Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Peter said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, March 29, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Confession time. I had a Black Lives Matter bumper sticker magnet on my car for a while (until it was stolen in a Target parking lot). A few summers ago, as my son and I drove from our home in Minnesota to our family’s cabin in Michigan, I made an offhanded remark about driving into places where my bumper sticker might net me a baseball bat through my windshield. I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. My son is Autistic, and suddenly was filled with anxiety, certain that if we left the car alone for even a moment it would be vandalized. Finally, to ease his stress, I pulled the magnet off my bumper and popped it in the trunk.
Talk about privilege. A Black person can’t simply change the color of her skin to avoid oppression (nor should she have to, of course! But that’s a separate discussion). I, as a white person, could proclaim that I’m an ally of my Black siblings one minute, and ditch that proclamation the moment it became dangerous for me.
It made me feel a bit Peter, really. He wanted to take it all the way for Jesus. He really did. But he got scared. So he denied he even knew the man. And he got to walk away while Jesus was murdered.
The only way real change is going to happen in our communities is if those with the power and privilege get willing to give up their own safety and comfort to put themselves out there for the oppressed. This is what God calls us to do. And we’ll fail, like Peter. But that doesn’t mean we’re off the hook. Jesus forgives us, yes, but then calls us back to the front. So many of Jesus’ inner circle would later give their lives to carry his message. Are we up to the task?
God of Justice, continue to call me back out of my privilege and comfort to stand up on behalf of others. Amen.
