In the Courtyard
4 min read
26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.
John 18:26-27
I wonder if Peter, in a way, enjoyed the thrill of being in the courtyard of the chief priest’s house, just after he had lopped off the ear of one of his servants. Maybe he enjoyed the cat-and-mouse game of trying to avoid being discovered. He was “under cover,” still fighting the battle behind enemy lines… But then the rooster crowed.
As we grow in our walk of faith, I think many of us can get into a mode of enjoying the thrill of following Jesus, but for all the wrong reasons. Peter may have enjoyed the thrill of following Jesus into the courtyard of the chief priest, but he really had no idea why he was there or what he was doing there. He was just playing the game that he had been playing out in his head ever since he started following Jesus. It was fun for him—until it wasn’t… The rooster crowed.
The rooster’s crow was the alarm telling Peter to wake up and stop merely playing church. The rooster’s crow was the alarm telling Peter to stop playing games and start taking seriously the sin that was guiding his life in the disguise of following Jesus.
Thankfully, he was at least following Jesus. Because when we follow Jesus, that rooster crows sooner or later.
Every single day of my life, I wake up as Peter, doing the Christian things that we all learn to do, because that’s what Christians do. But what I really need to do every single day of my life is to hear that rooster crow and wake up for real.
We all follow Jesus with the sin of our life swept neatly under a rug lying (pun unintended) somewhere in our souls. But when we hear the rooster crow, Jesus turns around and looks right at us and says, “Are you ready to really let Me in and to follow Me here?”
On this Ash Wednesday, I’m hearing the rooster crowing.
Father, Your grace and mercy is what I need daily. Forgive me for following Jesus as if it were some kind of game. Forgive me for playing church instead of following my Lord in repentance. Lord, starting this Lent season and beyond, help me to hear the rooster crow every day, so that I might follow my Lord into His glory. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
