The Christian World celebrates Easter this weekend. 

The Holiday is in remembrance of a grisly, horrible, amazing, wonderful, unbelievable story of  the worst of mankind vs the unfathomable Love of God. (spoiler alert: God wins)

The followers of Jesus up to the point of His death and resurrection, were of the Jewish nation and religion. They had been looking for the Messiah for hundreds of years. Prophets had foretold His coming to set up a world kingdom. The religious leaders had interpreted and taught this to be a political kingdom and in their contemporaneous  situation of being ruled by the Roman Empire, they were looking to become their own Nation once again with the Messiah on the throne.

In this regard, Jesus was a disappointment.

• He was constantly healing people - even some gentiles.
• He talked a lot about loving people - even your enemies.
• Attempts to nudge Him and push Him toward taking up arms against the Romans were soundly rebuffed.

As wonderful and likable as Jesus was, He didn't fit the definition of the Messiah as they had come to understand it. It wouldn't surprise me if they kept telling themselves to stick it out because one of these days he would finally sound the battle cry and the Romans would be history.

Most of the disciples had fled when Jesus was arrested, but Peter followed at a distance. He loved Jesus. He wanted to be near Him. Maybe he was hoping for a chance to rescue Him? Maybe Peter thought that Jesus would finally have to exert His power and he wanted to be there when it happened? Staying close was a risk. What if the authorities decided to get rid of the followers along with the Leader?

When people in proximity to the sham trial notice Peter and recognize him as one of those who were with Jesus, Peter gets scared. Yes, Peter was coming from a place of fear when he denied - three times - that he ever knew the Friend he adored.

May I also suggest that Peter was telling the truth? 

When someone behaves in a manner that conflicts with my understanding of them I will often describe that difference by asking, "Who are you? And what did you do with my friend?"

I would like to submit that not only was there an element of not knowing Jesus that was true for Peter, there is an element of not knowing our Savior that is true for us.

• When my prayer doesn't get answered the way I think it should
• When I read something in the Bible that challenges my traditions
• When I'm feeling compelled to go in a direction outside of my comfort zone
• [add your own reason for denial]

Those are high risk times for me. Times when I might not think twice about denying the One I love.