Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3 : 5
Today is the last part of ‘Trust in the risen Lord’. :) The scripture portion is the same.
As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go; tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” Mark 16 : 5-7
A quick recap of ‘Trust in the risen Lord’: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome were met by a young man dressed in white robes, who had told them the good news about the resurrection of Jesus, and had passed on Jesus’ message that He would go ahead of them and would meet them in Galilee.
There were 12 Apostles for Jesus, yet, Jesus wanted to pass on this message especially to Peter. Why was that? Let us go back to the conversation between Jesus and Peter during the last supper, before Jesus was handed over to death.
Peter said to him, “I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times. John 13 : 37
John 18 : 15-27 says that Peter denied Jesus thrice before the rooster crowed. He not only denied Jesus, but he also cursed Him. As soon as the rooster crowed, Peter felt very sad and wept.
Now back to the special message passed on to Peter. Peter who was very close to Jesus, and who acknowledged Jesus as the son of God, and who told Jesus that he would even give his life for Jesus, forsake Him and ran away cursing Him. Then he realized his fault and wept because of it. Because Peter felt guilty, Jesus wanted to remind Peter of the great mission He had to fulfill, (And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16: 18,19) instead of just weeping, and so sent a special message to Peter.
Peter and Judas Iscariot – both were wrong. Both realized their mistakes. But Peter was used for God’s glory; in fact he was the first one who was very bold to proclaim Jesus. He also gave his life for Jesus by being crucified on the cross upside down, whereas Judas, though he wept, killed himself without believing the Lord’s love & forgiveness, and, therefore, brought eternal trouble on himself.
Did you mess up everything and fail the Lord miserably? You have two choices. One is to follow the way of Judas Iscariot, and the other is to be forgiven by God and be a living witness to Him. If your life is messy today and you brought shame to your family, or maybe it is simply between you & God, and no one else sees your wicked ways, and you feel so guilty and you’re unable to shake off the guilt and you’ve lost peace, then choose what Peter did. Jesus is out there waiting with arms wide open to console you, heal you & make you a useful vessel for His glory. Trust in the risen Lord even if you have failed Him miserably; you have a great mission to fulfill!
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