 The hour had come. It came with a band of soldiers. It came with the betraying kiss and the same change that should have been around my wrist went around his. You know like when your friend says, let me do the talking. He did more than that. And there seems to be this paradox that there's no time like the present to live for the promises of the future. And when you had to tell your friends that you had to leave for a little while, did they know what that meant? The son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men. And when the rooster crows, he will be denied by one of his closest friends. Dear Peter, I don't know much about roosters, but I know that sometimes they could be wake-up calls. Was this your lowest moment? And was the never-changing love of God eclipsed by your shameful emotions? I mean were your past noble confessions about Jesus eclipsed by your current resentment? Because if so, I've been there. Just like you, I have confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. I've been there. But time after time, the Lord proves to me that his faithfulness will outlast mine. When he came back, was it awkward? I mean did you constantly think about your denial and how it should be addressed? Or were you simply engaged with the fact that he just rose from the dead? The way those fish slipped out of the neck when you hauled it back to the land, did it remind you how we could never slip through the holes that were pierced in the palm of his hands? Simon, the son of John, do you love me more than these? When Jesus asked Peter those three questions, it was intended to bring him restoration and redemption. When you find yourself drowning in overwhelming shame, expose yourself to his overwhelming grace, he became less so that we could become more. I would confess that Christ loved me first. He sought me out. He invited me to breakfast and in order to receive his love, I don't need a completed checklist. Peter's denial had zero power over Jesus' acceptance. Greater love has no one than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends. Tell me the last time your friend said, let me do the walking. The next time you were reminded of your sin, just know that if we were to ask Jesus the same three questions, he would answer all three by spending three days in the grave and conclude with a resurrection.