Peter at a Distance

Here is a post from Brian.

Imagine the scene: Jesus has just been arrested by the crowds and is being taken to the High Priest Caiphias along with the scribes and elders. Following the crowd, but from afar, moving from one shadow to the next so as not to be detected, is St. Peter.

According to Mt. 26:57-58, St. Peter "followed at a distance." This is the same man who earlier in the Gospel declared before the other Apostles that Jesus was the Messiah, "the Son of the living God." Because of this Jesus named Peter, "Rock."

When Jesus performed his miracles and the crowds were thronging to listen to Him, Peter's faith was strong and firm. However, when the crowd came with clubs to arrest Jesus, Peter's faith and allegiance, as Jesus predicted, wavered.

As I reflected on St. Peter following Christ from a distance, I couldn't help but relate to him. When things are going well, how easy it is to walk side by side with Christ, but when the cross over shadows you or when you are called to exercise your faith in a heroic way, which will cause you to be ridiculed or persecuted, it becomes easy to follow Jesus from a distance.

As Lent winds down and the shadow of the cross on Good Friday gives way to light of the resurrection on Easter Sunday, let us pray for one another and ask the Holy Spirit for the courage and strength necessary to respond to Jesus' invitation to "come follow me." Not from a distance, but stride for stride.

Let us also look to St. Peter, who after experiencing the risen Lord, followed Jesus so closely that he chose to die by way of the cross, as His Master did.

God bless!