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A sermon on Peter's denial and the aftermath:

Peter had always been so sure that if the moment ever arose, he’d stand tall for Jesus. Good ol’ Pete just knew he had it in him. That he had the makings of a courageous disciple for Jesus. 

Martin Luther referred to this kind of plot as a “glory story.” An account of our lives wherein we star as the leading actor. A script in which we are featured as the main character who carries the weight of the entire drama. 

We love these glory stories, too. Don’t we? In fact, they’re about all that’s playing in the theaters. Those stories where the protagonist pulls themselves up by their bootstraps, digs deep, and goes the distance too. And yes, in the course of the narrative, the hero can stumble. Just so long as they don’t outright fall, fail, or fold.

But that’s not what happens in today’s Scripture. Is it? This is because this isn’t Hollywood. This is the Bible. And the Bible is for real life, defects and all. 

What happens instead is, under the slightest amount of pressure, Peter caves in completely. Meanwhile, Jesus doesn’t give even an inch! Jesus holds the line in the face of serious peril. And the salt in the wound is, while Jesus is confidently asserting Caiaphas can learn anything he wants to know about him from those who heard him speak, one of Jesus’ own closest confidants is denying even knowing him.

No doubt that’s not how Peter imagined the night turning out when he boldly insisted he’d lay down his life for Jesus. Nonetheless, that’s how it all shook out that rotten evening Peter’s reputation was finally on the line. So much for that old glory story. 

Like Peter, that glory story oft rings in our ears, too. Doesn’t it? What’s more, we’re usually the ones parroting it!

And honestly, as sinners with a nagging estrangement from God, seeing ourselves as the sole protagonist in our lives is an inescapable part of life. It even serves a purpose, at times! However, this tired old tale is not the full story about us. And most certainly, neither is it the final one!

As useful as this glory story might be for getting the garbage out or the taxes filed, it won’t rescue you! It can’t redeem. It's a closed-loop! A sentence to what David Foster Wallace called “the confines of our own tiny skull-sized kingdoms.” 

And those were the walls Peter felt closing in on him that night. 

This part isn’t in our passage for today, but this harrowing experience sent Peter fleeing. After that wretched cock crowed, we don’t hear from Peter again. Until that is, Mary Magdalen tells Peter Jesus’ tomb is empty.

Witnessing that for himself, Peter can’t help but believe. However, he doesn’t have any faith that vacant tomb has anything to do with him. So off he goes.

The next we hear of Peter, we learn he’s gone back to the family trade. He’s packed it in on discipleship. Thrown in the towel. Called it quits. Learned, the hard way, that he didn’t have what it takes to be a disciple for Jesus.

Not that fishing was working out all that well for him, either. When we drop in on Peter again, he’s just spent a night failing his fallback. But this string of failures isn’t enough to scare Jesus away!

Peter’s about to learn there’s an alternative to that old glory story. But he will do so by learning the unpleasant lesson that this story that’s new every morning rings loudest when that glory story can’t say anything at all. Which is right where Jesus found Peter that night Peter came up empty all over again!

While Peter’s calling it quits, Jesus comes to him yet again. Although Peter doesn’t know it. Then, this undercover Christ offers Peter some advice. And the worst kind, too! The unsolicited type. 

Peter is so far at the end of his rope, though, he’s finally willing to entertain another voice! So he follows this mysterious guide’s lead and throws his nets once more. No sooner do the nets land than Peter catches the payday to end all paydays! 

And that’s not all Peter lands, either. Not even close! While they’re hauling in the catch, the other disciple realizes their enigmatic advisor is none other than Jesus!

With a fervor that belies even more profound guilt, Peter lets go of the nets, dives off the boat, and makes a break for Jesus. When Peter gets to Jesus, that old smell of charcoal is wafting through the air yet again. Jesus is cooking breakfast for the disciples over a charcoal fire. Undoubtedly the scent takes Peter back to that night in today’s Scripture. The night he found himself around another charcoal fire, denying he even knew Jesus. 

With the stench of betrayal lingering in the air, Jesus, who knows everything, puts a question to Peter. And it wasn’t if Peter was ready to go back at it. And it wasn’t if Peter learned his lesson, either. It wasn’t even if Peter was sorry! No, all Jesus asked Peter was if he loves him. And Jesus lets Peter answer three times, too. 

It guts Peter, of course. But Jesus isn’t retreading old wrongs to rake Peter over the coals. No, Jesus is redeeming the past for Peter right there on the spot! And he’s doing so by transforming the incident from one of performance into one of love!

That old glory story never held any promise for Peter! But blessedly, Jesus comes to free Peter from that story! To give him a new one! One where it doesn’t all hang on Peter’s shoulders, but rather the cross! 

And this, and this alone is the only story that redeems! That holds a future! That has a place for you and me! And it takes place right where that old glory story proves to have nothing to say in the face of letdowns, setbacks, and outright defeats! Those rough places in life the story of the cross rings loudest!

Each time we trudge through these doors, we do so with that played-out glory story blaring in our ears. Don’t we? And like Peter, we’re all learning the painful lesson that that glory story doesn’t hold anything for us.

This, as it turns out, is why Peter’s witness is remembered! Not because it’s so remarkable. But because it’s so unremarkable! So common. So mundane. 

Peter racked up three betrayals in one night, but that’s nothing. We’ve all kept that sorry pace any number of times. Haven’t we? And left to that old glory story, like Peter, we’d think that it meant we had to hang it up on our pursuit to be a disciple for Jesus. 

This incident reveals, though, that it all hinges on the cross, not our efforts! That Jesus has no problem working with deniers, betrayers, deserters, and out-in-out failures. For that’s the raw material of his ministry! The cloth he cuts his redemption from!

The only thing any of us have to offer, including Peter, is the grace of God! The grace Jesus provided to Peter all over again that night. The grace Jesus provides to you all over again this morning!

Jesus doesn’t need disciples for him! No, he’s come to make disciples of him! Disciples who have been freed from a burden we can’t carry, and were never meant to, either! Disciples who have stood on the receiving end of Christ’s mercy. Christ’s mercy that transforms our inglorious stories into the glorious story all of Scripture has been building to all along, the story of the cross!

We’re hurtling toward Easter. And rest assured, the resurrection glory is breaking in on you. But it’s happening where you least expect. Not where you stand tall, but where you fall short. For it is there that Christ’s cross stands most steadfast! 

Jesus transforms the instances of your faithlessness into the moment of his righteousness! And he does so all by the power of his love for you! What’s more, he doesn’t wait, either! He does all this for you right now! Here it comes: 

“As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit!”