GO TELL PETER

I didn’t go to church on Good Friday.

But I read the Biblical account.

And all day long, I thought about the agony of Jesus and how his followers–especially Peter–must have felt as they watched him suffer and die.

The Denial of Peter by Caravaggio, 1610

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15216569Good Friday

But Then

I read the account of the resurrection when the angel instructed the women who had come to the tomb,

“Go tell the disciples and Peter, He goes before you into Galilee; you will see him there, just as He told you.” -Mk. 16:7

All day the phrase looped through my mind.

Go Tell Peter.

The editor within, wanting to be correct, reminded me that Mark records it, Go tell the disciples and Peter . . .

Even so

Go Tell Peter echoed through me

As I arranged flowers

Set the table

Iced the cake

Tidied up in preparation for Easter dinner.

Go Tell Peter 

Bounced off the tiles as I showered and dressed.

Go Tell Peter.

As I settled into my chair to read.

GO TELL PETER

So I stopped.

And I finally asked,

“Tell him what, Lord?”

What I heard.

Go tell him that I’m a personal God.

One who calls him by name.

Not to condemn

But to forgive.

Not to punish

But to lift him out of the pain and depression brought on by his failures.

Go tell Peter

Dry those bitter tears.

Strengthen those wobbly knees.

I am alive.

I go before you to Galilee.

To the place we first walked together.

I will meet you there.

I will tell you what to do next.

And I will imbue you with power to obey.

Go Tell that Woman, Go Tell that Man.

I am alive.

I am opening the way for a new beginning.

Go back to where you first met me.

I will meet you there.

Or come to me for the first time.

I will show you what to do.

I will give you the ability and the will to follow me.

Go tell Peter.

Go tell.

Go.

Tell.

So I ask you.

What are we waiting for?

Go and tell the Good News.

Christ the Savior is risen.

He is risen indeed.

 

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. -Matt. 28:6