Living Through Failure to Faithfulness

Daily Office Devotional, Friday, April 18, 2025

Good Friday

David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 956)

AM Psalm 95* & 22; PM Psalm 40:1-14(15-19), 54

Wisdom 1:16-2:1,12-22 or Gen. 22:1-14; 1 Peter 1:10-20

AM  John 13:36-38 PM  John 19:38-42

Daily Office Gospel, John 13:36-38 (For the morning)

36 Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.’ 37Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ 38Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.

You will find the Gospel for the evening at the end of this reflection.

David's Reflections

Good Friday is a day of Solemn Obligation, a day of fasting and remembrance, the day of Jesus' death.  Many of us will worship in Good Friday services today or tonight and make the Stations of the Cross either today or tomorrow on Holy Saturday. Some walk stations earlier in Holy Week. And, thanks to the improvisations arising out of COVID, online options also exist.

Good Friday was a day of agony for the Twelve.  Peter's personal agony symbolized theirs.  He had drawn his sword to resist and die with Jesus the night before, only to have Jesus make him put it away.  When others fled, Peter courageously joined the crowd and waited in the courtyard during the proceedings.  John's Gospel alone tells us that other disciples were present.  An unnamed disciple went into the Jewish proceedings with Jesus, and the Beloved Disciple and several of the women were at the foot of the cross with Jesus' mother.  (The other Gospels mention the women.  See Mark 15.)  Otherwise, only Peter was anywhere nearby.

Peter's devotion and love had freed him to resist the arresting gang at the risk of his own death.  He did make good on that pledge of risking his life for Jesus.  But, the next day during the trial he caved under the pressure of the risk of sharing Jesus' fate.  Three times he denied that he even knew Jesus;  yet, remember that almost everyone had denied Jesus by fleeing.  Peter’s denials are presented as representative of the failure of all the Twelve.  And, they are representative of ours as well.  In the Gospels, Peter serves as a representative of all disciples, then and now, both in strength and weakness.

On this Good Friday, Peter's agony draws us into our own, the tension between our love for Jesus and our fear of sharing his rejection.  Imagine how you would behave if you had no real concerns about what others thought of your witness and the practice of your faith.  What would you say?  What would you do differently?

Perhaps that vision will guide you as you pray for God's Spirit to free you from fear of embarrassment, from fear of rejection, from fear of being labeled a religious “nut,” from fear of persecution in the workplace or in your personal life.    Jesus asked Peter to reaffirm his love three times in John 21.  On Good Friday, we can reaffirm ours as well.  Like Peter, we can live through failure, with all its bitter flavor, into renewed and deepened faithfulness. Jesus gave Peter leadership responsibilities in John 21, on the heels of Peter’s failure. Owning our failures opens up new possibilities for us from a gracious and kind Jesus.

Collect of the Day:  Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 219)

Collect for Good Friday

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.  (BCP, 220)

In the Order of Worship for Evening

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, creator of the changes of day and night, giving rest to the weary, renewing the strength of those who are spent, bestowing upon us occasions of song in the evening. As you have protected us in the day that is past, so be with us in the coming night; keep us from every sin, every evil, and every fear; for you are our light and salvation, and the strength of our life. To you be glory for endless ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

Merciful God, creator of all the peoples of the earth and lover of souls: Have compassion on all who do not know you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; let your Gospel be preached with grace and power to those who have not heard it; turn the hearts of those who resist it; and bring home to your fold those who have gone astray; that there may be one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. (BCP, 280)

Daily Office Gospel: For the Evening, John 19:38-42

38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. 39Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. 40They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 41Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 42And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer