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1 Corinthians 15: 1-8
I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,
of the Gospel I preached to you,
which you indeed received and in which you also stand.
Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, he appeared to more
than five hundred brothers and sisters at once,
most of whom are still living,
though some have fallen asleep.
After that he appeared to James,
then to all the Apostles.
Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
he appeared to me.
The Word of the Lord.
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It’s a strange, but wonderful, truth that one of the first people whom Jesus appears to after his resurrection is Peter (as our first reading reminds us).
Peter fell asleep while Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He denied knowing Jesus three times while the Lord was being led off to be crucified. He even abandoned Jesus while he hung upon the cross!
Anyone would’ve had reason to be mad with Peter; to hold a grudge; to give him the silent treatment. But Jesus does the opposite; he seeks Peter out immediately after his resurrection.
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Such is the nature of our Lord.
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God is never out to punish us.
He only wants to be reconciled, to draw us into deeper intimacy with him, even when that means washing away our sins.
Because, it seems, there’s nothing more attractive to Jesus than what Peter possessed: a penitential heart.
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Image credits: (1) Sewickely Presbyterian Church (2) Gustave Brion, Jesus and Peter on the Water (3) Adoring God