Why did He have to be so hard on Peter, so blunt, maybe even make him feel foolish? Why couldn’t the Lord have gently accepted his rash pledge to lay down his life for His for what it was – a noble sentiment expressed too soon?
And, indeed, it was noble, a loving disciple’s promise to share the cup his beloved Master had to endure. Much nobler than James’ and John’s hasty pledge to drink from that cup all for the sake of power and glory (cf. Mt. 20:20-23).
Yet as noble as Peter’s sentiment was, the disciple was nowhere near ready to deliver on it. The cup from which he was to drink could not be seized on impulse, not even the best of impulses. It could not be grabbed or quaffed or gulped, it could only be received as Saint Paul teaches (cf. 1 Cor. 11:28-29): humbly, after recognizing clearly Who was being received and precisely who was receiving Him.
Who wouldn’t love to have heard those two Apostles reflecting on this, those fifteen days they spent together in Jerusalem (cf. Gal. 1:18)?
And so, Jesus had to be bluntly hard with Peter, so that Peter could be freed of the deadly danger of his self-illusions and thereby fully grasp what drinking that cup meant—that it actually was about true power and glory; the power that enables one single drop from that cup to wash away the sins of the whole world, as Mother Theresa often taught; the glory of pure forgiveness that comes from the Cross, which turns the symbol of humanity’s worst sacrilege and transgression into the symbol of its only hope.
Jesus desired to throw Peter into himself so he could see what his greatest weakness was, and in the process also give room for his greatest strength to take over – his love for the Lord that burned in humble perseverance. In his moments of confusion, never more so than in the days of that first Holy Week, Peter still knew there was no one else to turn to, for it was only Jesus Who had the words of eternal life (cf. Jn. 6:68). In those crucial hours, he learned the lesson that makes him a model for all disciples; or, to borrow a line from Origen, he learned to trust his Judge and not his own judgements.
In this Holy Week and Easter, may your example and prayers, Saint Peter, feed us, the Lord’s sheep, so that we may merit to drink His cup as worthily as you.
