24 Hours That Changed the World: "Giving Peter Credit"
"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared." ~Eddie Rickenbacker (American fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient)
"Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure if they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes."
~Carl Sandburg (Pulitzer Prize winning poet, journalist and political activist)
Adam Hamilton is right in saying that the first acts of Peter when Jesus was arrested were not those of a coward: drawing a sword in his teacher's defense, following the squad of police who took Jesus away, even entering the courtyard of the high priest and trying to overhear his master's fate. How far would we have gone?
Of course, Peter's courage finally did fail, but perhaps there were extenuating circumstances. Maybe this Jesus wasn't who Peter thought he was. Would the Christ, the Messiah, the warrior king who was to rescue Israel from the Romans, make his defenders put their swords away? Would he warn, "all who take the sword will perish by the sword. " (Matthew 26:52) Would he heal the ear of the policeman Peter attacked? Perhaps there in the courtyard of Caiphas' house Peter heard enough of how the trial was going to realize Jesus would never call for a revolution, that he was serious about loving your enemies, that God's kingdom would come through non-violent means that Peter thought he would never understand. Perhaps that is where his courage failed. Not just because of the threat to his life, but because of his final understanding of the kind of courage required to face the enemy without any weapon other than the power of God's love. Could that be it?
Not long ago, I heard a conversation with Condoleeza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State, she talked about growing up during the Civil Rights movement. At one point she remarked that her father wanted nothing to do with Martin Luther King, Jr.'s non-violent protests. He said that he would gladly give money to support the cause, but he wasn't about to beaten by a white man and not raise his fist in response. Perhaps this explains Secretary Rice's attitude towards the use of military power. But, if we are honest, we cannot blame anyone for being unwilling to exhibit that kind of courage. It seems almost inhuman. Actually, it is.This kind of courage is only given as a divine gift of grace. Loving your enemies is not for ordinary people. It is only for those who have opened their hearts and minds to the power of the Holy Spirit, the same spirit which enabled Jesus to pray for his torturers from the cross, the same Holy Spirit which converted the repentant Peter into one who would die on his own cross, the same Holy Spirit which enabled Jesus' followers to convert the Roman empire from a regime which declared a military dictator to be the Son of God, to one which declared, "Jesus is Lord" and required hospitals to be built in every major city.
St. Paul wrote in Romans 8:14 "all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." Let us each pray that we might receive that Spirit and become true children of God.
