Friday, March 15, 2024

B, Lent 5 - John 12:31-32 Jeremiah 31:29-34 "Behold, days are coming"

John 12:31–32 (ESV) Jesus answered, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Unlike the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus says, “Now!”

Jeremiah points forward to this “now” from Jesus. 

Fifteen times Jeremiah prophecies, “Behold, days are coming!” This is a call to notice something is going to occur.  Expect the unexpected at a time that is unexpected. 

Jeremiah is called to speak on behalf of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, “In those days they shall no longer say: “ ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’  But everyone shall die for his own iniquity.  Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.  (Jeremiah 31:29–32 ESV)

The days are coming when everyone will be responsible for their own sins.  No longer will children suffer from the sins of the fathers!  Nor will wives, children, or others in the household be covered by the father’s piety.  Everyone who eats sour grapes will have their teeth set on edge!  Everyone shall die for their own evils.  In other words, God only has children, he does not have grandchildren.

God’s covenant with Israel had become ineffective.  Not from God, but from what Jeremiah describes as Israel’s whoredom.

This whoredom was through the worship of Baal, a fertility cult, to make the land productive by appeasing Baal.  In a bid to become wealthy off the land that God had given them, they made this Canaanite god their master.  “Baal” literally means “master” or “husband”.  God was their master, their caring husband, who took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt into this land of milk and honey.

But in the land of Canaan, the Israelites were unfaithful, and God who brought them in as their husband and master, withdrew and tested them with their wanton ways.    The God of providence stopped providing.  Therefore, the livestock produced no milk, and the bees produced no honey, in the land of milk and honey!

We can see the vicious spiral occurring in Israel’s bad choices.  Things going from bad to worse as Israel the bride, no longer desired her husband, but became contrary with God and his rule.  What does God’s rule look like next to our deeds, desires, and choices? 

God’s rule over Israel, became tough through Jeremiah.   Not only did the Israelites and Jews struggle, but as God representative, so too did Jeremiah.  You could imagine his words of prophecy against them were not well received.  Through Jeremiah, God’s call to repentance and prophecies of judgement, fell on deaf ears, and stubborn hearts, landing Jeremiah in gaol.

Imagine being a faithful partner in a relationship, imagine being the unfaithful partner.  It is not what a healthy relationship looks like.  This relationship broke down between God and man at Eden.  There were consequences for Adam and Eve and these consequences continued between God and Israel, in the days of Jeremiah.  God was the faithful husband or master, and Israel the unfaithful partner.

This strain on the relationship appears first in the wording of Genesis chapter three verse sixteen by the double meaning of the text.  God says to Eve, “Your desire shall be for your husband”, but it can also mean “Your desire shall be against (or contrary) to your husband.” (Genesis 3:16 ESV)

Like Eve, Israel’s desire should have been towards God as a faithful and giving husband, yet Israel’s desire was for God’s position and therefore contrary to God.

As mentioned earlier, the language of husband, used by Jeremiah, is the confrontation between God and Israel over "the other man” in Israel’s life.  This other man is Baal.  He has become their master when their master was God.  Yet Israel’s desire for Baal worship is really a desire for their own prosperity at the expense of their relationship with God and the land they received from him.

Fifteen times we hear Jeremiah say on behalf of God, “Behold, (the) days are coming.  These are all calling the Israelites to look backward, focusing on what has occurred beforehand, while walking into the future.  The days are coming for Israel’s judgement, but also their restoration back as God’s faithful bride.

God would do this work of restoration through a new covenant.  This covenant looks backward while striving forward, much like a swimmer, backstroking their way up the lanes of a pool!

God will etch the law on each person’s heart.  They will know him by his forgiveness of sin.  In these days every generation, every person, knows, God will deal with their evil. 

Not only will each person have their teeth put on edge from eating sour grapes, but each person will have the law written on their hearts.  Jeremiah continues…

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33–34 ESV)

At first glance, this seems like God is going back on his word.  Each will die for their own sins, yet God promises to forgive and no longer remember sin.  How can this be?  Israel and Judah had proven themselves as harlots deserving divorce.

The clearest hint God gives through Jeremiah has already been given by another “Behold the days are coming” statement.

In Jeremiah chapter twenty-three verses five and six we hear, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23:5–6 ESV)

For us today we know that the days were coming and came in Jesus Christ!  Jesus says, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Jesus is the righteous branch!  He is the Israel and Judah that Israel and Judah could not be!  “Now” is the day of salvation for all who are drawn to Jesus.  Once someone has heard the name of Jesus, proclaimed for the forgiveness of sin, the law is etched on their hearts.  Jesus draws all people to himself for the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus is the Lord, and the Lord is our righteousness!

As Jesus walked to the cross, he said, “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’  Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’  For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?  (Luke 23:29–31 ESV)

Here Jesus tells us what to expect as his followers on earth.  As the days increase after Jesus’ death and resurrection, in the last days, the green wood of the gospel, the righteous branch, will be attacked and burned, the drier and more mature it gets.

We will suffer because of our sinful being.  We will also suffer as we believe and receive forgiveness while others take offence at the law written on the heart.  Just as generations of Christians have before us.

Incidentally, those who take offence, know the truth of the law and gospel, having heard the name of Jesus.  God’s word is repulsive to them, because they are rejecting the Holy Spirit who gives faith in his word written on each heart.

Jesus also gives another “Behold the days are coming” statement, but gives it in two parts, to the Pharisees and then the disciples…

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,  nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”  And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.  And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them.  (Luke 17:20–23 ESV)

As God’s children today we have the word of God stamped on our hearts!  The kingdom of God is in our midst.  The kingdom of God is within us!   As we desire the return of Jesus in these last days, we know days are coming when we will see Jesus, face to face.

We remember, at the cross, our Baals, our Old Adam, our human spirit, and Satan the ruler of this world, the deceitful master, are judged.  Our master, Jesus Christ, has eaten our sour grapes!  His teeth have been put on edge!  He has died for your sin, and my sin!

“Now”, when Jesus returns, behold, the day will have come for the prince of this world to be cast out forever!   “Now” that Jesus is lifted up in resurrection glory, let him take you by the hand, draw you to himself in repentance, and lead you into the eternal land of milk and honey.  Amen.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

B, Midweek Lent 4 - Mark 15:1-32 "Barabbas' and Simon's Passover"

Mark 15:15,21 (ESV)  So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.   And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

The Passover from the viewpoint of Barabbas and Simon of Cyrene, stand out as two remarkable events.

Barabbas was being held for murder in an uprising.  We know the Ten Commandments does not pass over a person for killing another person.  At the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus extends this, by saying if someone calls another a fool, they are liable to hell fire (Matthew 5:22). 

Barabbas’ deserved death yet those in authority rallied the mob to have him released and Jesus crucified.  Pilate asked “Why?  What evil has he done?”  Jesus had done nothing wrong.   However, because the crowd was seething for Jesus’ blood,  Pilate sought to please the people.  He freed a murderer and delivered the innocent Son of God over to death by crucifixion.

Imagine Barabbas learning his fate!  Guilty yet set free!  A dead man, passed over, now with a second chance at life!  I reckon Barabbas wouldn’t have believed his good fortune, having done absolutely nothing to deserve his stay of execution. 

So, it’s Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father who takes the place of Barabbas.  Jesus, the king of the Jews, serves as the Son of Man, taking the place of a murderer, Barabbas, the son of Abba, the son of a father.

You and I, the sons, and daughters of a father, like Barabbas, have had our stay of eternal execution because of Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father.  Like Barabbas who was passed over and given new life, you too have been passed over and given eternal life.  You can, and should, give thanks to God your Father for your “Good Friday fortune”, having done nothing to deserve this stay of eternal execution. 

Jesus has changed places with you at the cross.  All daughters and sons have received Jesus’ Sonship through adoption,  accepting you as God’s holy Son through Jesus’ exchange, a true and faithful elder brother.  Eternal death now passes over you and me, borne by the King of the Jews.  Now, with Jesus, the exalted King of Creation, you will be raised from death.

The cross was the crossroads for Barabbas, and so too was it for Simon who innocently, perhaps accidentally, crossed paths with the crucifixion party at the Passover.

After being brutalised by the battalion of Roman soldiers, we could assume Jesus was too weak to carry his cross.  Or perhaps he was not moving quick enough for the soldiers, who wanted to get on with the job they were tasked to do.  Whatever the reason, the soldiers grab Simon who was passing by on his way in from the country. 

If Barabbas could not have believed his good fortune, we can imagine that Simon could not have believed his bad luck!  Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Simon carried the cross of a dead man.  He carried the curse of death on his back.  Albeit for a brief time, he walked the walk of death, under the means of death!  Was it unfair that he carried the cross?  He may or may not have felt the injustice of the Romans’ expectation, but he did what he had to do under their compulsion.

Unlike Barabbas, it seems Simon did not deserve what was put on him, carrying the cross to Golgotha, or at least part of the way.  Yet like Barabbas, there is relief for Simon!  Once at Calvary, his job is done, and he is set free.  Perhaps, he breathed a big sigh of relief!  No longer having to feel the weight of the cross, the experience leading to death.  

Christ is left to bear the greater burden, bearing the sins of all people.  This includes Simon.  Who, although an innocent passerby, is not passed over before God as innocent from sin. 

Like Simon, you feel the burden of the crosses you bear in this life.  There is also relief, like Simon, as you know when you get to the destination of death, you will put down your crosses, and be carried through death to victory by he who has borne the burden of your sin on the cross.

When Simon put down Jesus’ cross, he was putting down his cross; the cross all humanity deserved to carry and on which you, and I, should have justly been nailed.

Those who seemingly are guilty, like Barabbas, are passed over.  Those who are supposedly innocent, like Simon, are not passed over.  The consequences of Christ’s cross, pass over nobody’s guilt or innocence, at this Passover. 

The cross of Christ sets us free!  Yet the cross of Christ calls us to carry our cross!  Like Barabbas and Simon, you suffer from your sin, yet are relieved to know that your sin is carried by Jesus Christ on the cross.

Those two robbers nailed on either side of Jesus, easily could have been Barabbas and Simon, you, and me!   Like Barabbas our deeds condemn us, and like Simon, the humanity of our being condemns us too. 

Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, is at the right place in the right time.  The fullness of time had come, and the Jews killed him.  It is his blood that saves Barabbas and Simon, not from Roman law, but from the greater law of God.  Jesus is our King of Kings, and yet our sins of commission, our sins of omission, and our nature seemingly innocent but guilty, breaks God’s law and killed the King of the Jews. 

Your blame and my blame are not passed over but passed onto Jesus.  As a result, the consequences of our sin are passed over! 

Like Barabbas, who could not believe his good fortune, and like Simon, who realised it was his good fortune to only carry the cross, we look forward to our Good Friday fortune.   Our sins are before us on the cross, very real, very deadly, yet very forgiven, and very much paid for! 

Jesus is our greatest wealth in this world.   We, sinners like Barabbas, receive the fortune of freedom, while our guilt remains on the cross.  We, fortunate forgiven sinners carry our cross, like Simon, knowing it was Christ who was lifted up on it in our place. 

Our sin is not passed over, yet we sinners are being passed over.  You are being passed onto the prosperity of an eternal resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Amen.

Let us pray.  Heavenly Father, when we have carried our cross to the end of life’s road, help us give thanks for the Holy Spirit’s help to carry it, knowing we are sinners, but forgiven sinners.  Help us to not let the fortunes of Good Friday pass away, so that we are not passed over, but pass through death to our resurrection with you, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.   

Thursday, March 07, 2024

B, Lent 4 - Numbers 21:4-7 "Serpents, Sin, & Salvation"

God is patient.  He takes the long way round.  If he took the path of least resistance, humanity would have long been annihilated.

God is patient with humanity.  In the days of disobedience before the flood, God was patient.  God was patient with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  While the Israelites lived in Egypt, God was patient for four hundred years.  In the wilderness after the Israelites were exiled from Egypt, God continued to be patient.  Today, God continues to be patient with his church, and he continues to be patient with you!

So, what is it with — me, you, the church, the Israelites — all of humanity, that God needs to be patient?  What is it that allows all of humanity to stand as one before God’s patience?

God is patient with our lack of patience.  Our impatience can come from various things, but at its root is our displeasure with suffering.  Therefore, God suffers with our lack of endurance in suffering.

Ultimately, God sent his only begotten Son to suffer in our place!  Yet in this life, you and I will still struggle with suffering.  Nevertheless, God is pleased to be patient with us.  He takes the long way round, he takes the way of patience, the patient path.  And we can be very thankful for that!

When God lifted Israel out of bondage in Egypt, he could have marched them into Canaan in a relatively short amount of time.  But he took the patient path, leading Israel forty years, his way in the Sinai wilderness, the way of suffering that led to salvation in the land of milk and honey.

The bronze serpent story gives us a window into God’s patience and his mega-work of humanity’s salvation.  

The Israelites became impatient with the way of God!  They spoke against God and his servant Moses!  So, God sends fiery serpents amongst them.

Let’s take a moment to take this in!  God sends fiery poisonous serpents to bite his people.  Not only do the serpents look fiery, a bronze coppery colour, they are fiery, wielding the rod of God’s wrath.  Their mouths are fiery, in that their venom inflicts a hellish bite leading to agony and certain death. 

The Israelite’s impatience with God, his providence in the wilderness, and with Moses, was instantly removed by the Israelite’s immediate need for a remedy against the forced death from the fierce fangs of serpents sent by God.

Snakes are animals that cause fear.  Since Satan spoke from a serpent in the garden of Eden, snakes have been feared by humans.  Moses ran from his staff that turned into a serpent when God commanded him to throw it on the ground (Exodus 4:3).   So, there’s no doubt the venomous snakes got their attention.

The wilderness is a place of serpents.  The Israelites would have seen plenty as they walked the way of freedom!  Up until this event, we can assume God would have protected them from serpents, just as he protected them from other dangers as he led them out of Egypt.  So, God patiently works his way to will his people from their impatience.

When it comes to snakes, not many of us are heroes.  The thought of being faced with an infestation of fiery serpents is chilling!  Do you remember Indiana Jones encircled by stirred up serpents?  Or imagine the reality of being buried in a box of snakes, slithering over you in the dark.  As they do on the television show, “I’m a celebrity get me out of here”.  That’s truly the stuff of nightmares!

This is the living nightmare of the Israelites, and we can fully understand their fear!  Not only were the snakes just present in their vicinity, but they were sent by God to discipline their disobedience.

Can you see the people begging Moses?  Remorseful for being impatient!  Penitent for their impatience against God’s providence, saying, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?  For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” (Numbers 21:5 ESV)

In Ecclesiastes seven verse eight, it is written, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 7:8 ESV) 

God removed their pride when the serpents began to bite.  They cried out to Moses, for it to end, saying, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” (Numbers 21:7 ESV)

Moses prayed but the end of it was not the removal of the serpents.  Instead, God said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” (Numbers 21:8 ESV)

So, God sends the serpent, and he doesn’t take them away, but rather gets Moses to put the pest up on a pole.   This is the patient path consistent with God’s way.

Imagine if God did remove the snakes!  As soon as they lost sight of the serpents, their impatience and pride would have returned even more so!   But the serpents remained, and God added yet another serpent, calling them to turn and trust God’s way, even in the midst of their suffering. 

Knowing what human nature is like, some would have tested God on this.  The fiery serpent is sent to bite.  It does its job.  The tester is tested.  Do they turn to the serpent up on the stick, or do they stick to their digs and remain in rebellion?   It’s a life-or-death decision.

Now, this might seem like a pretty simple decision to make.  Yet many continue to choose the decision that leads to death.

Jesus says, “…as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14–15 ESV)

Not only are people impatient with God,  but now many also fail to acknowledge God’s existence.   Some think they know God, but they choose to create their own idea of God to suit their way through the wilderness of this world.  But when suffering of death comes, and it always does, crying out to a false god cannot save from death.

God is patient with humanity, but Paul warns God shows no partiality, saying, “…do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?  He will render to each one according to his works:  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life;  but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”  (Romans 2:4,6–8 ESV)

The serpents of sin and suffering still exist.  This sin and suffering left unattended by God will lead to eternal death.  Yet God is patient, he wants to save, and not condemn. 

The good work of God within us, exposes our sin, wills us into confession, keeps us repentant and enduring in belief of our forgiveness, as well as makes us patient.  This happens through the work of the Holy Spirit despite living in the reality of fiery sin serpents still biting and wounding us, causing suffering. 

However, the good works of repentance and belief in the forgiveness of our deadly sins lets us see God's patient reality!   We see our sin, but we see the Servant of Man saving us from sin, lifted up like the serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness.

The irony in all of this is that sin came into the world through the deception of a serpent.  Satan, the old snake, also sought to seduce Jesus to sin in the wilderness but failed.  Then at the cross he thought he had won, seeing Jesus nailed to a cursed sinner’s cross.

But death lost its eternal sting at the cross.  The devil was double-crossed.  The great injustice and evil of the cross became the hallmark of mercy and holy goodness stamped on those who allow the light of God to expose and forgive. 

Jesus steals the serpent from Satan and attaches the sin of humanity to it.  He becomes the sin, the serpent, and is lifted up guiltless for the guilty.  He takes the curse of your sin, exposing it in his broken body and spilt blood, and swaps it with his victory over death, for you!

Just as God sent serpents, and then placed one on a pole to save the Israelites, God allows us to suffer as a result of our sinful being and its deeds.  God wants us to see our sin, but even more he wants us to see our sin on Jesus, lifted up on the cross. 

Just as the Israelite’s saw and feared the reality of the serpents that bit them, we too see our reality too.  We can allow the Holy Spirit to continue the patient work of peeling the layers back, to expose the greater depths of our sin.  But in the suffering of that exposure, the Spirit will show us the endlessness and patience of God’s love, who takes our sin and makes our sin – crucify Christ on the cross. 

God is patient with you.  God hates your suffering.  Yet despite this he would rather you suffer in short through confession of your evil works, exposing them in the true light of God’s love and suffering on the cross.

We are reminded by Jesus in John three verse twenty-one that, “whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their works have been carried out in God.” 

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit into our hearts to work in us the good works of confession of our sin in daily repentance and belief in the forgiveness of sins.  Thankyou for sending your Son Jesus Christ to bear the slipperiness of our sinful being and its deeds on the cross, which should have been our cross.  Help us to patiently bear our cross with the help of the Holy Spirit with full expectation of our resurrection to eternal life with you.  Amen.

  

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

B, Midweek Lent 3 - Mark 14:70b-72 "Peter's Passover Pride"

Mark 14:70b–72 (ESV) And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Peter’s grief was raw and sharp.  The full weight of his ugliness was before him.  He had cut himself off from his Lord, calling down curses upon himself, he excommunicates himself from Jesus after telling Jesus, he would not deny him, but rather die with him.

Peter passed Jesus off; he passed over him in denial.  And at hearing the cock crow, he remembers Jesus’ promise and sees the foolishness of his own promise.  Peter realises his self-preservation had kicked in, to kick out his trust in Jesus and his word.

After Peter and the others fled from Gethsemene, Jesus is humiliated.  Hiding himself in the rabble, Peter cowardly follows at a distance.  The Lord needs Peter to be a witness, to see what happens to him at the hand of the Jews, without the helping hands of those who promised to follow him.

As guilty as those who commissioned false evidence against Jesus, is Peter, who now does not come to Jesus’ defence, but rather remains speechless with his omission of evidence on Jesus’ behalf.

Below in the courtyard Peter warms himself, when a servant girl sees him and says,   “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”  But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” (Mark 14:67–68a ESV)

Peter stands at a distance; he stands below Jesus.  He denies Jesus and says he doesn’t understand what the girl is saying about him and his relationship with Jesus!  The cock crows!  Then he excommunicates himself from Jesus with another lie, I do not know this man of whom you speak.

All those who bore false testimony against Jesus gave conflicting evidence.  Twice before the cock crowed, we hear the false witness borne against Jesus, did not agree.  Now, Peter’s lie is the testimony that agrees with the lies of the false testimonies that hands Jesus over to death.

The sin of commission from the mouths of the Jews, seals the fate of Jesus.  Peter adds his sins of omission and commission to also seal Jesus’ fate. 

The weightlessness of his words, despite being delivered with so much passion, proved impotent. 

If I must die with you, I will not deny you.  Even though they all fall away, I will not.” (Mark 14:29, 31 ESV) Is now part and parcel of Peter’s passing over of Jesus, ““I neither know nor understand what you mean.I do not know this man of whom you speak.

He fell away from Jesus!  He denied Jesus!  He understood exactly what the girl and others had said, and he knew the man of whom others spoke.  The weight of his lying lips spoken with so much passion, proved potent and powerful. 

We can clearly see why Peter’s Passover proclamation gutted him!  When push came to shove, he proved to be no different than any other person.  Frightened, fainthearted, faithless, fake, and futile!

Jesus’ word, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” (Mark 14:30, 72 ESV) Proved to be true.  Peter’s three-fold denial announced the law to Peter, and it hit him hard.  Despite Peter’s positivity to support the Saviour, his pride crashed head-on with self-preservation to save himself. 

Peters “Passover crash” was the second most crucial thing to happen to Peter, second only to Jesus’ death on the cross!  As hard as Peter’s reality was, it was essential for it to occur, if Peter was to be a follower of Jesus.  Similarly, it is the same for us too.

The old saying, “Pride comes before the fall”, is relevant here!  Peter’s pride needed to pass away, to die its death.  So too does our pride, so Jesus can be our sole Saviour.

It is not a percentage game; we do not provide any percentage in our eternal salvation.  Jesus provides one hundred percent of the perfection in our eternal preservation.

We need to come to the gut-wrenching reality of our powerlessness to save ourselves, so we look to Jesus, and him alone.  Peter could only bear his cross and follow Jesus, after he realised what his cross  actually was, and what only Jesus’ cross could do for him.

Jesus’ cross must come before our cross,  if it doesn’t our cross is the wrong cross to bear.  In fact, if we put our cross before the cross of Christ, it’s a cross against our name, it’s a lie.  This is why when the cock crowed a second time, the pain of Peter’s realisation was great, and it had to be for Jesus’ salvation of Peter to be real.  So too for you and me.

When Peter called down curses upon himself, these curses were “anathema” in the Greek.  Peter unwittingly testified to being anathema or accursed.  Only the cross and resurrection of Jesus could kill Peter’s curse, and raise Peter up, blameless.  Only then, Peter could lead God’s church, not by himself, but by the power of the Holy Spirit in the knowledge of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In God’s church, sin cannot be passed over.  The recognition of sin, in our lives is hard!  At some stage in your life, God will allow you to weep bitterly over your sin.  As hard as it is, it’s a healthy thing for those being refocused from the self to the selfless, single, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

With Jesus as our true Passover lamb your curse or anathema is removed.  At our resurrection we will see with our eyes what the Apostle John was shown, which is recorded in Revelation chapter twenty-two for our encouragement.  For your faith, hope, and love!

Hear what John reports, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb  through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.  The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”  (Revelation 22:1–4 ESV)

Amen.