There is always something deeply and powerfully compelling about the Cross of Jesus Christ. If ever the words of Chris Tomlin were true they are true today. "Mighty. Awesome. Wonderful is the Holy Cross. Where the Lamb laid down his life to lift us from the fall. Mighty is the power of the Cross." Peter would declare that the power of the cross was eternally bound to the power of the resurrection when he said in his message to the Jews who plotted Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, "… you followed God's prearranged plan. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to the cross and murdered him. However, God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life again, for death could not keep him in its grip." (Acts 2:23-24) There is always something deeply and powerfully compelling about the empty tomb of Jesus Christ.

For the last several weeks we have been examining those whom Jesus viewed from his cross. We have used Luke’s account of the events of Jesus’ death to help us see for ourselves who was there at the cross. We spoke of Simon from Cyrene, who was a sudden servant bearing Jesus’ cross. We saw the women from Jerusalem and the other women who followed him from Galilee. We observed the criminals crucified with Jesus and the soldiers who crucified Jesus themselves. Each of these was there at the cross and some of those Jesus viewed from his cross.

There were many who may not have been present at Jesus’ crucifixion that perhaps should have been. We know of only one of Jesus’ disciples who was there and that was John. While the rest were absent, there was one whose absence was most conspicuous – Peter, the one who promised he would die with Jesus but in the end denied that he ever knew him. While Peter may have been absent at Jesus’ crucifixion, Jesus chose to make a personal private appearance to Peter after his resurrection.

The resurrection stories in the gospels are filled with small bits of mystery that leave us wondering. Jesus’ private, personal appearance to Peter is one of those. The angels who announce the resurrection to the women in Mark 16:7 tell them to go back to the disciples and announce that Jesus has risen and they specifically mention "including Peter." In our text read earlier two who had personally encountered the resurrected Jesus told the disciples and others that Jesus was alive and that he really had appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34). Then Paul in his marvelous resurrection account in I Corinthians 15 states that Jesus appeared to Peter and then to the rest of the disciples (I Cor. 15:5). All this raises the question of why Jesus chose to make a personal, private resurrection appearance to Peter. The reason was to fulfill a promise that because of Jesus’ resurrection Peter’s failure wasn’t final nor was it fatal.

To get the full picture of this wonderful gift of restoration that Peter received you need to go back to the Thursday night Jesus was arrested. The disciples had gathered in an upper room to celebrate the Passover. As Jesus is teaching Peter states his refusal to deny his relationship with Jesus in Luke 22:31-34, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers." Peter said, "Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you." But Jesus said, "Peter, let me tell you something. The rooster will not crow tomorrow morning until you have denied three times that you even know me." We are not told what Peter’s reaction was to Jesus words. He has just pledged his willingness to join Jesus in his fate, whatever that would be, and now he is told by his Lord that he would be an absolute failure at what he swore he would never do--deny Jesus!

Later Jesus and his disciples leave the room where they had shared the last supper and go to a garden which we know as Gethsemane. While they are there Judas escorts a contingent of Roman soldiers and Jewish leaders to the garden to arrest Jesus. Jesus identifies himself as the one they are seeking and asks that they let the others go. One was not leaving without a fight, however. "And one of them slashed at the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, "Don't resist anymore." And he touched the place where the man's ear had been and healed him" (Luke 22:50-51). Luke doesn’t tell us who this was but John does: It was Peter. Peter came to the garden with Jesus, not to pray but to fight. In his emotion this time he doesn’t just speak his allegiance, but he attacks an aggressor! In the face of Jesus’ arrest Peter was ready to die! He wasn’t giving up without a fight!

When all the others had gone Peter still followed Jesus. Peter followed Jesus to the home of the High Priest whose name was Caiaphas. There was a group of people who were outside of the room where Jesus was interrogated standing around a fire in the courtyard. As Peter settled in to the group a slave girl sees Peter in the firelight. She stares at him and says, "This man was one of Jesus' followers!" Before he even thought, Peter said, "Woman…I don't even know the man!" Denial number one. Understand that Peter has affirmed his faithfulness to Jesus when no one else did or was even asked. He had carried a sword and used it to defend Jesus when they were surrounded. When all the others had run out into the night Peter followed Jesus, risking his life. Peter failed though when a teenager around a fire asks a thoughtless question, "Weren’t you with Him, too?"

I can only imagine how Peter felt. He may have felt like an alcoholic who has been sober for a long time and has taken that first drink again. The guilt and failure come sweeping in ready to drag you back down. So Peter, already having failed once, tries to blend into the crowd. In the light of the fire the slaves and officers begin looking at Peter. He was not one of their group and obviously unknown to them. They can’t figure out why he’s there. Then they say, "You must be one of them!" Before he could gather his courage Peter lost it again and said, "No, man, I'm not!" Denial number two.

After about an hour another man simply would not let it go and insisted "This must be one of Jesus' disciples because he is a Galilean, too." Again, when you’ve blown it twice, what’s one more time? Peter says, "Man, I don't know what you are talking about." As soon as he makes that statement, a rooster crowed. Luke writes, "At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered that the Lord had said, ‘Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny me three times.’ And Peter left the courtyard, crying bitterly." (Luke 22:61-62).

Peter, unable to recover from the moral freefall, denies his relationship with Jesus. When the rooster crowed the eyes of Jesus met his. When His eyes met Peter’s the full effect of the guilt, the shame, the failure flooded his own heart and he left the fire and the crowd in absolute grief. Isn’t it amazing – it was the question of a teenager, the comfort of a crowd and an accusation by an unknown that attributed to the downfall of a truly courageous follower of Jesus Christ.

Often when we think of the denial of Peter we imagine it in some very public, openly brazen denial. As if Peter were on the witness stand and when asked about his knowledge of Jesus he lies. Instead, rather than under the full lights of a courtroom, his denials occur in the dim shadows of the courtyard with only a low fire to expose his identity. What this says to us is that rather than our failures of faith being ones that are front-page headlines, they are really subtle leaks that eventually sink our character. We would very likely, as Peter, die for our faith in the face of an open aggressor. It’s the little things that make us cowards. We all have our slave-girl’s question, subtle accusations from a crowd and unknown irritations that can diffuse our courage and make us cowards.

There is a pattern to our failure. It starts with arrogance. It is that feeling of smugness of apparent success or invincibility. Like Peter’s, "I’ll die for you" statement. Then there follows the unanticipated, blindsided, surprise attack catastrophe. "This man was one of Jesus' followers!" Almost instantly the consequences of failure erupt -- prosperity, security, reputation, health, relationships, to name a few—are lost. What follows the clear evidence of failure? Sometimes blame toward others, denial, bitterness and anger, defiance and retribution. Peter, though, cried bitterly.

What happened after Peter felt the piercing gaze of Jesus’ eyes we are not certain. Somewhere between early Friday morning and early Sunday morning the activities of Peter are missing. I have a feeling that wherever he was staying in Jerusalem during the Passover was the place most likely he could be found. Somehow, though, on that Sunday morning Peter left the darkness of his loneliness and found himself gathered with others who were as well abandoned by their dreams. Did they know of his denial? Did they whisper about him when he came into the crowded room of ten frightened followers of a dead carpenter? They may have known nothing but he allowed his guilt to substitute for their voiceless accusations.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of feet running down the cobblestone outside the door. Fists began to pound on the door, startling these dim-eyed disciples. The voices of women were heard, women they knew saying, breathlessly, "We…we saw angels…the tomb…is empty…they said…He is alive…just as he said he would…remember he told us…." The words came pouring out of their mouths in an unbelievable torrent of excitement and wonder.

It was then that Peter bolted from his place on the floor, ran out into the street, straight to the tomb. When he got there he slowed just slightly to catch his breath then stumbled into the tomb, ignited by the slowly rising sun. He saw the grave clothes but he saw no body. None of it made sense. He knew Jesus was dead. He knew the women hadn’t gone to the wrong tomb. He knew he wasn’t hallucinating. Yet it all was more than he could grasp. Alive? How? Almost stumbling down the path previously used to guide his way to the tomb, he makes his way to his home. He is in shock wanting to believe that he was alive, yet his mind telling him it can’t be true. People don’t live after crucifixion. Jesus was dead, wasn’t he?

The Bible says Peter "went away to his home." The Greek says he went literally "to himself." Whether Peter’s location is physical or emotional, he is alone and it is there in that loneliness that Jesus appears. What was it like for Peter to see once again the same eyes that had pierced his soul when he denied Jesus to now see them again? What did Jesus say to Peter? What did Peter say to Jesus? We really do not know. That’s the thing about meeting the resurrected Jesus in our failure: It’s not public but very private. It is personal, void of spectators and crowds of gawkers.

I imagine, though, that there was some deep repenting on Peter’s part and a huge amount of consolation on Jesus’ part. Jesus told Peter before his denial that after his failure he would repent and turn to him again. (Luke 22:32) So I am certain there was a plea for forgiveness and an assurance of restoration. In that exchange Peter has left behind his guilt, failure, struggle and denial of reality. Peter wasn’t restored by some cosmic Dr. Phil but by the Risen Jesus who was revealed to be the Alpha and Omega of all life.

While Peter’s encounter with the Risen Christ was private and personal, responding to that encounter was not a private experience. For that is what makes the rest of the story so exciting. Peter is seen throughout the rest of the New Testament as boldly confessing Jesus as Savior wherever he could. He may have allowed a servant girl’s accusation to cause him to fall; he now is so bold that steel bars cannot contain him.

Centuries ago, John Chrysostom wrote, "The danger is not that we should fall…but that we should remain on the ground." When you fall from failure there is the presence of the Risen Jesus to lift you up. What can we do to get up from failure and learn from our failure? Oh, there are some practical, self-help, ideas. Things like getting perspective to keep our failure in balance. Maybe get rid of the failure by ceasing to be a martyr and carrying it around with you. It could be you need to just get it out in the open letting others know what God already knows-that you are not perfect. You may need to get new direction and stop placing unrealistic expectations upon yourself. Ultimately you will need to get back into life because you can’t stay in your darkness and survive.

Yet all of that you can get from any talk show, weekly magazine or self-help section at the bookstore. What you can’t get anywhere else is what Easter means--the Risen Jesus comes to you to take you personally by the hand and lead you into light and life. If you want to walk away from the empty tomb today with your failure, be my guest. But it is pretty foolish to leave here carrying the same junk you have been living with all this time when there is hope right here. Peter really is the failure we all know and we all know his failure. We know it because it’s ours. The question is, "Do we know the healing Peter found?" We can. All we have to do is meet once again the Risen Jesus.

Eugene Peterson tells a story in his book called "Living the Resurrection" of a friend named Brenda who flew to Chicago for a visit with her daughter’s family, and especially with her granddaughter, Charity. He writes, "Charity is five years old—a plump, cute, highly verbal little girl. Charity’s paternal grandmother had been visiting the previous week. She is a devout woman who takes her spiritual grandmothering duties very seriously, and she had just left. The morning after Brenda’s arrival, Charity came into her grandmother’s bedroom at five o’clock, crawled into bed, and said, ‘Grandmother, let’s not have any Godtalk, okay? I believe God is everywhere. Let’s just get on with life.’" (Living the Resurrection, by Eugene H. Peterson, p. 49)

Today you and the Risen Jesus need to talk about your failure. You need to talk about repentance and forgiveness. You need to accept consolation and assurance. But after you do, it’s time for you to make a decision to "just get on with life." Because of Easter God is everywhere and that is the reason you can just get on with life!

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church, Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org