Who Would Do This?

Luke 22: 14-23, 56

Who Would Do This?

A servant girl saw [Peter] seated there in the firelight. She looked closely and said, “This man was with him.” (Luke 22:56, NIV)

Jesus had served the Passover meal just a few hours before. He had made the terrible announcement that someone at the table would betray him. The disciples began to question who it might be. “Is it him?” “Is it you?” “Surely it isn’t me…or is it? Did I say something I didn’t intend that will get Jesus in trouble? What troubling questions must have spun through the disciples’ minds.

Seeing that Judas was the betrayer must have been , to some, almost a relief. “At least it wasn’t me,” Peter may have thought. “Everyone knows I’m still Jesus’ friend.”

But the betrayals weren’t over. When Jesus is arrested, Peter followed at a distance, afraid to leave his friend and afraid to get too close. When someone spots Peter and targets him as one of Jesus’ disciples, Peter denies that he ever knew him—not just once, but three times.

For each of us, building a relationship with Jesus is a daily task. Sometimes we succeed in being the people God wants us to be. Sometimes we fail. The next day, the struggle continues again. The Good News is that Jesus is with us through our struggles, nurturing us, forgiving us, helping us to grow and mature. Thanks be to God!

Dear God, Grant us the strength to learn from our failures and grow in our successes. Help us to greet every day as an opportunity to make the choices you would have us to make. Amen.

Karla Price Higgs