In our current sermon series, we are going through John 18 & 19 covering the events leading up to and including the crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus. Passion: It Wasn’t the Nails. The nails are not what put Jesus on the Cross, nor did they keep Him there. It was the passion of Christ alone that took him to the cross.
This Sunday we will consider Jesus as the solidary figure in the Passion account. The focus comes down hard on Peter for his denial of Jesus, but let’s remember, Peter was the only one to follow Jesus back into the city for the trial. Everyone else fled for their lives. Peter may be the only one to speak words of denial, but the rest denied Jesus with their actions. One of the reasons I love John’s Gospel is because he uses stylistic devices the other gospel writers do not use. In this passage we see the three denials of Peter are broken up with the word “meanwhile,” to set his denial in the context of the interrogation of Jesus. Jesus was looking for a witness to speak either for or against him, yet there was no one – not even Peter who was just yards away. Jesus was all alone – he is the One Solitary Life! What he came to do, only He could do, and no one could help him or even share in what he did to fulfill the Father’s mission. That is the point of John’s depiction of Jesus’ trial and Peter’s denial. HOWEVER – Peter’s account of failure is used later in the story of Christ to show God’s love through restoration and the mission he calls all of us to engage in. Join me this Sunday as we consider the passion of Christ as the One Solitary Man.