Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton
LENTEN ECUMENICAL SERVICE
Saint Stephen’s Pro-Cathedral, Wilkes-Barre – March 16, 2011
Mark 14:66-72
When all is said and done, life’s greatest need is to belong to another, to be in relationship. To be whole, people need to have someone in their lives. And conversely, to be broken in life is to be alone and isolated, to be apart from others, to have stepped away from a life-giving relationship with another.
Two men are facing each other. One is only a few hours away from death. The other has just told a group gathered around a fire that he did not know the Man who was going to his death. “I do not know him. I was never with him. I swear.” And a cock crowed to greet the dawn. The prisoner passed through the area where the man stood with the others. He looked at the man – simply looked. … And the man who had denied the prisoner, who had been so loud and brave a moment earlier, was destroyed. It seemed as if HIS life was about to end. And tears ran down his face.
The scene I just described from this evening’s scripture passage frames a profound question. What really lies at the heart of Christianity? What serves as the foundation for the faith experience that we all profess this day? A series of doctrines? A way of life? Yes – to some degree.
But the scene of two men in silent confrontation in a palace courtyard tells the REAL meaning of Christianity. … Christianity is, when you come down to it, a LIVING RELATIONSHIP WITH A LIVING PERSON. … the relationship of redeemed human beings with the person of Jesus Christ in faith, trust, forgiveness and love.
It is in this context that we can understand what happened in the courtyard. As Peter was standing by the fire, lying for the sake of safety and human respect – swearing falsely for a moment of warmth and acceptance from the world, he broke his relationship with Jesus – he turned against his friend. He had not denied a doctrine – he had not embarrassed his culture – HE BROKE A RELATIONSHIP. And when Jesus looked at him, Peter realized what he had done.
What are we to do with this whole incident but apply it to ourselves? We don’t generally deny any doctrines or philosophies … but we HAVE broken that bond of friendship and love between Jesus and ourselves. We’ve stood by the fire, eager for the world’s approval, and bought it at the price of denying that we even know Jesus.
Do you think that such a statement is a bit of a stretch? We really don’t deny the Lord, do we? We just have bad days … right? I’m not sure that we ought to so readily proclaim our innocence with regard to our denial of the Lord. Look at Peter again. What happens to him? What does he really do? What really went wrong?
First of all, Peter finds himself in a bad situation. Denials always begin with a bad situation. Peter should have never been standing by that fire. He placed himself in an environment filled with unsympathetic people. … He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. … And putting ourselves in a bad situation – the wrong company, the wrong place – a bar with destructive drinking buddies – a restaurant with a group of greedy social climbers – the vestibule of the church with a a group of critical gossipers … putting ourselves in the wrong situation is the FIRST step to denial.
The SECOND step comes with a moment of forgetfulness. We want so badly to be accepted – so much to be a part of the crowd that we forget our own weaknesses. We have the proverbial senior moment, and we lose touch with the danger we face at a certain moment. Peter was so consumed with saving himself that he lost touch with the potential consequences of his actions. So do we.
Then, in a bad situation with a moment of forgetfulness, the break comes – the third step in the denial. Peter said he didn’t know the man. … We say something or do something – we take a drink, pop a pill or plunge headfirst into a conversation that will inevitably come to a bad end. … Or we FAIL to say something, to do something and so our silence gives consent and evil rolls on, unopposed by us … and A RELATIONSHIP IS BROKEN. … with a friend, a spouse, a child … Jesus.
Do you see how this thing called DENIAL is a little bit more a part of our lives than we may have thought initially? It’s far more evident than we might like to believe. … And then there’s the final step. Without fail, there is the LOOK. Remember what happened when Peter denied Jesus? There was the look. It may be a long time in coming, it may take quite some time to recognize, but it is there. Jesus is standing there looking, gazing, with eyes pleading and longing.
We ALL know the look, don’t we? We see the look of Jesus in the face of a friend who’s caught us in a lie – a child whom we’ve ignored – a spouse who’s just discovered our infidelity – a parent who’s been let down by a son or a daughter. … And in the LOOK, Jesus tells us that we are not only hurting ourselves but we are fracturing that which we need most in our lives – our relationships – with family, with friends, with the LORD himself. Most of us know the LOOK, don’t we? We’ve experienced it from both sides.
But amazingly, when Jesus LOOKED at Peter, something happened that we can’t leave out of the story. What happened to Peter? Peter’s eyes were opened – he shed tears of regret, shame, and repentance. … And he entered a new path in his journey that led him to have a soulful answer to the question that Jesus later asked: “Peter, do you love me?” And when, like Peter, we can say “YES,” Jesus looks at us again – not with the look of pain born of denial and betrayal, but with a look of understanding love.
For you see, the stories of our denials of Jesus, as many as there may be, can never be told without also telling the story of Jesus’ boundless, forgiving love … born on the cross. It’s that story, that love that speaks mightily to all of us who have ever denied someone that we love, who have ever denied the Lord and who have fallen on our knees exclaiming how unworthy, how sinful, how broken we are. It is that love that reminds us that we are all like Peter – flawed yes – but also special objects of God’s calling and God’s desire to build his kingdom on the likes of us.
At another place in the gospels, Jesus says to Peter: “Do not be afraid.” As a loving friend, Jesus says the same to each of us right now:
Do not be afraid that you are not good enough – for God has created each one of us with a piece of goodness within us.
Do not be afraid that you lack the courage or generosity to be a saint – for God gives us the grace to make miracles happen in the most ordinary of circumstances.
Do not be afraid that you are not loving enough – for God’s love is enough for all of us.
