Are you?

John 18:1-19:42

To learn more about the anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism I address in the opening paragraph of this sermon, I encourage all Christians to pick up a copy of The Jewish Annotated New Testament edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler. I encourage you to read the articles included at the end of that work, as well as consult the annotations whenever you study New Testament scripture. Engage openly and often with Jewish authors and scholars who speak to the issue of Christian interpretations of scripture that have harmed the Jewish community for centuries, and examine critically the sermons and sacred music and art you encounter that address The Gospel of John in particular.

It is first important for me to name from this pulpit that the story we just heard has been used for generations to justify violence, oppression, and exclusion of Jewish people and Judaism. Both the evangelist John himself and the translators and interpreters of the Gospel of John chose to use the phrase “hoi loudaioi” in Greek to signify several different things throughout the story- the Jewish people as a whole; specific groups of Jewish people; and Judaism as an ethno-religion. Unfortunately, the nuance of those various meanings has been lost or intentionally misplaced over the centuries, leading to an adversarial posture of Christians toward Jewish people and Judaism. This is additionally complicated by the political, cultural, and religious realities of the occupation of present day Palestine. Consciously or otherwise, over time, Christians have chosen to interpret and translate “the Jews” in the Passion narrative in such a way that it becomes easy to identify a villain in the story, and that villain very conveniently looks, dresses, speaks, and worships differently than us. It is the responsibility of every Christian to acknowledge this history and seek meaningful change. That change begins with how we tell and interpret our sacred story, and how we talk about the sacred texts and ancestors we share with Judaism. It is not an option to distance ourselves from the crowds who cried “Crucify him!” We have more in common with them than not.

Simon Peter, the ne’er-do-well disciple who so often stops just shy of getting the point, wields a sword against a servant, the one person who had no choice or agency in that garden on that fateful night. Peter has missed the message yet again, striking out against a marginalized and oppressed person, a member of a group for whom Jesus’s message was and is especially meaningful. Peter is willing to take a stand with a weapon in hand, but when given the chance to claim Jesus in front of others, he turns away. In the courtyard, just outside of the place where Jesus was being put on trial, a woman asks Peter if he is a disciple of the accused. Peter denies it. Again, around a fire alongside enslaved people and servants of the establishment, Peter is asked if he is a disciple of Jesus. Peter denies it again. A relative of Malchus, the one whom Peter struck with a sword, asks if Peter was in the garden with Jesus at the time of the arrest. A third time, Peter denies his involvement with the man on trial. Three chances to claim Jesus, rejected before the first call that welcomes the dawn. In other Gospel accounts, we are told that Peter realizes what he has done, and weeps. But here, we are left only with the knowledge that one of Jesus’s dearest friends and students will not claim him.

Peter was willing to fight for Jesus. When Jesus foretold his own death, Peter insisted that it must not come to pass. When Jesus was spotted walking across the sea, Peter leapt from the boat to go meet him on the water. When Jesus revealed himself in his glory on the mountaintop, Peter was the first to try and capture the moment. When Jesus asked his disciples who they believed him to be, Peter named him as Messiah and Lord. When there was a threat to Jesus’s life, Peter drew his sword. So why, in these final moments, does Peter deny knowing Jesus? Why, when so many could testify to Peter’s discipleship, does he choose to lie?

It would be fair to say that Peter had reason to fear for his own safety. He had a very public relationship with the accused, and he had reason to believe there might be retaliation against Jesus’s followers no matter the outcome of the trial. The other disciples are out of the picture, either fled into hiding or returned to their former lives. Peter now has incontrovertible proof that associating with Jesus has real, dangerous consequences. But it is the social consequences that inspire Peter’s denial. The eyes upon him, questioning his loyalties, questioning his status. Someone like Peter claiming Jesus would not have saved him from execution. And yet, every time I hear or read this story, some part of me prays that Peter will choose differently. That he will take the first, the second, the third opportunity to simply claim his friend- to say yes, I do know him. Yes, I am a disciple of Jesus. Yes, I was in the garden too. But he doesn’t. The rooster signals the beginning of the day Jesus will die. Today we are in that final denial, that last chance to say yes, we know Jesus. Yes, we are his disciples. Yes, we were in the garden too. Will we, like Peter, deny our relationship to Jesus? Or will we, like the beloved disciple, follow Jesus into the trial and bear witness to his final testimony? Will we, like Mary and the other women, accompany Jesus on his final journey and stand vigil until his final breath? The time has come. It is your turn to answer. You are not also one of his disciples, are you?