Thursday, March 1, 2012

Lenten Devotional

Mark 15:66-72
66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.
   “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.
 68 But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.[g]
 69 When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” 70 Again he denied it.
   After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
 71 He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”
 72 Immediately the rooster crowed the second time.[h] Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice[i] you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

The first call of the crow  

            Do we deny the first call of the crow through our scared yearning to be just another person attempting to get warm by the fire, when what we know to be true calls us forward to ask something of us?   The feeling that we must act and think by a higher moral standard can be uncomfortable to carry out.  How sweet is seems to be a woman or man who must only worry about feeling warm on a night like the one peter was stumbling through, with no sense of grief, no moral discomfort, no responsibility, but as just another citizen in a society that holds numerous crucifixions.  Is that the reason we do not hear the first crow?  The desire to be normal combined with the weight of responsibility?
But it is the fact that our soul “weeps bitterly” once we come to terms with the meaning of our words, “I don't know him” which Peter says, that gives us a chance to follow Christ.  And it is the way we demonstrate our responsibility to the “least of these”, who Christ represents, that makes us Christen. 

Thought:  Feel the bitter affliction in your heart after you hear the second call of the crow and let it be.  For the affliction is nothing less than love.  Only it is boiling and thrashing as grace.  But truly know why it is there so we may learn.  Then, we know to serve.

Prayer: God, let us feel your grace in all of its intensity.  Grant us the humility to weep bitterly, grant us the courage to learn, and grant us the knowledge to serve.  

In your name we pray,  
Amen