Reading: Luke 22:54-62 NLT
So they arrested him and led him to the high priest’s home. And Peter followed at a distance. The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there.
Gerrit van Honthurst, c. 1623
A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, “This man was one of Jesus’ followers!” But Peter denied it. “Woman,” he said, “I don’t even know him!”
After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!” “No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted.
About an hour later someone else insisted, “This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.” But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter.
Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
Prayer: Lord Jesus – Fill me with a spirit of repentance and remorse for the times that I have denied you. May I weep with Peter over my weakness of resolve. Forgive me… and give me the the courage to follow you… come what may. May I honor you in all things. Amen.
Hymn: “Are Ye Able,” Said the Master – Earl Marlatt (1926)
“Are ye able,” said the Master, “to be crucified with me?” “Yea,” the sturdy dreamers answered, “to the death we follow thee.”
Refrain: Lord, we are able. Our spirits are thine. Remold them, make us, like thee, divine. Thy guiding radiance above us shall be a beacon to God, to love, and loyalty.
Are ye able to remember, when a thief lifts up his eyes, that his pardoned soul is worthy
of a place in paradise?
Are ye able when the shadows close around you with the sod, to believe that spirit triumphs, to commend your soul to God?
Are ye able? Still the Master whispers down eternity, and heroic spirits answer, now as then in Galilee.
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