AUDIO MEDITATION:

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), The Denial of Peter. Public domain.

FULL TEXT:

After Jesus is arrested and taken before the high priest, Peter gathers with others in the courtyard. One of the high priest’s maids came along, looked at Peter, and said, “You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But Peter denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.”

In this haunting painting from Rembrandt, Peter turns towards the light and the accusing gaze of the maid and soldiers. Over his other shoulder is darkness, where, in the shadows, we can see Jesus, bound and looking back at him. Jesus is abandoned by Peter, the rock, the one he trusted the most.

Like Peter, it is easier for us to turn towards what is safe and known, rather than to enter into the darkness of other people’s pain and suffering. Who might be looking at us from the shadows today, feeling lost and abandoned? How might we turn towards the darkness to walk with them?