Numbers 11:24-13:33
Mark 14:22-52
Psalm 52:1-9
Proverbs 11:1-3
Have you ever felt overwhelmed? If I were to characterize how I've felt the last week or so, that would be it - overwhelmed by the challenges and opportunities and responsibilities at home and at work, overwhelmed by all the things I have to do and the insufficient time and energy to do it in, and do it all with, overwhelmed by the success and the completion I hope to see, and by the obstacles ahead, and the fear the obstacles win and failure is all I achieve, by aspiration and hope and a sense of inadequacy and weakness. Ok, I admit, it does sound a touch dramatic - but haven't you ever had days like that?
Peter didn't know it - but he was about to have one of those days. The Man he'd followed for 3 years, the Man Who he was certain was the powerful King come to free Israel - that Man was about to be arrested, tortured and killed in the most horrible way known. And Peter's response was going to haunt him - despite having been warned, Peter was going to deny he knew this Man, to Whom he'd pledged his loyalty - not once, not twice, but three times - to buy his own safety. Easy to sit in judgement 2100 years later, but how many of us have responded sinfully in the face of overwhelming circumstances? I certainly have.
Here's the funny thing: also in today's reading, we can see why Peter didn't have the power to respond properly, and we have an example of the best response under overwhelming circumstances. Jesus was about to face the circumstances, the prospect of which were overwhelming to Peter. Peter was going to be a spectator - what he feared was all going to happen to our Lord. But our Lord was able to face these circumstances calmly, in triumphant submission to His Father's will, even. And why was that? Because, while Peter fell asleep, unable to keep watch for more than an hour, Jesus prayed. He admitted to being overwhelmed - "my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" - and then He cried out to His Father in prayer and in submission. And we see from today's reading that He did this thrice.
And where we see how Peter denied Jesus thrice, we know how the story of our Lord turned out. And continues to turn out. So when you are overwhelmed, take a page from our Lord's book - take 3 prayers, and submit to Him in the morning.
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