April 15, 2022 – Good Friday: The Peter Principle

Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there. (Mark 15: 40 41, New Living Translation)

                 Peter is conspicuous by his absence on Good Friday.

                We do not find his name anywhere in any of the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion. Jesus’ mother is there. John the disciple is there. Mary Magdalene is there. But no Peter.

                To be fair, we are told in Matthew’s Gospel that all of the disciples deserted Jesus and fled to the far corners of the city. But Peter who has had such a major role in the Gospel accounts, who once promised that he would not desert Jesus, has vanished on the most critical and last day of Jesus’ life.

                Who could blame him after his atrocious denials during the night? The crowing rooster has called out his shame in the morning.

                Who could blame him for not wanting to see his friend, his teacher, his Lord, die such an agonizing death on a Roman cross?

                Who could blame him for avoiding such a scene, experiencing his powerlessness, his helplessness, his despair and hopelessness?

                Maybe, just maybe, he actually was way far back in the crowd, hoping to remain faceless, inconspicuous, watching from a distance like the others, but wanting no one to recognize him or call out his name. But I highly doubt it. He was facing his demons alone somewhere, even as he knew the nails were being pounded into his friend’s hands and feet. He would not be closing the distance between Jesus and himself that hard day.

                There are many distances between us and the cross, not just our denials and betrayals.

                Many folk would like to avoid the agony of Good Friday. It is a horrific story. Although some tend to glorify the Cross, it was a cruel way to execute any one, least of all Jesus. Some are aghast that a loving God would demand his own Son’s death as a sacrifice for our sins. How grotesque. Atonement theories abound but all of them call for this death, Jesus’ death – as a remedy for human sin, our sin, yours and my sin. What kind of God demands such a cruel cost?

                We become conspicuous by our absences on Good Friday. Let us just skip this day and leap straight to Sunday ASAP!

                There are many distances between us and the Cross.

                But we need to face the Cross and the Man who died upon it, despite our horror, our weaknesses, our failings, our hopelessness. Maybe because of it all.

                “Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.” (Romans 5:6, The Message Bible)

                Oddly, this is Good News - for Peter, for all of us, for you, for me. It closes the distances between us and God.  

                “Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.” (Romans 5: 18 -19, The Message)

                Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

 Dale