PrintToday's "Moment with Mark" (128)
2 April, 2013
He has been raised from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died!" (Mark 16:6-7 NLT)
As you read the text above, did you notice the two words that would not be missed if they were deleted from text? We would keep reading because the sentence is quite complete without them.
Conversely, they attract our attention because they are there! We wonder why Mark bothered to include them because they could easily become a distraction.
"....including Peter" Yes, that's them. The angel commissioned the women to deliver a message from the resurrected Jesus to the disciples. But why make special mention of Peter? Is he more important than the others?
For my part I think Peter needed special mention because he must have felt that, more than the others, he had failed his Lord at the very point where he had vehemently promised loyalty to the death. I can well imagine that his sense of failure must have generated an incredible amount of guilt. The others might be able to be reconciled to their Lord regarding their desertion but Peter's failure was so much worse.
Peter (I think) had either disqualified himself from future relationship and service or was about to do so. It's John (21/3) who tells us about Peter's statement on the beach after the resurrection when Peter said, "I'm going fishing". Did he mean, "I'm going fishing for a few hours"? Or did he mean, "I'm going back to fishing. It was my trade before Jesus called me and now that the whole venture has collapsed I'm going back to my previous trade".
But the women came with the message of the angel and as they deliver it personally, Peter heard his name mentioned. And only his name. I imagine him saying to the women, "Please listen to me carefully. This is very important. Did he mention my name specifically? Are you sure? He actually said "including Peter"?
It's not hard to imagine the rising of hope in Peter. Jesus virtually offered Peter a special invitation to that meeting in Galilee. Peter's three-fold denial of his Lord was not terminal in its consequences. Past failure does not automatically exclude you from a relationship with Jesus. Nor does it mean there is no place for you in His service.
Have you received your invitation yet?
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