all the disciples, as we’ve seen, knowing that whatever their faults and foibles they will become the foundation of the church Jesus inaugurates. And we see that again here, with Peter, where Jesus starts first with a promise that Peter will not fail and that he will return to lead the company.
Still, even mentioning a return implies that Peter will depart, fall away, and desert his friend, teacher, and Lord.
Which is perhaps why his heart breaks at hearing those words. And so he protests. He protests the implicit charge against his character, denies even the possibility that he will fall away, and professes his eagerness to follow Jesus to the end.
And then Jesus’ tells him the truth. Perhaps he would have spared Peter these hard words except for Peter’s own protest and profession. We don’t know. But we do know, or at least can imagine, that those words were as hard for Jesus to say as for Peter to listen: “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.”
Departure? No, worse: denial and desertion. Yes, Peter’s heart has now surely broken.
Or perhaps it’s not Peter’s heart we hear. Maybe he is so flush with devotion, so full of confidence in his love for his Lord, that he can’t imagine Jesus’ words being true. Maybe his heart won’t break, can’t break, until the moment this dark prophecy comes true.
Maybe it’s Jesus’ heart we hear breaking instead.
Prayer: Dear God, we are often like Peter, confident of our faith and devotion and unprepared for the trials to come. And so we pray that you would strengthen us so that when we are tested and tried we will hold fast to our faith in you and love for each other. But when we fail and fall short – as we will and do – draw us back, renew our faith, direct us again to love one another. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: Spire atop St.Peter’s Church in Jerusalem, photograph by Drew Meyers (detail).
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