“”I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.” –Matthew 26:75

Let’s take a journey today. Let’s go back and put ourselves in Peter’s shoes and walk through his life just a little bit. It all started for him as a little boy. In that culture the school system was much different. There was really just one school. Rabbi school. When boys were young they would all go there to start their path to becoming a Rabbi or teacher. It started by them having to memorize parts of the Torah or books of Moses. When test time came around, only the best of the best were allowed to move on. The rest were to go back to their homes and learn the family trade. This is where we find Peter, out in a fishing boat with his brother Andrew. Not having been good enough to make the cut he learned to be a fisherman.

            Then one day while they were fishing a man named Jesus comes and directs him to put down everything, leave everything, and come follow Him. That means leaving your wife, your job, and everything you know to go and follow this Jesus. Following Jesus takes him on a 3 year whirlwind. Peter witnesses and participates in the healing of the sick, the healing of the paralyzed and disabled, the casting out of demons, feeding thousands of people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, he gets to see Moses and Elijah in person, and hear the preaching of a kingdom that is to come. What an adventure that had to have been. But it all seems to culminate one night in a place called Gethsemane.

This Jesus who he has been following and trusting for 3 years is betrayed by a friend, and taken into custody for something that He didn’t do. So he follows Jesus’ arresting party to watch the trial and gets noticed. People recognize that he has been one of Jesus’ followers and even though you told Jesus you would never leave Him, you do just as He has told you. You deny knowing Jesus three times. Now this denial isn’t a subconscious denial. It is an active conscious denial that is meant to protect yourself from the very thing that swore you would do, die with Jesus.

Peter goes through this incredible 3 year journey with Jesus and having seen all that he has seen, been a part of it all, still actively denies Jesus. His journey to the cross is like a never ending roller coaster. He had highs that were incredible and lows that caused him to doubt that Jesus really was the Savior of the world. But is that any different than our journey to the cross? What does your journey look like? I am sure that some of you have seen people recover from a near death illness or injury. Maybe you have seen children graduate, go to college, and get married. Maybe you have gotten the privilege to see babies, grand babies, or maybe even great grand babies be born. You may have even gotten to celebrate some great accomplishments in your career or personal goals that you have set for yourselves. How have those things shaped your faith life?

On the other hand all of those good times come with the tough times as well, the lows of our journey. Maybe you have experienced losing a loved one, losing a job, a debilitating addiction, or even a car accident that takes away the joys of life. If you haven’t experienced those things, then I promise you this. You have actively denied Jesus. Just like Peter that night, we have all done something to say “Uh, Jesus who?” Those “Jesus who?” moments blot and stain our lives like red wine or coffee stains a nice white shirt.

Those “Jesus who?” moments are the exact reason that Christ called us on this journey. Walked with us on this journey. Taught us on this journey. And ultimately died for us on this journey. He knew the cost of this journey for us was death, and made it known that we can’t do it on our own. He showed us that nothing in this life can stain us so deeply that He can’t get rid of it. On the cross he turned those stained and beaten down people that we were and changed them to blameless, forgiven, and stainless people. So as Holy week gears up let’s take time to reflect on our journeys to the cross, and remember the great sacrifice that He paid on the cross to turn our “Jesus who?” moments into “Jesus, Thank you!”

“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you.'” -Billy Graham

“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” –Isaiah 46:3-4

Think back to your earliest memories. How old were you? What were you doing? It so amazing that our brains and memory can go back to when we were just a couple of years old and recall things that were happening. My earliest memory is of my house in Alaska. If you asked me right now to draw a picture of the layout I could, and I have many other memories that go along with that place from when I was 3 but I can’t remember anything earlier than that. According to neuroscientists we can’t remember things from when we were a baby because our brains were underdeveloped, we had no language to connect things with, and we had no retrieval cues. Without those and some other more scientific things it is impossible to have created memories from our infancy. But wouldn’t have been nice to remember what being held or protected 24/7 was like?

            Knowing those things about our memory and development give us just a glimpse into the memories that our parents have of us, and more specifically the memories that our Heavenly Father has of us. He remembers the day you were born, your parents holding you for the first time, your first smile, your first steps, and every other minute of your life. Isaiah reminds us of that when he writes: “I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” God has been around and knows every intricate detail of your life. He has been their sustaining you through all of the good times and the tough times and He has made and kept the promise to you that He will rescue you. He sent His Son, to take our place and all of our sins for eternity, rescuing us from a life of hopelessness and eternal separation from Him. His ransom for our rescue!

“The yoke you wear determines the burden you bear.” -Edwin Louis Cole

“…not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” -1 Corinthians 1:26-30

Someone once said “As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.” That same person also said “Great liars are also great magicians.” Do you have any idea who these quotes belong to? I’ll give you a few hints. It was a man who was well known. Some viewed him as a philosopher, and some viewed him as a leader. He lived from the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century (1800’s-1900’s) and he lived in Europe. Know who it is? If you guessed C.S. Lewis… you’d be wrong. If you guessed Winston Churchill… you’d be wrong as well. If you guessed Adolf Hitler you would be correct. Hitler, although we don’t want to admit, had great persuasion skills and was a very powerful leader for a time. He was smart enough to work the system, and was a very strong willed man. Along with those things he also had many flaws. He was immersed in worldly power, knowledge, wisdom, and made a religion of beliefs that he liked best. He let himself fall into his own great lies and started fighting for his personal ideas of what truth and justice were. So how do we match up?

Now, please don’t think that I am saying that we are all like Hitler. I do however want to point out that we have some similar tendencies because we are sinful people. We get caught up in the temporary things in life like power, knowledge, wisdom, and fighting for what we believe in. Paul recognizes this fact and has a long and confusing speech where he says that he does what he doesn’t want to do and he doesn’t do what he wants to do. John Newton puts it in a different and more understandable way: “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be. I am not even what I hope to be.” Newton has it right. We are not what we ought, wish, or hope to be. We were made to be in perfect likeness of Christ and we fail miserably every day at being that way because we are sinners. However, Newton finishes by saying “But by the cross of Christ, I am not what I was.” By the cross of Christ we have been forgiven for our sinfulness, our selfishness, and all of the times that we get sucked into the things of this world. He took all of those things on the cross and got rid of them for eternity making perfect in His sight!

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be. I am not even what I hope to be. But by the cross of Christ, I am not what I was.” –John Newton