Today’s scripture: Matthew 26:69-75 (NRSV) (KJV) (The Message) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Keith Phillips):
Visiting Israel a few years back (actually, to be honest, a few decades back) was one of the most spiritually exhilarating experiences of my life. I will never forget:
- the thrill of looking up at the caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were hidden for nearly 2000 years at Qumran;
- the exquisite beauty of the Dome of the Rock built on the Temple Mount;
- my solitary worship at the open-air Church of the Beatitudes (erected by Mussolini, yet!) overlooking the Sea of Galilee; or
- my sense that, in some way, I was “home.”
Of course, there was also the traditional birthplace of Jesus at the Church of the Nativity, the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism (much too far north for John the Baptizer, I think, but lovely scenery, nevertheless), and the two (count them, two) traditional sites of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and at the Garden Tomb.
The only place in all of Israel where I insisted that my picture be taken was on the Hasmonean steps leading up to Jerusalem from the Tyropoeon Valley. There was not another place of which I could say with more certainty, “Jesus literally walked here; I am walking in Jesus’ footsteps.” Constructed before the first century CE, these steps would have been climbed by Jesus and his disciples as they left the Last Supper for Gethsemane and again as they returned after Jesus’ arrest. No reasonable doubt has ever been expressed regarding the authenticity of these steps.
The steps today lead up to the Church of St. Peter-in-Gallicantu (at the cock crow), the traditional location of High Priest Caiaphas’s house, where Jesus would have been brought after his arrest, interrogated, imprisoned, and scourged before being sent to Pilate, and where Peter would have denied Jesus three times.
As I read this account of Peter’s denial, it struck me that these steps where Jesus literally walked were also steps upon which Peter literally walked. And with a little more humility than I had when I was there, I realized that I have more in common with Peter than with Jesus. I don’t remember ever denying my association with Jesus verbally, especially with cursing. My denial of Jesus is with my silence. I do not always stand up for justice as I know Jesus would; I often say nothing when I could be more vulnerable for the sake of the Kingdom; and I frequently let Christ-denying theological nonsense go unchallenged because it’s easier that way and it makes me look nicer.
If only, like Peter, I more quickly recognized my growing edges and wept more, I just might become a little more like Jesus.
Thought for the day: May God grant each of us the grace to walk in Jesus’ footsteps.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.