The Fall Guy

In her Easter 3 sermon on John 21:1-19, Denise Kelsall explores the experience of the scapegoat, the fall guy. "Most dramatic stories and situations have a fall guy. Someone who takes the rap. In this instance all of the disciples were complicit in their fearful silence, but it is Peter who gets to speak and denies Jesus three times in the garden. This casts him as the fall guy, and consequently he is the one who is marked or gets the bad press – he betrays himself. However, it is Jesus who is really the definitive fall guy here. The disciples were not steadfast or loyal. They melted away when the heat was on and he went to an ugly death." Read entire text at http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=328&id=722.