Reflection for Palm Sunday

Thursday Evening, in the Garden of Olives:

Peter said to Jesus: ‘Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you’ Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’ Peter said to him, ‘Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ (Matt. 26. 33-35)

Just a few hours later, in the courtyard of the high priest:

After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.’ Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, ‘I do not know the man!’ At that moment the cock crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: ‘Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly. (Matt. 26.73-75).

Peter, so sure of himself, so confident in his discipleship, is devastated when he realises what he has done. Judas, who deliberately betrayed Jesus, is unable to live with himself and commits suicide. But in due course Peter, humbled by his failure, accepting his weakness and his dependence on the grace and mercy of God, grows in stature to become the ‘Rock’ that Jesus said he would be.

All of us know failure in some form, large or small. It may be shattering to discover our own weakness, but it can lead to a new understanding of ourselves, and a more realistic view of our need for God’s grace if we are to become what we were made to be.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor.12.9)

Revd Rosemary Kobus van Wengen