Fourth Station: Peter denies Jesus

Just then a rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows two times, you will say three times that you do not know me.’ And he broke down and cried. [GNB Mark 14.72]

One verse says so much. One moment of panic changed Peter’s life; one slip, which actually made no difference to Jesus’ journey towards Calvary, though it made it an even lonelier journey.

Imagine your sins being written into the narrative of God’s redeeming work with humanity. We could let our imaginations run riot over Peter’s thoughts now: a wry smile perhaps, or we hope that he’s so taken up with looking at the glory of God that all that’s past?

However, it’s better to look at our response to shame, our sense of letting ourselves down, which is where this episode left Peter. He’s the rock on which the church is to be built. Certainly in one major tradition of the scripture material, he’s the first apostle, but he’s a fractured vessel, a cracked pot, a blunt instrument for the work of God. In essence, he’s St Punctured Pride Peter. And so are we.

We spend quite a lot of our time thinking of ourselves as fundamentally OK folks, glad to be blessed by the grace of God. And then the momentary lapse which cannot be called back. The words are out in the public domain, and the relationship will never be the same again. At the point of our shame, we know ourselves as we actually are before God, naked, empty, lost, the shame of Adam and Eve is our shame.

Extraordinarily, this point, when Peter weeps, when we lament our lost innocence (an innocence we never had) is the point at which God really begins to do business with us. We discover grace: love that does not measure us by our actions; the gift of reconciliation though we don’t deserve it. And in our tears, as we watch Jesus watching us, we find a new and more honest way to live, the way of the redeemed sinner, ever indebted, ever grateful, never doubtful of God, because it does not depend any more on anyone’s opinion of our actions, not even ours.

Lord Jesus, as Peter betrayed you,

you experienced the double agony of love rejected and friendship denied:

be with those who know no friends and are rejected by society.

You understood the fear within Peter:

help us to understand the anxieties of those who fear for their future.

To you, Jesus, who gazed with sadness at your lost friend,

be honour and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

now and for ever.

Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin: The Third Station

Third Station: Jesus condemned by the Sanhedrin

⁵⁵ The chief priests and the whole Council tried to find some evidence against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they could not find any.⁵⁶ Many witnesses told lies against Jesus, but their stories did not agree.

 ⁵⁷ Then some men stood up and told this lie against Jesus:⁵⁸

We heard him say,
I will tear down this Temple which men have made, and after three days I will build one that is not made by men.⁵⁹ Not even they, however, could make their stories agree.

 ⁶⁰ The High Priest stood up in front of them all and questioned Jesus,

Have you no answer to the accusation they bring against you?

 ⁶¹ But Jesus kept quiet and would not say a word. Again the High Priest questioned him,

         Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?

 ⁶²
I am, answered Jesus,
 and you will all see the Son of Man seated at the right side of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven!

 ⁶³ The High Priest tore his robes and said,

         We don't need any more witnesses!⁶⁴ You heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?
         

   They all voted against him: he was guilty and should be put to death. [Mark 14.55-64]

We are all familiar with the injustice of Jesus’ trial: his assumed guilt was a foregone conclusion in the minds of his accusers, so all they had to do was to pile criticism upon criticism until it turned into a case in their minds. Much more convenient than simply saying, ‘Let’s just murder him; that way he’ll never cause trouble again.’

What’s more difficult is to work out what Jesus might have been thinking. None of us is content simply to stand by and take false accusation after false accusation. But in Jesus’ case, he knew that this was God’s will, the journey of redemption, the task for which he had come into this world. I can’t really believe, however, that he simply stood there and thought, ‘This is all going my way.’

Rather, I guess that he was deeply weighed down by the injustice of it all, but the greatest weight was the sense that he was carrying the injustice on behalf of all whom he loved; that he was beginning to be ‘bruised for our transgressions.’ So the inner battle was a twofold one, against the human desire to be rid of pain, whether physical or psychological, and against the weight of ‘the sins of the whole world’. I have a vivid word picture of Jesus standing there, sin upon sin being piled upon him until his whole being shakes under the pressure, and still he stands.

Two more things: none of these people had a clue what he was doing, and it must have been the  loneliest place in the world. We, who mostly need someone to hold our hands in order to bear the simplest pain, watch him whose hand no one held. And last for now, what did it cost him to find the strength to go on proclaiming the truth of his vocation: I am the Messiah, and you will all see the Son of Man…

Lord Jesus, you were the victim of religious bigotry:

be with those who are persecuted by small-minded authority.

You faced the condemnation of fearful hearts:

deepen the understanding of those who shut themselves off from the

experience and wisdom of others.

To you, Jesus, unjustly judged victim,

be honour and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

now and for ever.

Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested - the 2nd station

Ely Cathedral

⁴³ Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders.⁴⁴ The traitor had given the crowd a signal:

“The man I kiss is the one you want. Arrest him and take him away under guard.”

 ⁴⁵ As soon as Judas arrived, he went up to Jesus and said,

“Teacher!” and kissed him.⁴⁶ So they arrested Jesus and held him tight. [Mark 14.43-46 Good News Bible]

Judas has fascinated us since the earliest days, and we all want to know why he did it, as if to understand motive justified the action. Sin explained is sin justified, we seem to imply. The other thing we do with Judas is to use him as the scapegoat. We point the finger, wash our hands, and walk away.

All this raises for me the more important question, which is where I locate myself in this freeze-frame. Who am I in the crowd? How shall I choose to orient myself towards Jesus? The truth is that every time I read these words, I find myself in a different place, and it’s this dithering uncertainty that is characteristic of so much that goes on around Jesus in the passion story. Most of the protagonists in this drama are ditherers, and I identify with them easily.

Mostly, I react, whereas Jesus, with immense human dignity and divine sense of purpose sets his face towards Jerusalem, and acts. Sure, he stands passively while people react towards him with kisses, hugs, scourges, stinging words and the rest. But he stands in the certainty that all of this is furthering the action of God, in which he shares: Your will, Father, and mine, are in the end the same will. I will be delivered over to the hands of sinful humanity…

And in his acceptance of his destiny, he acts for my sin and the sin of the world, decisively and finally. This is his desired outcome, and it will be accomplished. So as the story unfolds over the next few days, bring your dithering, your doubt and your uncertainty into conversation with the certainty of the love and grace of God made known to us in Christ Jesus. Be glad that the chief actor in this drama – true man and true God – responds to our undignified and sullied reactions with the supreme act of grace: the cross.

Lord Jesus, you were betrayed by the kiss of a friend:
be with those who are betrayed and slandered and falsely accused.
You knew the experience of having your love
thrown back in your face for mere silver:
be with families which are torn apart by mistrust or temptation.
To you, Jesus, who offered your face to your betrayer,
be honour and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.Amen.

Prayer (c) Archbishops' Council 2012