The Most Agonizing Verse in the Bible

Jesus’ apostles, while He was on earth, never fully understood His mission. When He told them, without a figure, that He would be crucified (Mark 10:33-34), they didn’t comprehend. He also informed them (Mark 14:27) that they would all forsake Him for a time; Peter denied that he would ever do such a thing. Jesus then told him that before the rooster crowed twice that very night, Peter would deny Him three times (Mark 14:29-30). The whole situation was simply incomprehensible to men who had been raised under the Jewish cosmology that the Messiah would come conquering, not be humbled and die an ignominious death at the hands of Roman soldiers. It wasn’t until the Holy Spirit came upon them on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) that the apostles’ minds began to be opened.

Yet back to Peter’s denial. When Jesus was arrested, Peter followed Him to see what would happen, and sure enough, as the Lord had predicted, His impetuous disciple denied Jesus three times. After the third denial, Luke records (22:61) one of the most moving, gut wrenching verses in all of Scripture:

“And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.”

Can you imagine how Peter felt? Not surprisingly, he “went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62).

I suggest, in the title of this article, that Luke 22:61 is “the most agonizing verse in the Bible.” That’s a matter of opinion, of course, but anyone who can read that scripture and not be touched has something wrong with their heart. We aren’t told the nature of the look Jesus gave to Peter, but I have almost no doubt it was a look of tenderness, compassion, and love. The Lord never gave up on Peter, and indeed, that great apostle preached the first gospel sermon to both Jews (Acts 2) and Gentiles (Acts 10), and authored two wonderful books in the New Testament. Tradition holds that Peter eventually was crucified, and upside down, because he didn’t feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. Whether that tradition is true or not I don’t know, but it does seem to describe the man Peter came to be.

When Jesus was resurrected, the angel in the tomb told the women who were there to “go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee (Mark 16:7). Why was Peter singled out? I don’t know for sure, but do consider what might have been going through Peter’s mind. Three days before he had blatantly, openly, publicly denied Jesus, and the Lord had heard Him and looked at him after he had done it. It wasn’t impossible that Peter could have concluded that Jesus would never want to have anything to do with him again. So, the angel said, “make sure you tell Peter…the Lord wants him, especially, to know of His resurrection.” In other words, “don’t worry, Peter, Jesus still loves you and He still considers you one of His.” Jesus “loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Now, in John 21, Jesus confronted Peter—three times—forcing His apostle to focus in on, not only did he love Jesus, but how much did Peter love Him. Peter agonized over it again, but eventually came around to where the Lord could use Him in the greatest work in the world.

Christian growth doesn’t happen overnight. We all stumble, and we all, at times, have “denied” the Lord, though hopefully not as blatantly as Peter did. Yet, Christ’s love will not cease, regardless of what we do. It doesn’t matter how egregious we sin, how far we remove ourselves from Him, how long we ignore or reject Him, His love for us will never end. Now that doesn’t guarantee us a place in heaven; Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9). But it does mean that nothing, absolutely nothing, “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). We can always come back, and He will always accept us.

Remember, the next time you sin and thereby deny Jesus, the look that He must have given Peter on that dark betrayal night. The Lord is giving you the same look.