From frozen by fear to freed by faith - Peter's journey and ours

Peter, as reported in the Gospel of Luke 22, first affirms his commitment to Jesus and then later on, after Jesus had been arrested, denies his relationship or even knowledge of Jesus not once or twice but three times. You can almost hear the exchange: “Peter before tonight is over you will swear that you do not know me.” “You’ve got to be kidding! Me, Peter, your best friend, one of the original followers, the one you shared the experience on the mountain, deny that I know you. I will never, ever do that. To my dying day I will affirm my relationship with you. You can count on me!” Famous last words.

The arrest comes. A trial occurs. The cross looms. Peter would be guilty by association. Frozen by fear the denial takes place. A cockcrow’s three times. Peter remembers.

What fears freezes us in our tracks? As young parents it could be the safety of our child – he/she isn’t where they are suppose to be, a call didn’t come, we cannot find them. We are frozen by fear. We fear that some harm might come to them. Cars hit children at play. Bad men and women take little children. Illnesses can grow into something major. We are frozen by fear.

As teenagers we long for acceptance, for approval, to just fit-in, our self-esteem is all screwed up. We are frozen with fear that nobody will like us, that we will be laughed at, made fun of. Some live in fear of being bullied. Am I man enough? Am I woman enough? Peer pressure grows. We fear failure. We fear rejection. We fear ridicule. We are frozen by fear.

We haven’t felt well for a few weeks. We make a doctors appointment. She examines us, runs us through a full set of tests. “We’ll call you with the results,” is what they say, but several days later the phone rings and we hear, “You better come in.” We are frozen by fear.

We are frozen by fear over pink slips, layoffs, downsizing. We could lose our income, our home. Foreclosure looms in the near future. Fear grips us as our “nest-egg” shrinks in a bad economy. We won’t have enough during our retirement years. We are frozen by fear that our spouse will die before we do or even worse one of us has to go into a nursing home. We are frozen by fear.

We are not really sure why Peter denies knowing Jesus, but I’m pretty confident that the Roman Cross might have something to do with it. A horrible, painful way to die. Nobody wanted that in their near future. It probably would be Peter’s future … guilt by association. All we know is that he was frozen by fear and ended up denying his knowledge and relationship with Christ.

Jesus offers Peter forgives in the conversation by the lake over some fried fish, “Peter do you love me?” (John 21). Not once, not twice, but three times the question was asked and Peter responded. Three times. Was it because of the three denials? “Do you love me?” And underlining the question is the affirmation that Christ loves Peter … and with love comes forgiveness.

Peter was to play a major role in the development of the followers of Christ after this encounter. A significant role. Peter moves from frozen with fear to freed by faith. The resurrection can do that to you. When confronted with the living crucified Savior all fear is dispelled, the Sun shines brighter, new horizons loom, all is forgiven, forgotten, forever! A new person emerges from the old. The veil is rent in two. All is revealed. Peter and us are freed by faith!

Oh, what a glorious journey. Oh, what glorious hope. Oh, what wonderful grace. Oh, love that will not let me …

Quote for today: Sometimes the Lord calms the storm. Sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms his child. ~Unknown