Good to have you back again! Today, we are continuing our Advent study by looking at Luke 22. The events of this chapter are familiar to most of us. They include Jesus sharing a final meal with his disciples, praying with them in the garden, and it culminates with Jesus’ arrest.
Right after these events, Peter denies that he knew Jesus. In this paragraph, Luke uses a simple verb in a powerful way. In 22:56, as Peter waits in the courtyard of the high priest, a servant woman “looks intently” at him. There is no mistaking Peter. Even his accent gives him away. She has no doubt about her identification. The woman has likely seen him with Jesus at another time and place. She does not express her identification tentatively, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?” Instead, she makes a statement, “You were with him.” Yet Peter denies her words.
Then, in 22:61, Luke uses the verb again. Peter has just denied knowing Jesus for the third time. The cock crows. And at that very moment, Jesus turns around and “looks” at his disciple. Just as the servant woman looked intently at the apostle, Jesus turns intentionally and looks at his follower. Jesus needs no words to remind Peter of what he has just done. Peter immediately leaves the courtyard and weeps bitterly.
Before Jesus was born, Mary’s cousin Elizabeth looked up and, seeing Mary enter her home, recognized the child within Mary’s womb. She had no doubt about the child’s identity. No questions. In Luke 1:42, Elizabeth cried out loud and stated, “Blessed among women are you [Mary] and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”
Have you “looked” at Jesus recently? Would you recognize him in a line-up? More, importantly, would he recognize you as one of his children?
