We started our day with a rooster crowing three times outside our Hotel in Jerusalem on Day 10 of our Holy Land trip.
We visited the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (Cock Crow), the scene of Peter’s denial, Mount Sion, the birth of the church where the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-29) and Pentecost were to have taken place, and the Garden of Gethsemane. These sites are all connected to the last few days of Jesus’ life on Earth, and then the coming of the Holy Spirit.
In Matthew 26:31, Jesus foretold of Peter’s denial: “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.””
Peter is the outspoken disciple and quickly answered Jesus (33): “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”
Peter’s claim is of loyalty, but it is cloaked only in comparing himself to the others. Peter doesn’t boldly say, “I will never fall away,” but instead starts with “Though they all fall away…” proclaiming not so much his loyalty to Jesus, but instead his superiority to the other disciples in his devotion.
As we go throughout our day, do we often think of our good deeds in relationship to others? “I might not be the best mother, but I am better than….” or “Look at her. I would never treat my father that way,” or “I would never cheat on my husband; what a sinner.”
With Jesus, we have received grace and mercy and no longer need to compare ourselves to others.
Jesus doesn’t ask us to be more faithful than anyone else, but instead asks us to give the only life we have to Him.
God longs to hear only, “I will never fall away.”
Blessings,
Agatha