Jesus Used Peter’s Failures To Build Compassion, Church

God has a way of using our brokenness to touch the lives of others; we are of greater use in the kingdom when we have cried.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God.” 2 Cor. 1:3-4

Has there ever been a more broken man than Peter? When the rooster crowed the third time, Jesus looked right into Peter’s eyes as Peter once again said he didn’t know Christ. Just the day before Peter had been all bravado and testoster- one. Even just a few hours earlier he was willing to take on a contingent of armored Roman soldiers when he cut off the ear of a servant.

Even then, he wasn’t willing to give up hope. He secretly followed the soldiers as they took Christ down the winding roads of Jerusalem. Flitting from bush to bush and doorway to doorway, he was probably trying to formulate a plan as to how he was going to break Christ free. To gather some intelli- gence on what was going on he decided to act like one of the guys and warm himself by the fire. He slowly worked his way over there.

He had already told people he didn’t know who Christ was twice before. But that was all subterfuge. He was undercover, after all. A man on a mission. And sometimes men have to lie for the greater good.

As he was trying to prod information from people about what was going on, looking at the people manning the gates and sizing up the soldiers guarding Christ, someone once again asked him if he knew the man he was coming to rescue.

But this time was different. This time when they asked him he swore an oath that he didn’t. Maybe it was something like, “I swear by God Almighty I do not know who that man is!” Peter swore a new oath that night. Just a couple days before he swore an oath of allegiance to Christ.

Now. Now he’s just swearing.

Christ heard him and met Peter’s eyes. The rooster crowed. And all of a sudden the whole world came crashing down.

There were too many people, too many soldiers, too many ways to get caught. Peter’s mission to be a one-man army was fruitless and the darkness gathered around him and the fire could not hold back the cold that stabbed at his heart. And, he cried. And cried. And cried. He ran off a broken and beaten man. His whole life was shattered. The world that he had built for himself was gone because he decided to follow Christ and now that too was gone. He had nowhere to go. No friends or money. And now, no Christ.

Abandoned and alone with no hope for a better tomorrow.

That’s the rock. The man whom Christ built the Church upon. The man who would convert thousands of people. The man who would lead thousands more to salvation. The man who built the framework for the Church we still have today. A broken man, crying in the dark.

Isn’t it amazing the miracles God can wrought from the most broken of people? Imagine the joys God has in store for you. Let us pray. Dear God. We Thank You for Your presence with us, because we sense You are here. We want to be drawn closer to You. We want to be encouraged and uplifted and challenged in our personal lives. You have given us the light of this new day. Now give us the grace to love and serve you to the praise of Jesus Christ our Lord. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.