The Look
Read Luke 22:39-65.
Jesus and Peter have been best friends. For the last three years, they've been inseparable. No one on earth knows Jesus better than Peter does. He was, after all, the only one bold enough to speak out when Jesus asked who they all thought he was. Peter got it right: "You are the Messiah, sent from God!" (Luke 9:18-20). No one knew Jesus better than Peter did.
Which makes his betrayal here on the final night even worse, in my mind. If Jesus could have counted on anyone to stand beside him during these difficult hours, you would have thought it would have been Peter. But weariness and fear will get the best of all of us from time to time. First Peter falls asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane (and Jesus needs an angel to strengthen him rather than his best friend) and then he denies even knowing Jesus in another garden nearby. Not once, not twice, but three times. "I don't even know him!"
At the moment of the third denial, Luke tells us, Jesus was apparently being led from one location to another through the courtyard, and he looks over at Peter (22:61). I don't know if he heard Peter actually deny him or not, but he knows. In the depths of his being, he knows. The word Luke uses here indicates it's not just a passing glance Jesus gives Peter. The word means to look into someone, to see their soul, to know them deeply, "to discern clearly." Jesus looks at Peter, and Peter looks back at Jesus, and they know each other.
And yet...I don't believe Jesus' look was one of condemnation. Jesus knew this moment of betrayal would come (he had predicted it), just as he knows we will betray him in word and deed so many times. When he looks at us, as he looked at Peter, he gazes with compassion, love and, most of all, forgiveness. I believe that's why Peter leaves weeping (22:62): because he knew what he had done and he knew, in that gaze, that Jesus loved him still. And it broke his heart.
Jesus looks at us the same way. When we fail, when we betray him, when we disappoint him or outright deny him, still he loves us. We don't understand that kind of love! We can't manufacture that kind of love! And we rarely experience that kind of love—only when we allow Jesus to look deeply into us, call out our sin, and call us to a better life. He loves us and wants us to love him back.
Jesus and Peter have been best friends. For the last three years, they've been inseparable. No one on earth knows Jesus better than Peter does. He was, after all, the only one bold enough to speak out when Jesus asked who they all thought he was. Peter got it right: "You are the Messiah, sent from God!" (Luke 9:18-20). No one knew Jesus better than Peter did.
Which makes his betrayal here on the final night even worse, in my mind. If Jesus could have counted on anyone to stand beside him during these difficult hours, you would have thought it would have been Peter. But weariness and fear will get the best of all of us from time to time. First Peter falls asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane (and Jesus needs an angel to strengthen him rather than his best friend) and then he denies even knowing Jesus in another garden nearby. Not once, not twice, but three times. "I don't even know him!"
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| Statue of Peter's denial, St. Peter in Gallicantu, 2014 |
And yet...I don't believe Jesus' look was one of condemnation. Jesus knew this moment of betrayal would come (he had predicted it), just as he knows we will betray him in word and deed so many times. When he looks at us, as he looked at Peter, he gazes with compassion, love and, most of all, forgiveness. I believe that's why Peter leaves weeping (22:62): because he knew what he had done and he knew, in that gaze, that Jesus loved him still. And it broke his heart.
Jesus looks at us the same way. When we fail, when we betray him, when we disappoint him or outright deny him, still he loves us. We don't understand that kind of love! We can't manufacture that kind of love! And we rarely experience that kind of love—only when we allow Jesus to look deeply into us, call out our sin, and call us to a better life. He loves us and wants us to love him back.
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