Sermon

March 24, 2004
Midweek Lent
Luke 22:60-62
Pastor Joel Zank

Hear the Crowing Rooster

(Luke 22:60-62) Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times."62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.

In Christ Jesus who took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, dear fellow redeemed,

The summer after we got married, Cindy and I lived in Lake Mills, Wisconsin where my bride had a pretty good job with some nice benefits. I was still in school and had thought about taking the summer off, but I really didn't want the reputation of being a kept man. So I took a job as a custodian at our Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, sixty-five miles from where we were living. I knew it would be a lot of driving, but I decided that if I timed everything just right, I could sleep in till 6:00 a.m., eat breakfast in the car, and still make it to the Seminary in time to start work by 7:30 a.m.

So my first night in Lake Mills I headed off to bed figuring the next sound I'd hear would be the music of my clock radio gently rousing me from my slumber. I was sadly mistaken. You see, even though we were living in the heart of the city, it turned out we had neighbors who raised chickens. That in and of itself wouldn't have been so bad, but as this city boy was about to discover, where there's a hen house full chickens, there's bound to be a rooster. My alarm was set for six; but the rooster went off at about 4:45 a.m. Now I never became particularly fond of that bird, but I have to tell you, that he saved me some embarrassment. As you might imagine, I got an earlier start than I had planned that first morning of work-good thing too. I had never before experienced Milwaukee's morning traffic. Had I followed my schedule, I would have been very late for work. That rooster turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Today our Lord uses another rooster to bless his disciple Peter and all of us. So as we gather to once again listen to the sounds of our Lord's Passion, let's take time to hear the Crowing Rooster: 1) sounding the alarm of sin; and 2) signaling a new day of grace.

It was earlier in the evening on Maundy Thursday that Jesus had made mention of a rooster. He had told his disciples, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me" (Matthew 26:31). That was too much for Peter. He loved his Lord, and he was never, ever going to fall away from him. "No, Lord!" he insisted. "Everyone else may fall away, but I never will." Isn't that classic Peter - bold, brash, and self-confident? The others might let Jesus down, but Peter never would.

You can just about see the sadness in the Savior's eyes. He loved Peter so much, but he knew his faults only too well. "Simon," Jesus said, "Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail" (Luke 22:31?32). "I tell you the truth, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times" (Matthew 26:34). But Peter was not convinced. "Lord," he said, "even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." (Matthew 26:35).

Here's where Peter's troubles began. He didn't take Jesus at his word. So instead of praying in Gethsemane for needed wisdom and strength, he slept. When the crowd came to arrest Jesus, he relied on his own wits and power, thinking he could take on a whole detachment of soldiers with nothing more than his sword. That was a mistake, one that Jesus took care of. But still Peter hadn't learned his lesson, because, then, when Jesus provided cover for Peter and the others, making sure that they got away safely, Peter again foolishly ignored his Savior's will, putting himself right back in harm's way by following Jesus to the courtyard of the high priest.

One sin of Peter's led to another, but still the worst was yet to come. You know what happened next. A servant girl of the high priest recognized Peter. "You, you were with him too!" she said. Now what would Peter do? He'd been spotted. Could he pretend to be someone else? He hardly had time to think. "No, that wasn't me," he said. "I don't know him" - denial number one.

Luke reports, "A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied" (Luke 22:58) - denial number two. St. Luke continues, "About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." (Luke 22:59). Peter responded, "Man, I don't know what you are talking about!" St. Matthew adds, "Then he began to call down curses on himself..." (Matthew 26:74) - in effect saying: "I would rather end up in hell than stand with this criminal named Jesus;" and with that the rooster crowed.

Right then and there time must have stopped for Peter as the sound of that rooster flooded his mind with memories-the memories of Jesus' warning, the memories of his proud boast - "even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." He had said it just a little while ago, but now still sounding in his ears was the alarm of sin. What had he done? What had he said? I would rather be in hell than stand with Jesus? That's exactly what's going to happen to me. I just disowned the Son of God, my only hope of heaven. That's why Jesus wanted me to pray. That's why he wanted me far away from this place. But now it's too late. I've ruined everything.

Have you ever known that feeling-that sick feeling of disowning Jesus? It happens in so many different ways. Maybe we're caught off guard in a conversation about religion. Someone says, "I don't think it really matters what you believe, as long as you're sincere. Don't you agree?" There it is, the perfect opportunity to stand with Jesus, and what do we do? Like Peter we panic, afraid that if we say something, people may get upset. So we say nothing, disowning Jesus by our silence.

But that's not only way we deny the Savior. Like Peter there are plenty of times when we foolishly rush right into harm's way, flirting with temptation, thinking that we of all people will be able to handle it. We'll know when and how to stop. This drink, this pill, this kiss, this bet, this argument, this piece of porn, this bit of gossip, this lie, this will be the end of it. This is where I will stop. But even by the time we're thinking that way, it's too late, right? Sin has taken over completely and we want the sin. We want the pleasure we think it can bring us more than we want anything, even more than we want Jesus. So we give ourselves up to the sin, but the next thing you know the rooster is crowing-not literally, of course, but our own sin alarm is going off. Something we hear from a family member, a friend, a teacher, something our pastor says in a sermon, something we remember from catechism class - it strikes our conscience like bolt of lightening and in that instant we become so very aware of what is that we have done. We've ruined everything; and there's no lie, no excuse, and no explanation that can make it right again. We've chosen sin over Jesus, hell over heaven. We've disowned the only one who can save us.

It's a horrible feeling isn't it? But for all the misery it brings, it so very necessary for us sinners to come face to face with our sin. Jesus knows this. And so it is in the deepest of all love that he sends his Holy Spirit to trouble our conscience with the demands and threats of his law, so that we will run from our sin. But run where? Not into despair like Judas, but into the loving arms of Jesus like Peter.

You see, the sound of the crowing rooster called to Peter's mind not only the Lord's warning about sin, but also the Lord's unwavering love for sinners. Let that sound do the same for you. Hear the crowing rooster today. For the good of your soul, hear it sounding the alarm of sin, but don't stop there. For your soul's salvation, hear also the crowing rooster signaling a new day of grace.

Do you remember what Jesus had said to Peter? "Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail" (Luke 22:31-32). After all that Peter had just done, could it really be that Jesus still loved him, and was still praying for him? Oh yes! It was no accident that at the very moment the rooster crowed, Jesus made sure he was in a place where he could strengthen Peter's faith with one simple look. Luke tells us "The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter" (Luke 22:61). I've tried imagine that look so many times. Given all that Jesus was doing that day as the friend of sinners, I'm sure of this: it was not a look of hurt or anger. It couldn't have been. Peter's soul was hanging in the balance. He needed rescuing. That's what Jesus was there to do. The Savior's look was one of love, "I'm here Peter. All this is for you, for your friends, for a whole world of sinners."

Jesus had prayed for Peter's faith. Jesus does the same for you and me. When we have sinned, it's not the depth off our sorrow that restores us to Jesus. It's not our anguish or how truly terrible we can make ourselves feel about sin. Judas felt really terrible about his sin, so terrible he hung himself and ended up in hell. It's not what we do that restores us to Jesus. It is what Jesus has done for us. That night, like every other night Jesus spent on earth, he was Peter's substitute - yours and mine too. While Peter was lying about who he was, Jesus was in court telling the truth about himself, about his kingdom, about his saving work. While Peter was caving in to the tempter's power; Jesus was standing strong, resisting perfectly every temptation to save his own skin. Jesus was doing that for us. That holy life he was living -- that's our life, all ours through our God-given faith in Jesus. When Jesus prays for our faith he's praying that the Holy Spirit gives us the strength we need to believe that Jesus' holiness covers us completely, perfectly hiding all our sin from God's sight.

And that's not all. Jesus is also praying that we find peace, peace from the guilt of our sin and from the curse of its punishment. Isn't wonderful how Jesus used a rooster, nature's alarm clock to send a spiritual wake-up call to Peter and us. For on that Friday morning the rooster's crowing ushered in a new day of grace unlike any the world had ever seen. For by the time the sun set that day, Jesus, the God-man, had taken our place in hell where he faced everything we sinners have coming to us. He stood before our angry God; and in his body he took the full force of God's explosive wrath for all the times we have disowned and denied our Lord by the evil we have done and by the good that we have failed to do. During the course of that one day, Jesus removed from each of us a life-time of guilt and an eternity of punishment.

So yes, like Peter we will still spend some time each day, sorrowing over the fact that we disown our Lord too often and in too many ways. But each day that healthy sorrow will give way to joy - joy that comes from knowing that we are right with God through faith in Christ. Rather than living in fear, we get to live each day at peace with our God, knowing that whatever the day brings, our God is for us and not against. Rather than living each day desperately trying to earn God's love, we get to spend all our minutes thanking God for showing us love we cannot earn and do not deserve. And what a God we have! For his says this gratitude of ours is best expressed when we let the rich love and kindness he shows us, spill over into the lives of all the people we know and meet. And still the day brings more joy, for when we come to its end, painfully aware not only of our sins but also of our failures to thank God as we should, we get to bring all those sins and failures to Jesus who is always waiting to pardon us and to promise us more love for tomorrow. Go home thinking about that as you live out the rest of this day's grace. Think about it this evening as you set your alarm, anticipating tomorrow's grace. And then when your alarm goes off, think about is some more. Think of that crowing rooster. Think of your sin and how it has all been forgiven; and then get up and live in God's grace all over again for Jesus' sake. Amen.

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