A Look

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
Luke 22:54–62
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A Look
Like Peter, we can often be full of confidence and bluster. Peter had been the most vocal of all the apostles in his loyalty to Jesus. There was no way in Petere’s mind that he could ever deny his Lord. Even if it meant his death. But the sound of a rooster crowing and what must have been the most heart wrenching meeting of eyes in history, Peter knows that he had done just that. For during Jesus’ interrogation, Peter had denied Jesus three times. But Jesus’ word and look would bring Peter to tears and to repentance. Self-preservation is never justification for denying our Lord and His bond with us. Jesus wants to see you face to face, to look into your eyes and welcome you into His kingdom. He ever looks at us in love to call us to repentance, forgiving our sins. May He always look on us with His forgiving love.