Peter had made a rash vow that he would never desert or deny Jesus, even if it meant prison or death. And in the garden of Gethsemane Peter had bravely drawn his sword and used it in defence of his master. But when Jesus disarmed Peter and healed the wounded man in the arresting party, all the fight went out of the brash fisherman. If Jesus wasn’t going to fight for himself, why should he risk his life? So Peter fled from the garden. But later Peter secretly followed Jesus all the way into the courtyard of the high priest to see what would happen. And that’s where things began to fall apart. Perhaps without even knowing what he was doing, Peter denied having any association with Jesus to a servant girl. Later he did it again. And when a group of bystanders said they didn’t believe his denials because his country bumpkin Galilean accent gave him away, Peter cursed and swore he didn’t know the man! That’s when the rooster crowed. Matthew tells us what happened next in a short, painful sentence. “And he went out and wept bitterly.”
I suppose we’ve all heard that rooster crow—the rooster of conviction that alerts us to how we’ve failed to live up to our lofty promise to faithfully follow Jesus. And we’ve all known the bitter tears of self-reproach induced by our failure.
Yet this is one of the things I love about the Bible: it makes no attempt to cover up the sins of its seminal figures. We know about the crimes of Moses and David; we know about the failures of Abraham and Elijah; we know about the sins of Peter and Paul. Yet Moses and David, Abraham and Elijah, Peter and Paul are still presented as heroes of the faith.
In the Bible all the saints are sinners. And we who are sinners called to be saints should find comfort in this. It’s not sin that disqualifies us as disciples of Jesus, but quitting.
Peter denied Jesus, but he didn’t quit, and he was forgiven and restored. Judas betrayed Jesus…and hung himself. Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and Peter’s denial of Jesus were not categorically different sins; they may have differed in culpability, but they were similar. If Peter could be forgiven and restored, so could Judas. When you hear the rooster crow, you may weep bitterly for a while, but don’t give up, don’t quit. The rooster’s crow of conviction doesn’t signal the end of your journey, it just helps you get back on track. Just as Jesus restored Peter, Jesus can restore you.

Music by Simon Wester (Used with permission) 

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