I wanted to take some time to write with you about an Easter story that doesn’t get talked about much. \u00a0Most everyone knows that Jesus died on Good Friday, and rose on Easter Sunday; but what about the disciples that had to wait? \u00a0What were they feeling?<\/p>\n
Peter was with Jesus everywhere He went, and Peter reminds me a bit of myself; always asking questions, and always seeking the answer. \u00a0Specifically, take a look at Matthew 14:26. \u00a0The disciples were on a boat, and Jesus was not with them as He was finishing praying. \u00a0He walked on water out to the boat, and the disciples thought it was a ghost at first! \u00a0Jesus said to them, “Take courage, it is I! Don’t be afraid.” \u00a0Peter then asked Jesus, “If its you Lord, tell me to come to you on the water.” \u00a0We know how the rest of the story goes – Peter begins to realize he’s walking on water, and starts to sink. \u00a0He called out to Jesus “Lord, save me!”, and Jesus grabbed him by the hand and said, “You of little faith, why do you doubt?”<\/p>\n
If we keep our eyes on Jesus, we can do anything. \u00a0But what about that feeling of losing someone? \u00a0What did Peter feel on Good Friday?<\/p>\n
Imagine this with me, lets take a walk back through some history. \u00a0Your best friend and teacher of three years has just been condemned to death. \u00a0You and I both know He’s innocent, but our teacher continues to tell us this is what must happen. Lets put you and I\u00a0in Peters place as we walk through this story. \u00a0 Before all this takes places, he brings you and the other followers to a garden to pray. \u00a0At this point, you are so scared and not sure whats next. \u00a0Even though you’re terrified, and Jesus asked you to stay watch and pray. \u00a0He comes back not once, but twice, and finds you sleeping. \u00a0Our best friend, teacher, Lord, Savior, is crying out to God. \u00a0We know Jesus is fully man and fully God, but here we see how real He is with the disciples. \u00a0Imagine Jesus telling you and me, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. \u00a0Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38), but yet you and I are so exhausted, that we keep falling asleep.<\/p>\n
The second time Jesus wakes us up, Judas shows up with the crowd to arrest Jesus. \u00a0As the men stepped forward to arrest Jesus, we feel such overwhelming emotion, that we grab a sword of one of the guards, and cut off his ear (Matthew 26:51). \u00a0Why let the emotions take control? \u00a0I’m sure you know how it feels to be flooded with emotion; and then you just act on a first instinct. \u00a0We see in Luke’s account of the arrest, that Jesus then heals the mans ear (Luke 22:51). \u00a0Even after we acted out in anger, Jesus performs another miracle and heals the mans ear. \u00a0Everyone sees this, but they still want Him to die.<\/p>\n
Jesus then says that all this must take place to fulfill the prophecies, and then the very next words amaze me….”Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled”. \u00a0We ran away from someone who asked us to keep watch and pray; someone who saved us from the waves, someone who showed us Grace and the Truth. \u00a0As we ran away, we ran just far enough away to not be seen by the crowds. \u00a0At this point, we’re approached three times asking if we were with Jesus. \u00a0All three times, we say no! \u00a0We just cut off someones ear in defense of Jesus, but now we’re saying we don’t know Him? \u00a0I know we’re terrified, but saying that we don’t know Him at all?<\/p>\n
After denying it three times, the rooster crowed, and now you remember what Jesus told you – “…Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times” (Mt. 26:75) \u00a0How would you feel after this? \u00a0I can guarantee you my next reaction would be the same as Peters – “And he went outside and wept\u00a0bitterly” \u00a0<\/em>I emphasized bitterly because the author of Matthew used that word, and it is translated the same across most english translations. \u00a0He didn’t just weep, he wept bitterly. \u00a0He cried out with such sadness. \u00a0Have you ever cried like that? \u00a0Just cried out with screams that you no longer care who is around? \u00a0His cry was one of sadness, regret, anger, you name it.<\/p>\n Peter is not again mentioned by name until the resurrection. \u00a0Continue to place yourself in Peters place in the story we just went through. \u00a0Now three days later, you are sitting in a room. \u00a0Everyone is sad, depressed, and isn’t sure whats next in life. \u00a0We just witnessed our best friend nailed to a cross, and watched him die. \u00a0For those of us in Emergency Services, we’ve seen people die before, but its helpful when we don’t have a direct association with them. \u00a0Imagine you’re on standby at an event, and your best friend is dying right in front of you, but you can’t do anything. \u00a0Our best friend and teacher of three years now breathes His last, and is placed in a tomb. \u00a0Do we just sit and wait? \u00a0If so, wait for what? \u00a0Jesus said the Son of Man will rise again. but was it really three days?<\/p>\n Imagine us followers of Jesus in a locked room three days later. \u00a0You could probably cut the tension and emotion in that room with a knife. \u00a0John says the door was locked “for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19) \u00a0All of a sudden, Mary Magdalene busts through the door, shouting “I have seen the Lord!” \u00a0And she tells the story of the empty tomb. \u00a0Now my heart has to be pumping if I was Peter. \u00a0The man I denied three times is now alive? \u00a0What are His first words to me going to be? \u00a0What will He think? \u00a0Millions of thoughts running through my head at this point. \u00a0All of a sudden, Jesus appeared and stood among all of us. \u00a0His first words? \u00a0“Peace be with you!” (John 20:19)<\/p>\n Peace be with you! \u00a0Not what were you thinking? \u00a0He didn’t ask why did you do that? \u00a0Peace. \u00a0You see, even in the midst of life, we can run away from Jesus and all that He has for us. \u00a0Sometimes we decide to take things into our own hands and say “I can handle it!” \u00a0We all know thats crazy, and I can \u00a0tell you first hand, its crazy to try life on your own. \u00a0When we feel discouraged, and are afraid that Jesus won’t love us after everything we’ve done; remember His first words to you and me after that story of betrayal – “Peace be with you”<\/p>\n Remember, Jesus rose and conquered death to give us a relationship with God! \u00a0If you have any questions about starting or continuing a relationship with Jesus, please don’t hesitate to email me at bvizzi@Brotherswithoutborders.org . \u00a0Have a great Easter everyone!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wanted to take some time to write with you about an Easter story that doesn’t get talked about much. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1543,"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions\/1543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roamintl.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}