On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the crowds waved palm branches and proclaimed, “Hosanna [save now] to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”
The crowds truly welcomed Jesus, but they expected Him to be a conquering hero who would overthrow the kingdoms of the earth. He will do that at His second coming, but His first coming was as a suffering servant to die for the sins of the world. Instead of singing from Psalm 118:26, they should have been singing from Psalm 118:10 (“all nations compassed me about.”)
The disciple Peter was present on Palm Sunday. Just a few days earlier at Caesarea-Philippi, he had confidently declared, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Did he really understand what the mission of the Son of God was? He, too, probably waved palm branches and sang Hosanna on Palm Sunday, but he was expecting Jesus to proclaim Himself king. When He did not, Peter probably wondered what was happening.
On Monday Jesus cleansed the Temple, driving out the money-changers with a scourge, saying, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Peter probably said, “Way to go, Lord!” I’m surprised he didn’t pick up a scourge himself!
On Tuesday Jesus discoursed with the priests, scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees, telling the parable of the lord of the vineyard whose laborers revolted and killed his messengers and his son. “You tell ’em, Lord,” Peter probably thought. “That’s just what they’re doing to us!”
The Pharisees tried trapping Him with their question about paying tribute to Caesar, but Jesus avoided their trap, saying, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” And Peter likely thought, “Right on, Lord; don’t let those self-righteous Pharisees trap you.”
The Sadducees posed a story about a woman who married seven brothers, each dying before her, then asked Jesus whose wife she would be after the Resurrection. Jesus showed them their scriptural ignorance, and Peter probably thought, “Good one, Lord! Those Sadducees are even worse than the Pharisees!”
When the lawyer asked Jesus about the greatest commandment, then agreed with Jesus’ answer, Peter probably thought, “Even a stopped clock is right twice a day!” Yet he probably also wondered, “But when are You going to proclaim Yourself king?”
The Scriptures are silent about Wednesday; perhaps Jesus and His disciples rested and meditated that day. That might have been difficult for a man of action like Peter.
And then came Thursday, the Passover. Entering the upper room, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, symbolizing His servant leadership. “Thou shalt never wash my feet,” Peter told Jesus, but when Jesus said Peter could then have no part of Him, Peter answered, “Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” But he probably thought that this was a strange way for a king to behave.
Later that evening, Jesus led His disciples to the Mount of Olives and told them they would all be ashamed of Him that night. “Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended,” Peter resolutely declared. “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice,” Jesus told Peter, who probably thought, “Oh, no, I won’t!”
The soldiers came to arrest Jesus, and Peter cut off the ear of one of the group’s members with a sword. “Here at last,” Peter probably thought, “Jesus will announce His kingship, and I will be the foremost of His champions!” But Jesus gently told him, “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”
And now the doubts really set in. How can Jesus be a king if He won’t defend Himself and won’t let me defend Him? As Peter sat outside the court where Jesus was on trial and a maid asked him whether he was one of the disciples, he answered evasively, “I know not what thou sayest.” A second maid asked, and his denial was more firm: “I do not know the man.” And then came a third time, and a third denial, accompanied with cursing. Not only was he afraid; he now questioned whether Jesus really was a king worth dying for.
At this point we read in Luke 22:61, “And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.” The Greek word einblepsen means to observe fixedly, or to discern closely. As the “Pulpit Commentary”says, “The glance of Jesus was full of the tenderest pity; it was not angry, only sorrowful; but it recalled Peter to his better, nobler self.”
And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
Another man wept that night: Judas Iscariot. Both were followers of Jesus. Both let Jesus down, one by denial, one by betrayal. Judas wept and hanged himself. Peter wept and repented.
Paul tells us in II Corinthians 7:10, “[G]odly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation … but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” Judas’ sorrow was the sorrow of this world. But Peter’s was the godly sorrow of repentance.
That moment was the turning point of Peter’s life. As Jesus looked upon Peter and saw right through him, Peter saw himself as he really was: full of bluster and bravado, but proud and cowardly at heart. When Peter hit rock bottom, the Lord took hold of his spirit and built him into the leader and bold witness that he would become. Peter served the risen Christ throughout his life, and at the end, when the Romans were about to crucify him, Peter asked to be crucified upside down because he was not worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.
This Holy Week, let us examine our own faith:
On Palm Sunday, do we truly understand the purpose of Jesus’s first and second comings?
On Monday, as Jesus cleansed the Temple, let us examine our own lives for purity and holiness.
On Tuesday, as Jesus taught in the Temple, let us pray that God will keep us strong in the faith and sound in doctrine.
On Wednesday, let us meditate on the teachings of Christ.
On Thursday, the night of betrayal, let us pray for humility and steadfastness.
On Friday, let us contemplate Christ’s substitutionary atonement for us.
On Saturday, let us contemplate His descent into hell.
And on Resurrection Sunday, let us remember that because Christ rose from the dead, we too shall rise and live forever with Him!
Colonel Eidsmoe serves as Professor of Constitutional Law for the Oak Brook College of Law & Government Policy, as Senior Counsel for the Foundation for Moral Law (morallaw.org), and as Chairman of the Board of the Plymouth Rock Foundation (plymrock.org). He and his wife Marleen reside in rural Pike Road, Ala., and can be reached for speaking engagements at [email protected].
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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