Matthew tells us that all the disciples deserted Jesus following his arrest. But it seems the Peter does slink along behind, at a distance, wanting to know what will happen to Jesus. And so it is that Peter gets spotted.
Someone remembers seeing Peter with Jesus. Peter denies it, but I imagine he was getting a bit nervous at this point. Then another person recognizes him, and Peter must deny it even more forcefully. He looks a bit a like a politician whose been caught in some misdeed but still hopes repeated denials will make it all go away. But then it happens again, and this person points out Peter's telltale accent. Now I have no idea what a Galilean accent sounded like, but it must have been distinctive. I'm guessing it was also looked down on by folks in Jerusalem, the same way some people look down on an accent from West Virginia or the rural South.
Peter is feeling cornered, and so he begins to curse and swear. Surely no one believed his denials at this point, but it didn't matter. The crowing rooster recalled for Peter his earlier boasts of bravery, and how Jesus had said he would act precisely as he had just done. And Peter exists the stage, weeping as he goes.
Like Peter, most of us are better followers of Jesus in our minds than we are in reality, but unlike Peter, we rarely get cornered. There aren't many times when people want to catch us for following Jesus. We're free to make public pronouncements of our loyalty to him within the safe confines of a church sanctuary, knowing full well that no one at work or school is likely to cause trouble by accusing us of hanging out with Jesus. We will have no need to swear and curse. We can "believe in" Jesus privately and live our lives in ways that don't betray the rather strange ways he teaches.
Very often, we have nothing of a distinctive, Jesus-like accent like the one that gives away Peter. Our lives may not betray any significant association with Jesus or the way he lived and called his followers to live. I know mine often doesn't. I think that's why I was so struck by a blog post with the admittedly hyperbolic title, "The Only Two Questions Any Pastor Should Be Asking Right Now," by Lawrence Wilson. These two questions are: "How do I get people to imitate Jesus in daily life as opposed to giving intellectual assent to Christian ideas without exhibiting life transformation?" and "How do we transform the public perception of Christians as judgmental, anti-intellectual, and mean-spirited to welcoming, hopeful, and helpful, which is how the ordinary folk of Jesus’ day perceived him?"
Wilson says that there is a single answer to both questions, and it is to begin living as Jesus did. Or, to use my analogy from above, to begin acquiring a distinctive, Jesus accent as opposed to some beliefs about Jesus. That leads to what Wilson calls a "modest proposal" for transforming church and world.
One: Begin to think of salvation as the transformation of your entire self from death to life rather than as mere forgiveness for sin with a ticket to heaven.
Two: Stop telling people outside the church how they ought to behave and give full attention to the transformation of your own soul.
That’s it.
When Christian people live lives marked by hope, joy, and a fresh, new way of living, we will be transformed people, and we will transform the world.Not sure I can say anything to improve on that.
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