Adapted from a message included in the Concordia Publishing House Lenten Series Witnesses to Christ

Peter

Text: John 18:12-27

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

He was a professional thief. His name alone evoked fear throughout the Wild West. He terrorized the Wells Fargo stagecoach line—roaring like a tornado and spooking the most rugged cowboys. During his reign of terror, from 1875 to 1883, he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars. No victim ever saw him. No artist ever sketched him. No sheriff could ever track his trail. What’s his name? It was Black Bart.

John introduces us to one very much like Black Bart. If you’ve ever felt shame and disgrace, it was his whisper that crushed your heart. If you’ve ever felt alone and abandoned, it was all according to his plan. If you’ve ever felt useless and no good, it was his accusing finger in your face. This Black Bart comes to kill, steal, and destroy everything.

What’s his name? Guilt! Maybe there’s someone on the planet who hasn’t known guilt. Not even an ounce of remorse. No one whispering in his ear, “You’re worthless.” If there is, I’ve never met that person. What is it that’s brought guilt into your life? A one-night stand? An ongoing fued? Did you take something that wasn’t yours? Or maybe your guilt isn’t the result of a moment but of a season in life. You failed as a parent. You blew it in your career. You squandered your youth or your money—or both. The result? Guilt!

In our Lenten series on the Witnesses to Christ, today we meet Peter. Peter’s in the courtyard of a high priest named Caiaphas. In that courtyard, we see guilt—Peter’s guilt and our own. Beyond the courtyard, we see grace—grace for Peter and grace for us!

To get some context, we head back to Gethsemane, where we hear the claim. “Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.’ ” Jesus and Peter had been through so much together. Three years earlier, Jesus was walking on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. He sees Peter fishing with his brother Andrew and calls them to follow: “I will make you fishers of men.” One day, about a year later, Peter follows Jesus out onto the Sea of Galilee during a huge storm. Peter walks on the water, but then he begins to sink. Jesus immediately reaches out His hand, takes hold of Peter, and saves him.

At one point, Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” At another point, Jesus takes Peter—along with James and John—to see His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. Then Jesus invites this same trio to witness His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. No wonder Peter makes the claim, “I will lay down my life for You.”

We’ve all made that claim when we got confirmed, “Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed remain true to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?” And we said, “I do!” “Will you take this man/woman to be your wedded husband/wife?” And you said, “I do!”

As the events in the courtyard unfold, it’s like watching cracks in a house’s foundation slowly spread. A servant girl comes up to Peter and says, “‘You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?’ He said, ‘I am not.’” The first crack.

Peter then stands by a fire to keep warm. Some bystanders say to him, “You also are not one of His disciples, are you? He denied it and said, ‘I am not.’” The second crack. When there are enough cracks, there will always be a collapse! Always!

Here it is. “One of Malchus’s relatives spots Peter and asks, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with Him?’” “Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed” Let those three words sink in: “A rooster crowed.” And the result? Guilt!

For us, the collapse happens when we say, “Just one more drink,” “just one more lie,” “just one more fling,” or “just one more look.” Crack. Crack. Crack. But one more leads to one more, and then just one more. When there are enough cracks, there will always be a collapse! Always! Then what? Guilt!

Peter, after the rooster crowed, felt like a leftover—a has-been, marginalized, left out, rejected. Forgotten at the back of the pack. That’s what guilt does to us. Guilt turns us into miserable, weary, angry, stressed-out people. There’s one who loves us even in this state. God does! And God gives grace.

How does that happen? Fast-forward to John 21, where Jesus asks Peter if Peter loves Him. Jesus asks the question three times—once for every time Peter had denied his Lord. And each time Peter confesses, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” Peter confessed his guilt. What gave him the faith to do that? While Peter was denying Jesus, Jesus was suffering for Peter.

Jesus doesn’t wait until we get it all together. Jesus doesn’t wait until we overcome our temptations and fight our demons and conquer our sin. “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In our courtyard, we see guilt. Beyond the courtyard—at the cross—we see grace. And grace means what?

In God’s grace we’re given the strength to come back from everything that causes that guilt! Who preaches the sermon on Pentecost? Peter. Whose sermon converts three thousand people? Peter’s. Who writes two books in the New Testament? Peter. Listen closely. Comebacks don’t depend on how much we love Jesus. Comebacks depend on how much Jesus loves us. Comebacks don’t depend on what we do for Jesus. Comebacks depend on what Jesus does for us. Comebacks don’t depend on us giving our life for Jesus. Comebacks depend on Jesus giving His life for us.

Remember Black Bart? In the end, he was nothing to be afraid of. When the authorities tracked him down, they didn’t find a bloodthirsty bandit. They found a mild-tempered businessman from Decatur, Illinois. The man pictured storming through the Wild West on his horse was so afraid of riding horses that he rode around in a horse-drawn buggy. Black Bart was Charles Boles—the bandit who never once fired a bullet, because he never once loaded his gun!

See guilt for what it really is. A deadly monster? You bet. A painful feeling that can do great harm? No doubt. The tormentor of our souls? For sure. But also count on this—guilt is a defeated enemy who has no bullets left in his gun.

What does that mean for us? Our story isn’t over when Jesus is in it. Isn’t that great? We can all come back from guilt. Because we all have God’s Grace. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.