Stations of The Cross - Fourth Station

By D G Moody

Sat, 08 Apr 2023
  • 342 reads
3 comments
 

                  Peter denies Jesus.

 

                    Mark 14.43-46

 

After the Passover, when Judas had left,

The Master had told them he was going away.

And like young children, they had felt bereft,

Should they not be taken to Gethsemane?

 

“I will not desert you, but on this night,

 You will all desert me, thus fulfilling

 The prophecy: but after you are scattered

 I will go before you all, to Galilee”.

 

Simon Peter, his heart on fire, said

He would never desert the Master.

He was not afraid; he would go to prison,

Die, if he must, he would defend the just!

 

“Simon Peter, this night you shall be sifted,

 As a man sifts wheat; from that you shall

 Deny me three times, before the cock crows

 At dawn, only after that shall you be meek.”

 

“I should have been alright,

 If only I had been allowed to fight.

 I would have defended him in the garden,

 But he commanded us to stay.

 But even so, John and I followed him,

 When they took him away.

 

 Around the fire, came the sense of unease,

 Leading me to the three fearful denials,

 The hard stares tempting me to please.

 Then came the dawn’s dreadful cock crow.

 Being led away, he turned and looked at me,

 But he could not take my shame away.”

 

 Images  from Wikimedia Commons: Jörn Droemann.

                © D G Moody 2023

 

 

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Stations of The Cross
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Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Poor Peter!, but we see our own weaknesses and temptations to self-confidence and bravado so clearly.

'only after that shall you be meek' is well put.

It seems he was the first to meet the risen Lord, and from the discussion at the lake when Jesus asked him if he loved him three times, and three times asked him to feed His sheep, he clearly found that his shame was taken away in grace. An encouragement to all to always return! Should the reference be 66-70?

 

Submitted by D G Moody on

Thanks Rhiannonw. I've got a prologue on the stocks - about that meeting at the lake. Also, please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it Mary Magdallen who first met the risen Jesus?

Dougie Moody

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I wrote a reply to this and it got cancelled as there was a re-log in issue I hadn't seen, so I must gather my thoughts again!

Yes, sorry, I was silly to say that. We had been talking about the passage at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15, where it says that, 'he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve', and noticing that it seems the risen Jesus met Peter on his own privately before coming to all of them, and how good that must have been for Peter with the weight of his denials on his mind and heart. But of course, he met Mary before that.

I hope you are enjoying your reading and writing on all this! Rhiannon