Red Letters Cock-A-Doodle-Do April 3

RED LETTERS
April 3, 2021

Cock-A-Doodle-Do

Luke 22:31-34, ‘And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”’ (NKJV)

I would never, no, never…we all have said those words, right? I would never do that in my marriage, or I would never say that about a friend; I would never turn my back on somebody or be so self-righteous I didn’t try first to understand what that person might be going through. I would never talk behind someone’s back, or I would never become dependent upon something to just get by.
‘I would never, no, never deny You, Jesus.’ So those thoughts we find plaguing Peter, steadfast follower of Jesus, just hours before this day dawns. We, like Peter, I am certain have made similar proclamations that likely find us in a garden of despair with our head in our hands and shame on our lips. All our lives, we have heard the story and read the words and thought, ‘How could Peter have been so audacious to have even sliced off someone’s ear in defense of his Master?! to have even been given warning from the very One he would deny, and still do exactly what he was told he would do…why, I’d never do that!’ we mouth.
But the day does dawn, and yesterday saw to the death on a cross of the Son of Man in Whom everyone had begun wagering their hopes, and we find Peter hidden and ashamed, guilty of letting down Who He dared to stand for. The cry of the rooster’s crow yesterday morning resounds in Peter’s ear, and a thud lands in his heart as he recalls the finality of the last breath his friend breathed the night just passed, ‘It is finished.’ So terminal and definite, irrefutable. The curtain has fallen, and Peter faces this day now alone. What once had been bright and promising is tainted by the finality of what an entire world had hoped. Peter hangs his face; those words were meant for him, he is certain. He thinks in his head, ‘My Master counted on me and I let Him down and what He said was directed to me; I just know it. He couldn’t count on me. I finished the future He promised,’ Peter sighs.
But those three words have huge connotations, and not just for Peter but for all mankind. The battle is over and the war against the enemy has been won. For good and forever. The pervasiveness of evil will always flirt with the darkness but it will never again overtake. It has been overcome; Jesus has overcome, and therefore, God’s children have all overcome. Jesus isn’t saying He is finished; He is saying, “It—and all that ‘it’ is—is finished.”
What is your ‘it’? For Peter, ‘it’ might have been his denial. Maybe ‘it’ was his self-alliance and self-reliance instead of really falling into Jesus and doing things His way. Maybe ‘it’ to you is a habit or addiction you can’t put down that keeps you from realizing He finished it for you and nailed it to His cross with Him. Perhaps ‘it’ is a past that you are sure defines you but you haven’t stopped running long enough to see that His outline has bled into you. Maybe ‘it’ is a relationship that is finished for you because ‘it’ is unhealthy for you, and you haven’t known yet how to end ‘it’.
Whatever the case may be, while you are in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I think your Redeemer wants you to know that He finished it all, and now He wants to return everything the enemy has attempted to steal from you. See, Peter doesn’t get the sneak peek of turning the page and reading further into the Resurrection Story, but you and I do. Peter is still sitting in the garden holding his heart in his hands and wishing he could make amends to Jesus. But we get to acknowledge that we know what’s coming tomorrow, and that is an empty grave and a risen Savior and a brand new day, with nothing hindering it anymore, because, in Jesus, ‘it’ is finished!

I’ve been reading RED LETTERS all my life, but never with my heart.
During the month of April, let’s JOURNEY where JESUS journeyed,
and listen with our hearts to all He came to proclaim.