Christ on Trial

A Lenten Service Series

Maundy Thursday

"Witness: Simon Peter"

Prosecutor: We call to the witness stand Simon, also named Peter. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Peter: Yes.

Prosecutor: You are one of the inner circle of Jesus' disciples, are you not?

Peter: I suppose you could say that. Yes. Although there were many followers of Jesus who were referred to as disciples, and our numbers were growing all the time as He traveled, preached and healed, still, I was one of the twelve ....

Prosecutor: (interrupting) And more than that--weren't you, along with the Zebedee brothers, John (whom we've interrogated here) and James ...

Peter: (finishing the thought) ... a member of an "inner, inner circle." Yes, some would have called us that. The three of us were invited to certain very special events and privy to some of Jesus' more "private" conversations.

Prosecutor: And while it was John who was referred to as "the beloved disciple," Jesus had given you a special nickname of your own, didn't He?

Peter: I'm not sure the term "nickname" describes it. It was more of a re-naming. My name was Simon--Simon son of Jonah, a common fisherman from Capernaum on Galilee . One morning as my brother Andrew and I were catching fish in our net, Jesus called to us to follow. "I will make you fish for people," He said. And, indeed, He has ...

Prosecutor: (cutting him off) Thank you very much. But we have already heard testimony of such a call to follow from the apostle named Matthew.

Peter: Sorry. But you had asked me about my re-naming. As I said, I had always been Simon. Then, one day, while we were in Galilee , near Caesarea Philippi, I recall ...

Prosecutor: "We"?

Peter: The twelve of us ... and Jesus, of course. While He was teaching us, Jesus asked us what people were saying about Him. Specifically, "WHO do people say that I am?"

Prosecutor: This sounds pertinent to our case. After all, we are trying to get to the bottom of who this Jesus was, ourselves.

Peter: Well, we told Him the rumors we'd heard circulating through the gathering crowds.

Prosecutor: Rumors?

Peter: Yes. That Jesus was a prophet ... or John the Baptist returned from the grave ... Elijah ... Jeremiah ... that sort of thing. But then He turned the tables on us. He was good at that. He asked, "Who do YOU say that I am?"

Prosecutor: And who did you say He was? Did anyone reply?

Peter: Oh, I jumped right in. I had a reputation for doing that. Always more than a bit "impetuous," me. I was the type who engaged his mouth before engaging his brain. "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God," I shouted.

Prosecutor: (to the jury) We knew this witness would be biased. Please disregard his conclusions.

Peter: To be honest, I don't even know where what I had said came from.

Prosecutor: So, you didn't really believe that Jesus was God's Son?

Peter: Oh, yes! I absolutely did. But the words seemed to fly out of me, independent of myself. Jesus confirmed that. "Flesh and blood have not given this truth to you, but my Father in heaven." And that's when He re-named me. "You will no longer be Simon," Jesus said. "You are Peter."

Prosecutor: Why "Peter"?

Peter: It's a play on words. "Petros" means "Rock." Jesus went on to say, "On this 'rock' ... this 'Petros' ... I will build my church." He was affirming my faith made evident in my faithful declaration ... a faith that would form the foundation of His church for all believers.

Prosecutor: Well, "Rocky," it appears that you certainly were on an inside track with this "Messiah" of yours. So when you were invited to an ad hoc "upper level" meeting on the day before Jesus' execution, that gathering was, in essence, a tribunal of what could fairly be called Jesus' "generals"?

Peter: It was hardly that. The opposite, in fact. This was no upper level meeting, though it did take place in an upper room. No, this was a celebration. A feast. A gathering. Jesus had arranged that we, the thirteen of us, should celebrate the Passover together. Normally a family would share this special, ancient meal. But Jesus had told us that He had "longed to celebrate it with us." That's the term He used--He longed to share this family meal with us. And, as to your assertion that we were a gathering of "generals," well, nothing could be further from the truth. We were His followers ... His disciples ... His students. And He was our teacher. We were not His advisors, as you implied. Nor were we henchmen, nor commanders. Ours was a relationship of subservience and learning. Up until that night, that is ...

Prosecutor: Aha! I was informed that Jesus "turned some tables" that night, so to speak.

Peter: Oh, that He did, indeed! Things became curious early enough. Shorty after we gathered together, Jesus did the strangest, most unorthodox, most uncalled-for thing. He stood up and wrapped a large towel around His waist. It reminded me of when He used to wear His carpenter's apron. He took a large basin of water ... and took on a servant's role! He began washing our feet! Our feet, filthy with the dust of Jerusalem 's dusty streets! This was the job of a low level servant, not the respected Rabbi among us.

Prosecutor: That seems downright objectionable.

Peter: And I DID object! Me, always engaging my mouth before my mind. "Lord, are you going to wash my feet? You will never wash my feet!" I shouted.

Prosecutor: Finally, someone was talking sense to that senseless Jesus!

Peter: But don't you see? I was wrong. And, as He had done so many times before, Jesus rebuked me. "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me," He said. "Then wash me clean ... my whole body," I responded, once again missing the point. "No, you are clean," he said.

Prosecutor: The leader? ... taking on the servant's role? ... in front of His students? ... His underlings? That's more than odd. He's turning our roles around ... questioning our norms and mor-es. (to the jury) This Jesus is dangerous! He's threatening the very foundations of our society ... flipping things upside down.

Peter: He most certainly is! According to Jesus, the first becomes the last, the least becomes the greatest, the servant is served by the master. "The Son of Man has not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many," He once said. And on that Thursday night, Jesus put His words into action, serving all of us, His servants--washing our feet.

Prosecutor: This teaching is dangerous. It could unhinge our entire society!

Peter: (simply going on) He was giving us an example--an example of how to act toward one another. And later in the evening He said just that: "I give you a new commandment," He said, "that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."

Prosecutor: A new commandment? Now this insurrectionist is changing and adding to our most sacred codes of Law? This is nothing less than anarchy. What would happen if people began to disregard the Law and simply start loving one another? What sort of a society could be built on that?

Peter: A new kind of society. A new kind of church. The very Kingdom of God , in fact.

Prosecutor: I could charge you with contempt! Or was that you engaging your mouth before your mind again, Peter?

Peter: No. That was me engaging my faith, my mind and my heart all at the same time.

Prosecutor: It would please the court if you would please stop with your opinions and assertions and continue your testimony of the events of that evening.

Peter: The celebration of the Passover was wonderful. As the evening went on, it became obvious why Jesus had so "longed" to share it with us. To gather at that table, in a spirit of oneness, friendship, family, trust ... to remember the ancient night when death had passed over, and new life was offered to the children of Israel ... and then for Jesus to gather us together with Himself in something truly mysterious, unifying, new ...

Prosecutor: Don't tell us that Jesus even tampered with the ancient rite of the Passover!

Peter: It seemed strange and out of place at the time. But during the meal Jesus changed the traditional patter. He took a piece of bread, broke it, thanked His Father, and passed it around. "This bread is my body," He said, "broken for you."

Prosecutor: Your friend John has already testified to Jesus' strange assertions that He is the living Bread of Heaven.

Peter: (ignoring him) After we had finished the meal, Jesus took one of the traditional cups of wine, but blessed it in a different manner, and passed it around for all of us to drink. "This is the new covenant in my blood," he said.

Prosecutor: New covenant? He can't mean it! God's ancient covenant with Israel , sealed at Mount Sinai , is the glue that holds this entire society together! And He's suggesting a whole NEW one?

Peter: That evening Jesus had become our Servant. He had given us to one another in a bond of love. And He was giving Himself to us, in bread and wine, as the new sacrifice--a new sacrament that brings God and His grace close to us. No, not close to us ... but into our midst ... and even into our own bodies! Jesus gave us a new feast to look forward to--a promised and eternal feast which will gather all of God's children into "the house of the Lord forever." Oh, we didn't realize it at the time. We would come to understand, after Jesus had sacrificed His body and shed His blood on the cross. After He had returned to bear witness to God's ...

Prosecutor: This court has heard enough! This witness, biased and dangerous, is dismissed! It is clear what Jesus was up to! Anarchy! Insurrection! His plans were to turn our society on its ear. He meant to undermine our most cherished norms and our dearest mor-es. Ancient rituals meant nothing to him. Old covenants--the foundations of our society--were meaningless to Him. He meant to tear, from top to bottom, at our very moral fiber. He was rightly considered an enemy of the state!

Imagine! A society based on love, servitude and unity! Absurd!

This court is in recess.