A Reflection on the Meaning of Easter

It is a few days before Easter and I have been thinking about the meaning of the Easter story as it relates to, not just its impact on the whole of humanity for all eternity, but also as it relates to me, personally, as I still struggle with weakness and failure, even after having walked with the Lord for nearly fifty years.  And whenever I think about my personal inadequacies, the person in the Easter narrative who always stands out the most, other than Jesus of course, is Simon Peter.

Of all of the Lord’s disciples, I have always been kind of partial to the apostle Peter.  Perhaps it is because I can relate to him so much.  He was impetuous, garrulous and rarely considered the consequences before acting.  For example, in Matthew 14, when the disciples were caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee and Jesus walked out to them on the water, it was Peter who said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”  When Jesus told him to come, Peter jumped out of the boat and walked to Jesus, but then got scared and started to sink.

Likewise, in the description of the last supper in the Gospel of John, when Jesus starts to wash the disciples’ feet, it was Peter who refused until Jesus said to him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me,” at which point Peter does a complete about face and says, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”  John also tells us that when the Roman cohort came to arrest Jesus following Judas’ betrayal, it was Peter who drew his sword and cut off Malchus’ ear.

So that was Peter.  He was rash and regularly put his foot in his mouth.  I kind of suspect that, were he around today, he would be diagnosed as ADD.  But he also loved the Lord with all his heart.  Consider the passage in Matthew 16, when Jesus asked the disciples who the people said He was and, after the disciples gave a variety of answers, Jesus asks who they thought He was, it was Peter who spoke up and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” thus prompting Jesus’ famous declaration, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

However, the story I want to consider here is the story of how the love, forgiveness and resurrection power of God, took this wild man—this loose cannon—and transformed him into one of the greatest heroes of our faith and, ultimately, the recognized leader of the first century church.  A man who, according to Origen, “...was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer,” because he did not consider himself worthy enough to die the same way as his Savior.

Let’s look at the narrative in Luke 22 that begins in the hours just preceding the crucifixion of Jesus.  It is a story that is very familiar to those who are well acquainted with the biblical account of the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus.  As the story opens, we find Jesus and the disciples in the upper room at the last supper, having a discussion about what is going to happen in the future.  Luke tells us that a dispute rose up as to who was the greatest disciple.  So Jesus uses this incident to teach the whole group of disciples about servanthood, but He has a special word for Peter.  He tells Peter, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

At this, Peter is hurt and offended and declares, "Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!" Jesus very gently, but firmly, assures Peter, "I say to you, Peter, the cock will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me."  You can just imagine Peter shaking his head thinking, “I can’t believe He said that!  I’d never deny Him!”

Fast forward then to the events that follow the arrest of Jesus.  As this scene opens, we see that Jesus has been arrested in the garden of Gethsemane.  It is at this point that Peter has cut off the ear of Malchus, the high priest’s servant.  But, Jesus defuses the situation, heals the servant’s ear, and is taken off to the high priest’s house.  We pick up the narrative in verse 54.

And having arrested Him, they led Him away, and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance.  And after they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.  And a certain servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight, and looking intently at him, said, "This man was with Him too."

But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know Him."  And a little later, another saw him and said, "You are one of them too!" But Peter said, "Man, I am not!" And after about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, "Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too." But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about." And immediately, while he was still speaking, a cock crowed.

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, "Before a cock crows today, you will deny Me three times."  And he went out and wept bitterly.

Think about this moment of stunning pathos—this incredibly dramatic scene.  Jesus is in the high priest’s house being falsely accused, derided and beaten.  Just outside Peter is sitting by a fire in the courtyard.  Then, just as Peter is accused the third time of being a follower of Jesus and is spewing profanity and denying it, the rooster crows.  As it does, Peter looks into the window where Jesus is standing and at that very moment Jesus turns and looks out the window at Peter and their eyes meet.

Have you ever had that sinking feeling?  Perhaps a time when you’ve been adamantly claiming your innocence and suddenly someone pulls out incontrovertible proof of your guilt and you know you are busted.  Your face gets red, your ears get really hot, you feel sick to your stomach and you literally feel like you are sinking into the floor.  Well, I am sure that that is how Peter felt at that moment.  Even as the words were coming out of his mouth he saw Jesus looking at him and knew that Jesus knew what he was doing, and he remembered that Jesus had predicted it.

Luke tells us that Peter ran out of the courtyard into the night and wept bitterly.  How could he be any more completely a failure.  He had been such a big talker, assuring Jesus that he would stand firm no matter what the cost.  And now he was a total wash-out—a spineless coward who had been scared into denying his Lord by a servant girl.  How could he ever look himself in the mirror again.  How could he face his fellow disciples, or worse than that, his Lord?  He was at rock bottom.   

Yet, it was this moment that paved the way for his destiny as God’s man of faith and power, the leader of the early church and, ultimately, hero and martyr for his faith.  How could this happen?  How could a man move from this place of utter defeat to a place of strength, courage and overwhelming victory? 

It is possible only because of the love of God and the power of the resurrection.  Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 15, “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.  But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.”

At this point, the pivotal issue in Peter’s life was the resurrection.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, Peter’s life was a bust.  Now, really that was true for all of the disciples, but none of them understood that truth as exquisitely as Peter did.  Peter understood that unless Jesus rose from the dead, all that he had hoped and dreamed and believed in was a big zero.  But if Jesus did rise from the dead, the sky was the limit.  The power of the resurrection was the power to resurrect Peter’s dead personhood.  It was the power to give meaning, direction and purpose to His life.  And it could do that so effectively exactly because Peter so clearly understood his need.  No longer was Peter claiming to be God’s man of faith and power.  Because he had come to the end of himself, Peter knew that if there was any hope of his doing anything of significance in the Kingdom of God, it would be by God’s mercy and grace and through the power of the resurrection.

And because he no longer sought recognition as the greatest apostle, that is exactly what he became.  Peter is arguably the greatest of the twelve apostles with an awesomely powerful and fruitful ministry.  When he preached on the day of Pentecost, three thousand people gave their lives to Jesus Christ.  He and the apostle Paul are certainly the two most influential people, other than Jesus Himself, in the history of the church and we have already talked about Peter’s leadership and martyrdom.

Now the point for us is that the same factors that transformed Peter are still accessible to each of us today.  The love, mercy and resurrection power of God are still available to all who will come and receive them.  They hold the power to give us all that we need to become the people of destiny that God created us to be.  And it is specifically when we, like Peter, come to the end of ourselves and surrender to that power, that we can embark on a whole new reality in our lives.  And this is true whether you are still considering the claims of Jesus for the first time or have been walking with Jesus for decades.  We all need the power of the resurrection to heal and transform us and it is those very moments when we are, once again, confronted with our weakness and experience that sinking feeling that we recognize afresh how desperately we need that power—those moments when our eyes meet Jesus’ eyes and we know that He knows how weak and needy we are.

But do you know what I believe we see when we look into those eyes?  I believe it is the same thing that Peter saw, which is why he wept all the more bitterly?  I believe we see not a hint of rejection or contempt, but rather utter acceptance and love.  We see the mercy and forgiveness of God that can empower us get up and start again.  That is what the resurrection is all about.  It is about the love and power of God that is always available to give us another chance—the  power of the resurrection that can take that which we have tried to manage on our own, and failed at, and turn it around and make it into that which has eternal significance.

Listen to what Peter had to say toward the end of his life as he contemplated the incredible love of God that brought about the resurrection and all of its ramifications: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  I pray the during this Easter season we will recognize our need afresh and join Peter in becoming a partaker of that great mercy which causes us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.