Let's ponder Peter tonight. Jesus told His disciples that they would all run away. But Peter declared that He certainly would not! Peter! Such faith! Such boldness! Such strong trust in the Lord! Wait. No. Such strong trust in Peter. This is Peter who would never leave Jesus' side, yet couldn't even stay awake while His Lord prayed in agony. This is Peter who would never leave Jesus' side, yet only hours later swore up and down that he didn't know this Jesus fellow! See where such strong faith in Peter ends Peter up? There is repentance, there, for us, children of God. The big deal is never how much faith you think you have. The main thing is not how much you think you believe in Jesus or what a good disciples you think you are. You aren't. You can get all hyped up for Jesus and then when it all comes down, you'll deny Him like Peter did. That's why we're sinful. Because we do not and cannot trust in God as He demands of us. We can act as if we're all full of faith and fire for our Lord. But we're not. We should be. We should be so solid for Jesus that nothing would turn us away from Him, not even a crowd of soldiers showing up to arrest Him or us! But such a faith doesn't save you. Oh yes, trust in Jesus. But don't trust that your trusting will keep you safe!
Peter makes like he's all for Jesus but by the end of the story, Peter is all for Peter. All the disciples are only worried about themselves. That's why they run away. Somebody even ran away naked! You can always get a new robe, but you won't escape if they nab you with Jesus! The disciples are for the disciples when it comes down to it and that is unbelief. But who is Jesus for? Is Jesus for Himself? No, Jesus is for Peter. And Jesus is for the rest of the disciples (yes, even Judas) and Jesus is for you and me. When Jesus is arrested, He stands still to be taken while the others run away. When Jesus is tried, He doesn't spill the beans on who His disciples are. He simply suffers the abuse of evil men. When Jesus is led to Calvary and drags His cross, He does it for them and for you. When He is nailed there, He doesn't try to get out of it, but only has you in mind as He suffers Himself to be pierced and lifted up on the cross. Behold that Jesus on the cross. Peter ran away. The other disciples are gone too. But Jesus is there. And He's not there for Himself. He's there for them. And He's there for you. And at the font, He's there for you. And by the absolution of your pastor, Jesus is there for you. And in His Supper, Jesus is there for you. Everywhere, all the time, in all things, in His church, Jesus isn't there for Himself but for you.
You and I? We are for us! Let us repent of that! Let us repent of being only for ourselves and not for others and not for the Lord. Let us turn our hearts and minds and faith and trust to Jesus who is for us. We can make big boasts of how much we're for Jesus, like Peter did. But that's really only bragging about ourselves. Rather, let's acknowledge plainly that the only thing that saves us is that Jesus is for us. Live as Peter learned to do after Jesus rose from the dead: live as the ones for whom Jesus gave Himself into death. Live from the font; live at the altar. Live because your Lord has lived for you and died for you and lives again for all eternity, for you. Amen.