Trials

"Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, "Whom are you looking for?" They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus replied, "I am he." (John 18:5)


The woman said to Peter, "You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." (John 18:17)

This is the year of Matthew, so this Sunday we will be hearing the story of Jesus' passion from that gospel. However, on Good Friday, we will hear it from the book of John. Today I want to reflect on John's version of the passion because he tells part of it in a way that is different than the other gospels.

When I read the story of Jesus' arrest and trial, I picture John as a kind of film editor. While the other gospels shoot Jesus' trial and sentencing in one take and Peter's denial of  Jesus in another, John splices the film so that the scenes of Jesus on trial are interspersed with Peter's own...trial! Unlike the other gospels, this one deftly shows that there is not just one trial going on. There are two. Perhaps, even three.

Here is the set up:

Scene 1: Jesus truthfully tells those who arrest him who he is.  Peter slices the ear off the high priest's slave.

Scene 2: Jesus is take before the high priest and is judged.

Scene 3: In the courtyard, Peter is asked if he is one of Jesus' disciples. He denies it. He denies who he is.

Scene 4: Next, Jesus is in front of the high priest being asked about his teachings. He speaks the truth when questioned.

Scene 5: Cut away to the courtyard again where Peter denies knowing Jesus - twice. The cock crows; that is his sentence.

Scene 6: Now Jesus is in front of Pilate, being questioned again, telling the truth again.

Jesus tells the truth and is sentenced to death, an innocent man. Peter lies and gets away with it; his only sentence is given by the crowing of the cock. Both Jesus and Peter - in very different ways - are condemned. In my mind's eye, I see Peter slithering away after he hears the cock's "sentence."  At the same time I try to juxtapose this image of a spineless Peter with Jesus' words in Matthew 16:18 where he refers to Peter as the rock on which Jesus will build his church. What an inauspicious beginning for the church!

There is, for me, a third trial going - or at least that is what I read between the lines.  This is the trial that condemns me, too, for I am not any better than Peter.

It amazes me to think - that Jesus is counting on spineless human beings to be something more than they are. Jesus doesn't want us to deny whose we are. Instead, Jesus calls forth our better selves. Jesus sees something in us that we don't see in ourselves.

That's what happens to Peter after Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension. Peter finally "gets it" and is ultimately martyred for sharing the Good News in Jesus Christ.

And so, I have questions from all of this:

• How is Jesus calling forth the "better selves" of those who who are part of the church?
• Where is Jesus calling us to be in his name? 
• In what places does the church need to speak truth to authority?