I am Pedro

Let's go to the word of God, brothers, on this precious night. I want to invite you to go to the Gospel according to Saint Luke, chapter 22; and we're going to go to verses 54 onwards. On a night like this where we remember, this time of suffering. If at a time like this - we're not sure at what time specifically - but we know it was a Friday, the Lord was arrested and fully entered into his time of suffering and crucifixion and all these things. And that aspect called "The Passion of Jesus Christ" has a lot to teach us.

But in that dark time, in those dark hours that the Lord lived, one of the terrible things that happened was: Peter's denial. And we are going to see what we can extract, what teaching we can extract from this. It says that: "Taking - arresting - Jesus they took him and led him to the house of the High Priest and Peter followed him from afar and having lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard, they sat around it and Peter also sat among them. But a maidservant Seeing him sitting by the fire, he looked at him and said: 'This man was with him too'". That is to say, referring to Pedro, he accused him: "You know that this one is also with the one that they have arrested, he is part of his group." 'This man was also with Him', "but Peter denied it saying: 'Woman, I don't know him.' , about an hour later another still affirmed saying: 'Truly, this one was also with Him, because he is Galileo' and Peter said: 'Man, I don't know what you're saying' and immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.”

Then "the Lord turned and looked at Peter" -those looks that the Lord gave- "the Lord turned...", but it was not a look... I suspect that Jesus' look was not a condemnatory look, it was not a stern look, do you understand? It was not an accusing look, it was an understanding look, I imagine that the Lord looked at him and smiled a little, he smiled a little with a look that seemed sad and full of understanding and it touched Peter deeply when he looked at him like that. Because we are going to see why. Then he looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord who had told him: 'before the rooster crows you will deny me three times' and "Peter, going outside, wept bitterly." May the Lord bless his holy word.

You know that a few days ago, I was meditating in the morning and I don't know why I came across that passage of Peter's denial and it struck me, and I made a note in my diary for this Good Friday -for today - and I have never preached on Good Friday, I think, about Peter's denial specifically. But I was struck, in a very strong way, by that moment in all the different moments that there were in the Passion of Jesus Christ, the drama. I'm not sure, because sometimes that happens to me, that a passage impacts me and I -something in my spirit responds to it and I'm not sure what it is- but then I have to give myself the task of digging inside my spirit to try to discover what the spirit saw and unite it with my mind. And I put it there and wrote down that I was going to preach on that passage and what the Lord brought to my mind, so embryonically as I was meditating on it, is that in a sense Peter in denying Jesus like that is a representative of every one of us. And what... the title that came to mind is "I am Peter," concerning this passage, "I am Peter." And you know what? You are Pedro.

At this moment in Jesus' painful journey, there is something there for which this was recorded, and it is to remind us of something of the divine drama, of God's drama in his relationship with Humanity with his creature. I don't know if you dare to think with me for a moment, if I said: "I am going to preach a sermon about the solitude of God"; perhaps some theologians would be scandalized and say: "That is nonsense, because God cannot feel loneliness", "God has the Trinity in perfect harmony, perfect company, He is perfect. Solitude implies, perhaps lack, something incomplete. God is perfect, God is complete, therefore God cannot feel loneliness". But I think that sometimes in our desire to glorify God and exalt his uniqueness, we forget that God has passions like us, too. What's more, we have passions because God has passions; because we have been made in the likeness and image of God. I believe that if man suffers sadness, joy, anger, indignation, love, passion, it is because those emotions in a very pure, very beautiful, very exalted form are in the heart of God, so to speak. It is not that God has a heart physically like us, but that side that feels of God.

I do not believe at all that I am disrespectful to the greatness and totality of God by saying that God feels. I see, if I read the Bible, I see God feeling anger, terrible anger; indignation, sense of being betrayed; I see God feeling a love but absolutely - I believe that if we could feel for a moment the love that God feels for his creature - we would die of a heart attack. We couldn't process Love, what's more, I think we would burn up, we would dry up in an instant, because God's love is so consuming.

There are times when God grieves over Israel's betrayal and sees himself as a betrayed husband, full of anger, looking for someone to destroy because he is filled with a sense of indignation at being betrayed. And why not say that God can feel, perhaps at some point - I would say perhaps not loneliness as we feel him - but sometimes a sense of abandonment of his creature? I believe that in the heart of God there is a pain for that separation that exists between the man, the woman that He has created and his person; and God wants to have absolute intimacy with us.

Sin intervened between that intimacy that God wants and us, and Christ came precisely to bridge that abyss and to heal that distance. But God's heart aches because this creation that He has made with His hands, with His breath, does not recognize Him as what He wants to be recognized. Humanity has not given God that total reverence, that total surrender and that is why it is when God sees a man, a woman who loves him -even if imperfectly- but who loves him passionately, God's heart leaps and turns towards that person and blesses, blesses, blesses even if they have their imperfections. Because it is that God lives eager for the love of his creature and God likes to have communion with us and he likes to be intimate with us. I think it's something... but it's really strange to think that God likes it when we seek Him in prayer and seek fellowship with Him.

One would think that such a vast Being, so infinitely large, would not be moved, because a creature as small as us made gestures of approaching Him. One says "Ah! among the billions of people who are perhaps at this moment approaching Him from somehow. How is he going to identify my approach or my neglect?" But I think so, that God in ways that we do not understand, like a father who, even though he has many children, or a mother loves them all in different ways, how much more is God capable of doing that; and God wishes.

Look, there we see in Genesis the Lord, supposedly in a form - we don't know how - but coming down to seek company with Adam and Eve, remember? And, what happens when God enters the garden to seek company, to have a cappuccino with Adam and Eve at three in the afternoon, taking a break from going around the worlds in the Universe? What's happening? He finds them distant, he finds them covered in leaves and he says: "Hm, I've never seen this before, what happened here? Let's see" and finds that his creature has betrayed and disobeyed him in a fundamental way and that He has broken the relationship between Him and them.

But God, looking for company with his creature at that moment, discovers that he has been betrayed. Before that there had been an even more significant betrayal when Luzbel -that marvelous Archangel, the pinnacle of God's creatures- betrays God and fills himself with pride believing himself to be equal to God or wanting to become equal to God and betrays God, he reveals himself against God and God also has to take that creature that He has loved so much and I imagine as proud as a father he felt to have created it, he also has to separate it. What pain God must have felt! and angels as they say -there is no clarity in Scripture about this but -many theologians believe that when Satan caused a rebellion among the angelic hosts and that a large enough number of angels separated from God and God threw them out of his Grace and that explains the existence of demons. "Fallen angels", says the Bible, who "have been reserved in prisons of darkness" but who somehow have access to this human dimension but are also angels who betrayed God and did not give Him the Glory and Lordship that He received. it belonged to him and they betrayed him.

I believe that the Lord was... you see that dynamic: God is always looking for people to honor him, people to adore him, people to pay him the tribute that he needs. Do you remember what I'm talking about? The betrayal of one of his closest disciples, the rejection, the denial, the abandonment of one of his closest disciples: Peter; and of the others too who left him too, after walking with him all those years and seeing miracles and all sorts of things. Remember that because I'm talking about that specifically, and we're going to see how one ties into the other. There is a meaning in all this. So through the centuries I believe that the heart of God is bleeding because his creature does not love him as he wants to be loved. And you know what, my brother, my sister? One could say "...and well, that's fine. Those are the outsiders: the atheists, the Muslims, the other religions that don't know Jesus Christ. We are different." But look brothers, I want to take it to a greater point, take myself and say, you know what? ultimately we are no different. And that's terrifying to behold, but, we...

God wants to remind us of that tonight, not for us to walk out of here feeling guilty or saying, "Oh my God, what's going to happen?" No, just so that we soberly think: "Okay, what do I do with that?", because I also have a tendency to neglect my Father and not give him everything he deserves.

Another association came to mind here. Do you remember Simon the Pharisee and the woman who poured the glass of perfume on the figure of Jesus? Simon, the Pharisee, invites Jesus into the house to examine him and treats him dryly, distantly, coldly; as we have often treated God. We give the Lord sometimes the leftovers of our day, we give the Lord what we have left, we give the Lord what we don't need. We make sure to take care of all the other things first and if there are a few minutes left to pray to him there quickly or to give him a half service - because after all we have to live, we have to do other things - we give it to him. And the Lord says: "Where is the first fruit? Where is the best? Where is the choice? Where is what I deserve? Where is the preference? Where is the fierce passion?", which says first My Father, first my God, I have to honor Him, I have to give Him the best, I have to make sure that I bless Him and that there is no doubt in anyone that He is paramount, the first thing in my life.

This is what touches the heart of that wounded Father who through the centuries has been betrayed time and time again by his sons and daughters; God lives eager to find men and women with a heart that truly honors him. Because that is the main controversy that is in the heart of the Father, that is the number one pain.

That is why I believe that the Word says: "God's eyes roam the whole Earth looking for those with a perfect heart for Him," to show His Mercy, His goodness towards them; to be strong with them.

I did not know where that passage came from. Ago... but now that I have been studying the life of King Jehoshaphat, I discovered exactly the context of that passage; and it is when Josaphat before... no sorry Haza, Josaphat's father, when King Haza delivers the treasures of the temple and also the treasures of his own palace and gives it to a King to seek an alliance to get out of a problem military you have; and a prophet appears to King Haza and says: "Look, how is it possible that you first looked for help in a human King, and you didn't look for it in God? Don't you remember that time when there was an army of Ethiopians much more powerful than that other army from which you now tried to get rid of and the Lord gave you a resounding victory?" and "you have done madly..." he tells him, "because now you are going to have war all the time, because the eyes of God run through the whole Earth looking for those with a perfect heart towards Him, to show His favor towards them".

The heart of God felt denigrated, offended. God saw himself, then, as a second-class citizen, a second resource, instead of seeking it first. You see... if you continually look at the Word, there is that: the heart of the Father, God, who wants the honor and respect, the adoration, the preference that He knows He deserves. Because He has created, He is the source of everything: He is creator, He is sustainer.

So I believe, brothers, that in the Passion package - so to speak - that theme was included there to remember that aspect of God's suffering through Jesus Christ. I believe that if we could understand all the details that went into the Passion of Jesus, I suspect that if we had a book where all the divine, sacred theological themes and subthemes that were included in the Passion of Jesus were written, we would discover that all themes of God's pain were included.

It was not only the suffering on the Cross, the nails, the thirst, the torture, no, there were also God's pains that were being tested through the person of Jesus, much more exquisite than those. Sorrows about loneliness, abandonment, betrayal, the sin that that perfect Being felt on his person which he must have hated, Jesus' abandonment of feeling separated from his Father, all of that was part of the suffering. And part of the suffering was not on the Cross, but also in those moments of solitude in which many other things in God's drama also occurred, and one of them was precisely that, the abandonment of Humanity, the rejection of humanity. Humanity, the betrayal of those who God... those for whom God has given everything. Look about that, when the Lord tells his disciples that they are going to leave him.

Let's go a minute, right here, in Lucas... I can't get the... let's go to Matthew chapter 26, just a minute. I think it is Matthew:26 where the Lord tells him: "...and when they had sung the hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives" and then Jesus said to them: "All of you will be scandalized by me tonight", look at "scandalize" It is a very serious word, it does not mean simply: you are going to be ashamed, you are going to leave me, you are going to abandon me, no, "you are going to be scandalized by me"; it means: you are going to be ashamed but in an extreme way, I am going to be an object of scandal for you. Because it is written "I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered". Because? Why did the Lord say this prophecy? Why did that have to be included there that his disciples forsook him and took offense at him and Peter denied it? Because that drama was there, the drama of God, the loneliness of God. In all this of the crucifixion, the suffering, there was that matter of separation from his creature. And, look, then answering Peter said to him: "Lord, even if everyone is scandalized by you, I will never be scandalized" and Jesus said to him: "Truly I tell you, that tonight before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. "

Now, did that prophecy of Christ cause Peter to deny it? or Did the prophecy simply announce what was already predetermined? We do not know, but the fact is that Peter, as a strong disciple of Jesus, who shared very intimate, very powerful moments with Jesus, was the one who should have rejected him the least and therefore his scandal of Jesus, his resounding denial three times was an indication of how far was the Humanity that he represented from that loyalty that Jesus deserved.

"Truly I tell you that tonight before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times" and Peter insists, he told him: "Even if it is necessary for me to die with you, I will not deny you" and all the disciples said the same thing; as we sometimes say. We say: "Ah! Even though this inveterate Humanity, even though there in the estate house, even though they deny you in Vermont, even though they deny you in California, we here at the Lion of Judah Congregation will never deny you. We will be with you Lord until death ". And the Lord with a sad look tells us: "Hey, you don't know what you're saying, you too."

That is why I say that this sermon to me, I would call it "I am Pedro", because even the closest ones, we... brother, truly examine yourself, this week, how I can do it and have done it . How many times have we done things that we know deny Jesus? How often? How many times in our lives after being Christians, after knowing Jesus Christ, after knowing his word, do we do things that emphatically, powerfully, radically deny Jesus? The Jesus we know. I raise my hand, brothers. OK. We have rejected, we have denied, we have contradicted our vow of Faith to the Lord, our confession to the Lord and we hurt the heart of God over and over again.

Let's go back hundreds of years so that you can see that this is not an isolated issue. I am already covering this here, go to Isaiah: 51 that I read at the beginning of the service, verse three, speaking about Jesus Christ in the prophecy of the Prophet Isaiah: "Despised and rejected among men", "Man of sorrows, experienced in grief and as if we hid our faces from him." You are speaking in the inclusive, second person plural "we". Who we? We the people of God? Lion of Judah Congregation? You and I? My family, your family? "We kind of hid our faces from Him." That "we kind of hid" means we kind of pretended we didn't know him, right? We hid our faces in a subtle, slight way so they wouldn't notice, but we sort of hid the face of the Lord; "Since we hid our face from Him, He was despised and we do not esteem Him", that is the problem, brothers. God is asking you and he is asking me: "How much do you esteem me?" "How much do you esteem me?"

Brother, how much does your life reflect my life? The moments of our life, the esteem in which we should have God? Can you say, can I say that I value God as He deserves to be valued? To Christ how He deserves to be esteemed? Can I truly say that I venerate my Father and that I have him in the place where he deserves to be? I can't say yes completely. Every day like Peter, we are going to see later, I get to the point of saying: Lord every time, only You know, I am not sure. I think I love you, but the truth is that only you know that completely. Because when we are honest with ourselves and examine our life, step by step, we see that we still have a lot to do.

I say this to encourage you, not to condemn you. So that from that moment of recognition that I have a lot to do, you and I jump then, to a level of greater surrender to the Lord, of greater commitment to the Lord, of greater honor, preference, adore, love, and defense of honor. of the Lord, to be there first to give the twenty pesos to the Lord. And not feel like we have given him the big thing, if he gave everything for us.

That saying "present" when there is a need for someone to be the hand or the mouth or the heart of God in the world and that you say: "No, it is not possible that where there is a son of God, who is representing the Kingdom of God lacks this or the other; do not do this or do not do the other if I am a representative of the Kingdom of God ". And, that when you are somewhere, or in a situation where you are going to offend your Father or are going to deny, you say: "Wait, you know what?, Pedro, I am Pedro. Let me not fall into that, let me prefer my Father at that moment and give him". That is a daily struggle, a decision that we have to make seventeen times or fifty times a day, not to deny the Lord, to give preference, to love the Lord, to express our worship.

Look at verse six of Isaiah, it says, "All of us," say, "All of us." "We all have strayed like sheep. Each one has turned to his own way", What does the Bible say? "For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God."

One last verse, turn to Romans, chapter one. Romans Chapter one or two, let me see, over there, it's actually two now that I visualize it here. Romans: 2:1. In Chapter one of Romans, Paul accuses all those people who have rejected God, who have violated his commandments, who have not recognized God as lordship because they did not render God the worship He deserved, but instead they gave them to the creatures, God discarded them and gave them a reprobate mind, rejected to do things that are not convenient. And I imagine that there were the Jews and many people said: "Yes, Amen. That's true. Those dirty pagans, you have to throw them all to hell, scoundrels as they are. As we sometimes say about people, right? of the world out there.

But look at what it says in Chapter two: "Therefore you are inexcusable oh, man whoever you are who judges", León de Judá, Roberto Miranda, whoever judges. Did you know? Well, in what you judge another you condemn yourself, because you who judge do the same. All of us have separated from God, all of us have not given the Lord, what the Lord needs and that is part of his Passion, that is part of his suffering and we need to identify ourselves with that, to say, Father forgive me, me too . That is why when Peter denies Jesus and denies him three times and there is a parallel passage that says that he cursed in one, I say, a word... a word over there, who knows what word he said?, "I I don't know this man", as if to seal, as a curse.

Listen to me, what a terrible thing! Peter couldn't do anything more terrible than that: deny the Lord like that with a curse. For what reason did he take care of whoever it was that caused that? Did God use an evil spirit? I don't know; Did God use Peter's flesh? I don't know; Was it the Holy Spirit to teach Peter and us a lesson through the centuries? The fact is that Pedro sealed his denial with a curse. This man so close to Jesus, denied it like that. And then there is that moment, that terrible moment in which the Lord looks at Peter with an understanding, compassionate and merciful look as if to say: "You see, Peter, that is what I have been going through since Adam and Eve. you just did, you see? In that look that Jesus gave him, he said all this: "You see, Peter, that is my pain, that is my suffering, that is what I suffer. And that is what you and your Humanity that you represent in this moment they have done with me. And that is part of the cross that I carry". And because of that, all this had to happen.

Do you remember the passage of Jesus praying and the disciples sleeping? "Again they have left me alone." When He goes to talk to them, to seek comfort in their company, they are all exhausted from sleep. They have left it, loneliness. That was one of the sufferings of the Lord, abandonment.

We have to ask the Lord: "Father help me", and what does the Lord Jesus Christ say? "Pray so that you do not enter into temptation." Brothers, we have... the only way that I believe that we can have the strength to love Christ as He deserves to be loved in order to serve Him with the Passion, is by seeking the strength of the Holy Spirit every day consecrating ourselves more and more, seeking the power of God, living a life of privation, fasting, praying, reading the word, being in the house of the Lord, seeking the company of the Saints, serving God to keep us with that love, that ardor that God needs.

Finally, it is important that we understand this human tendency to abandon God, not to give him what God deserves, not to give what the Lord deserves. First, to redouble our efforts, to be faithful to them and not leave him alone, okay?

Tonight what I want is for you to reconsider as I want to do too and for you to say: "You know what? I need to make a vow stronger than ever that I always give preference to my God. Always give him first place , love him above all things, honor him, adore him, give him the best moment of my day, serve him, obey him, prefer him. Redouble your effort, and secondly it is important that we understand this human tendency so as not to be proud and believe ourselves better than others .

It is good to always be aware of this deficit, of this debt that we have with God and know that "Look, I am not different from the one that is out there", the only difference is that Christ in his mercy carried my sin through his cross and I stuck to that; but otherwise I would deserve the same death as those who are out there, despite the fact that I am in here. And may we always have that compassion, that grace, that mercy towards others. I imagine that Pedro, the Pedro who said: "Lord, even if all these cowards leave you, I will never leave you" and he told him twice. Ah, now after what happened, I imagine that Pedro could understand much better the one who fled naked when they wanted to catch him. Remember? Pedro has said: "Look at that coward when I catch him I'm going to give him a really big beating. Look how he ran away, with his butt sticking out, leaving all his"... Why? He was a coward." Do you remember the one who ran away, that comic character in the drama of the Cross, who ran away because they tore off his clothes? And he said: "It's better that he keep his clothes, but I I'm going out." I imagine that when Pedro saw that, he said: "Do you see that one? That one isn't worth anything, you have to crucify that one too." But now I imagine that Peter, after having done that, said: "Look, you know what? I am not different from him, I am worse than him in a sense". And I imagine that he would have had much more mercy. better than anyone" we have violated the loyalty and preference that we give to our God and we always have to entrust ourselves to the Mercy of the Lord and be compassionate with others.

And finally, it is important to understand this in order to seek God's anointing every day. So that He renews our love and our passion for Him, so that we can love Him as He truly deserves to be loved. The Lord is compassionate, brothers.

I want to invite the musicians to stop by for a moment, please. The Lord wants communion with us, He knows that we have offended him. Tonight that is part of the passion of God, I am part of Peter. I am Peter, you are Peter or else you are Peter you are Petra, but you are... we are Peter and the Lord simply wants us to remember this. What a blessing when Jesus meets the chastened Peter at the end! and Peter hoped that the Lord was going to reject him, he was going to hate him, he was going to say: "I no longer want to hear from you, there is no forgiveness for you. You no longer deserve to be my disciple", and the Lord with that Mercy says to him: "Peter, do you love me?" I imagine he was almost laughing out loud. "Do you love me?" "Yes sir. You know I love you," all crouched there. "Peter, do you love me?" "Yes, sir, you know that I love you." He told her three times to neutralize the three bitter denials from earlier. In front of him.

How wonderful! How beautiful is the Lord, isn't he?! "Pedro, I want to erase what you did that time with sugar. I'm going to give you the opportunity to confess your love to me. And, you know what? I'm going to believe it, I'm going to believe it." "Peter, do you love me?" "Well Lord you know all things. You know I do, I'm not sure right now, but you know… you know I love you." How beautiful is the Lord, isn't he?!

So leave here tonight, not feeling rejected, not feeling like a failure, but rather leave with that purpose. Like Peter when he met the Lord. "You know what, Lord?" "Next time I'm going to try a little bit harder. I'm going to try to do better." The Lord wants to get us out of here tonight, more committed than ever to our God to serve him. Thank God.

Pedro, says the tradition, says the story that his opportunity to fully redeem that moment finally came to him. Someone has said that Pedro died. How was it? He went to... he asked to be crucified upside down because he didn't deserve to die like his Lord. That says the historical tradition. Hey? Finally with the power of the Holy Spirit I imagine a Peter baptized with the Holy Spirit had the courage to die in an even nobler and more sacrificial way.

So there is always an opportunity for us brothers. But let's get out of here, eager to be able to give our lives to the Lord and give Him the honor He deserves. And we thank God for his goodness... We are going to stand up and tell him: Lord, we adore you, we bless you, we thank you for all your goodness, all your wonders. How good you have been. Ask the Lord for forgiveness as I have asked the Lord for forgiveness meditating on this passage. For all the times that I have denied it, I have said: "Father forgive me, forgive us, cleanse us, heal us and pour out your Glory on us Lord. We need you, Lord, we need you Jesus. Continue there in prayer, brothers.

Thank my Lord. To you be the Glory and the honor. Thank you Jesus. Lord we give our lives back to you, we give our treasure back to you. We surrender to You everything we have, everything we are. Father help us, help this Church to be a Church that prefers you, Lord. Help this Church to be a Church not for our glory, but for your glory, of men and women radically committed to you. Radically committed to you, Lord. Radically eager to see your Glory manifested on this Earth, Father. Ready to give you everything. May this word sink deep, Lord, into our hearts tonight! I bless your children, Father. Bring us here again on Sunday to give You all the honor and all the Glory again. Thank you Jesus. Amen and amen.

Sermon by Dr. Roberto Miranda recorded April 10, 2009 in Congregación León de Judá

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