Peter's Denial

Peter’s Denial – Today is the third Sunday of Lent, and through these 40 days we move toward the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and Easter. The scripture for today from Luke is the familiar story of Peter denying any knowledge of or association with Jesus. Carol cites something many of us recall from our youth, watching Road Runner cartoons with the bird constantly trying to escape Wile E. Coyote. At times, the bird runs off a cliff and at some point looks down to realize there’s no ground beneath him and he falls. She then cites a book, Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz, who uses that Road Runner image, likening it to when we realize we’re wrong, and a pit grows in our stomach. It begs the question of when we’ve felt like we were forgiven. Here is Peter, denying three times knowing Jesus, but then, amazingly, being forgiven by Jesus. We say we believe in forgiveness by God, but we must acknowledge that in our own lives in order to live as God has designed us to be.