Fourth Station: Jesus is Denied by Peter

 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. One of the maids came over to him and said, "You too were with Jesus the Galilean." But he denied it in front of everyone, saying, "I do not know what you are talking about!" As he went out to the gate, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, "This man was with Jesus the Nazorean." Again he denied it with an oath, "I do not know the man!" A little later the bystanders came over and said to Peter, "Surely you too are one of them; even your speech gives you away." At that he began to curse and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately a cock crowed. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken: "Before the cock crows you will deny me three times." He went out and began to weep bitterly.

Sixth Station: Jesus is Scourged and Crowned with Thorns

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said,"Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck him repeatedly.


Station 4&6                                                                                                        March 26, 2014

There is an enormous difference between practice and performance.  Between getting it done without pressure vs. making it happen 
at crunch time.  I’ve watched a lot of basketball this past week.  I played in high school, and as I watch these guys and girls shooting free throws toward the end of a game, it’s amazing to me.  There will be an 80% free throw shooter who gets to the line at the end of a game, needing to make at least one out of two.  And he misses both.  He probably makes 20 or 30 in a row in practice.  But when he’s tired, fearful of missing… of letting his teammates down, when he hears the cat calls of the fans of the other team, and them waving behind the basket… he misses and I think, yeah, I think I would too.  Or he makes it and I’m amazed at his focus.  Or… I was in drama in high school, too.  And we’d practice our lines thousands of times.  Thousands.  To the point where all throughout a day, those lines would pop up in my consciousness.  I can still recite some of my lines from when I was Mark Twain 20 years ago.  But it’s funny how when you put 500 people in a room to watch you say those memorized lines, how different they come out.  Or don’t come out.  Or, you study for a test and you’ve got it cold.  But then comes that quiet room, you, your pencil, and that test.  Sometimes, the numbers or words or facts just flit away.  Whether you’ve prepared a proposal at work, practiced a song for hours, or made yourself emotionally ready for a difficult situation, there is always an enormous difference between practice and performance.  And that’s what the story of Peter is about. 

In chapter 16 of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus and his disciples come into the district of Caesarea Philippi and Jesus sits them down and asks them a question.  “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  
I imagine a kind of classroom feel here or maybe a staff meeting.  Anyone, anyone?  And they said things like, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  But then Jesus got to the tougher question.  “Who do you say that I am?”  And Peter speaks up like the head of the class man that he is.  “Oooh, oooh, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!”  And Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  And I tell you Simon, you are Peter – that is Petros – which means rock – and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind or loose on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven.” 

Jesus gives Simon a nickname.  You’re the Rock.  And that’s what the gospel writers typically call him.  That’s what history knows him by… his nickname: Rock.  St. Rock, Minnesota – pretty town.  St. Rock’s Basilica in Rome.  For proclaiming this revelation that Jesus is the Messiah, Son of the Living God, Simon son of Jonah gets as amazing a job offer as anyone has ever gotten.  On you I’ll build my church.  I’ll give you the keys to the kingdom and whatever you judge to be done or not done, well, that’s what the rules will be in heaven.  Whoa.  You know sometimes, I’ve talked about Mary the Mother of God as though she is the most faithful person in Scripture, so willingly open to bearing the Son of God.  Or Martha as she grieves the death of her brother Lazarus, she is still able to faithfully say to Jesus, “You are the Messiah; the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”  But neither of them are rewarded with the keys to the Kingdom.  With the ability to set the boundaries of what shall be done or not done on earth and then also in heaven.  So, Peter must be so very exceptionally faithful. 

Well, he was when being faithful was safe and easy.  In class with his fellow disciples, Peter shines.  He knows the answers.  But when the rubber hits the road, or as a teacher of mine liked to say, “you’re tied to the train tracks and the train is coming.  What do you really believe?”  And when we get to that moment for Peter, as Jesus has been handed over to the authorities and is obviously in great danger of being executed… which usually also brings about the execution of such a person’s followers… When the context of Peter’s faith changes from practice to showtime, Peter shrinks.  He doesn’t clank a free throw, here.  He shoots three airballs.  He forgets his lines.  The Rock crumbles.  Peter denies even knowing Jesus, much less following him. 

McKenna Everson offers us the artwork for the fourth station.  Personally, I love the size of the rooster.  As the small figure of Peter is crying in the foreground, the rooster’s cock-a-doodle-do dominates.  I’m sure that’s what it felt like for Peter as he heard it crow.  That overwhelming sense of failure to live up to his call.  I’m sure that rooster felt like a giant in Peter’s mind.  Thank you McKenna for this.  Besides, any time you can put blue and green feathers on a chicken, and pull it off, good work. 

           

As we continue our journey through the stations of cross, we come to the 6^th station where Jesus, having been found guilty of nothing in particular, but guilty nonetheless, Jesus is then processed – you could say.  And being processed in this case means a flogging, humiliation and a beating.  Marla Meyer makes these words and images come alive by offering this station that has a feel to it.  You can feel the cloth and the crown, which is appropriate because this part of John’s gospel is written in such a way as to connect with our physical bodies.  John wants us to know this hurt for Jesus.  It hurt his bones, his skin, his human body.  But these verses from John also show us how Jesus was tortured emotionally. At their worst soldiers have been known throughout time for mistaking their duty for privileged power, especially soldiers who occupy a rival nation.  Whether it’s been Americans in Iraq desecrating dead enemies, or the British raping the innocents of Scotland, or the Romans burning the villages of the Gauls after defeating them… soldiers can give in to hatred instead of dwelling on their opportunity to serve.  These Roman soldiers hated the Jews.  Jesus bears the brunt of their hatred as they don’t just flog and beat him.  They belittle him.  They mock him.  A crown that will make its wearer bleed.  A cloak that would like putting a prom dress on a homeless person.  It’s mean. 

What hurts worse?  Physical brutality or emotional warfare?  I’m not sure there is a right answer.  Actually, I think what John is trying to get across is that Jesus endured the full range of abuse: all kinds.  He is immune to nothing.  He chooses to experience all of it.  Without saying one word.  Without crying out ‘uncle’ or in his case, ‘Father”. 

I’ve been those soldiers before.  I’ve made fun of people for my own amusement.  I was telling the Men’s group this story this morning and I’ve told it to confrimands, too… it pertains to the 5^th commandment which is thou shall not murder.  And how Luther enlarges the meaning of this commandment to not only be about knives and guns.  But he says, “We are to fear and love God so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life’s needs.”  ALL of life’s needs.  In other words thou shall not murder infers that we should build others up rather than tear them down.  And it isn’t only physically that we build or tear down.  More often, we build or tear in emotional ways.  We can either encourage others or discourage them.  We have the power to murder character;   The story I share about this commandment is from when I was in middle school and high school for that matter to some extent.  We had a classmate whose identity was the one who everyone made fun of.  The way he looked, the way he talked, his lack of athletic prowess, he wasn’t very bright – according to us… I can’t imagine how awful it must have been for him to come to school every day.  Nobody ever laid a hand on him.  We broke the 5^th commandment with him by killing his character.  And by the age of 19 he chose not to live life any more.  And the thought that I contributed even a little bit toward his death brings me to confess my sin every chance I can so that perhaps others will believe how powerful their words are. 

Jesus endures the power of words… from these soldiers, from the lack of words Peter offers, from false testimony about him in front of the Sanhedrin.  Because as much as I like to dwell on me and how I am just like the soldiers… this station (like all the others) isn’t about me or us.  First and foremost it’s about Jesus.  It’s about what he went through so that we can believe that God truly lived as one of us… enduring the worst we do to each other… it’s about Jesus going through all of it SO THAT we would believe, feel his love recognize he didn’t just do it to prove how tough he is.  He did it so that we would feel loved by him.  Which changes the way we live.  It changes the way we die; and don’t stay dead.  When we recognize how loved we are, we are changed… Thanks be to God.