Good Friday
Scripture
John 13:36-38
36 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward." 37 Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." 38 Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times."
Devotional
Today, we turn from Mark. It’s been a great journey through the book, and as we come to Good Friday, we return to the more familiar readings in the Gospel according to John.
The daily lectionary provides two readings. We’ll look at the first, and leave the second for your own reading or for reading in worship.
The first reading is Jesus foretelling Peter’s denial. As we’ve read through the gospel of Mark, we’ve gotten to know Peter. We read his confession of faith, his confused attempts at faithfulness. We’ve seen the contrast to his faithfulness in the authorities. Yet here, we discover that even Peter will crumble. If we had reason to hope that any disciple would stand firm, it would be Peter. Yet here, we find that Peter will fail not once but three times. Peter naturally disagrees, but we know he’s wrong. Not even Peter will stick with Jesus.
Message provided by the Miller Summer Youth Institute.