Luke 22: Stuck at a Cliffhanger

Have you ever been watching a TV show that left you on a big cliffhanger ending? It’s the big two part season finale of your favourite show and the first part ends with some big dramatic moment. Maybe one character has just revealed a huge secret. Or maybe one character has decided to leave the group and go on their own adventure.

Let’s give an example. There was this show called Cyberchase when I was a kid (Side note for all you 90’s kids who watched PBS: Apparently that show ran for 15 years!) It was a show about a kid who got sucked into a computer and then had to work with some cyberpeople to save Motherboard from the evil Hacker through the power of math! Long story short, there was one episode where Hacker succeeded in taking over Motherboard, and the big cliffhanger ending was Motherboard being transformed into a big, angry looking version of Hacker! Now as a kid, I remember this ending terrifying me, and I couldn’t wait until the next morning to find out how it would all end (Spoiler alert – They saved Motherboard and kicked Hacker out. For that adventure anyways…)

But imagine for a second that you were one of those characters in the show. When that cliffhanger happens, the characters wouldn’t be thinking Ooh, this is really exciting! I wonder what’s going to happen next! No! They’d be heartbroken, angry, or just plain terrified over what they were possibly going to do! 

We love cliffhangers because they help build up our excitement, but you can bet that the characters in TV shows don’t. Well, today we’re going to hear from Peter himself about how he was feeling when he was stuck at a cliffhanger – when everything seemed to be going wrong and he had no idea how it was all going to end:

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Peter paces around a fire in a courtyard just outside the high priest’s house. Jesus was arrested a few hours ago, and Peter is waiting to hear some news about what’s going to happen to Him.

He’s been in there for over an hour already! When are they going to let Jesus go?

I just don’t understand how this happened! Everything was going so well! Jesus wasn’t causing trouble. He was just teaching people! Since when is teaching people a crime? I mean, He turned over a couple tables in the temple a few days ago, but nobody tried arresting Him then! So why now? What’s going on!?!

And where did the rest of the disciples go? Weren’t we just eating dinner together a few hours ago, promising Jesus to follow Him no matter what? And now everybody’s taken off!

I’ll tell you what, though, that was a strange dinner. Judas takes off halfway through the meal, right after Jesus talks about someone betraying Him. That should’ve been my first clue that something fishy was going on. But then Jesus starts going on about eating bread like it was his flesh and drinking wine like it was his blood. And remembering Him (Luke 22:19-23, NIrV).

I think that’s the worst part about it. Why was He talking about remembering? And why did He keep going on about how He was going to be arrested and die? I hate it when He says that kind of stuff! The Messiah isn’t supposed to die, no matter what Jesus says! I just can’t believe that! But now He’s been arrested… What if…

“…Yeah, that man over there. I could’ve sworn I’ve seen him with Jesus before!”

Is that woman talking about me? “Sorry lady, you must have me mistaken with someone else. I don’t know Jesus.”

ONE – Peter suddenly stops pacing and his eyes grow wide.

Why did I just say that?!?! No, no, nonononono… This can’t be happening! Calm down Peter. It’s just once… Jesus said I was going to deny Him three times. That before the rooster crows this morning, I was going to tell three different people that I don’t know who Jesus is. But this is only once.  It doesn’t mean I’m going to deny Him again!

Arrgh! It doesn’t make sense. I’ve never been embarrassed about being connected with Jesus before. Sure, there have been times where He did some strange stuff, but it always turned out amazing in the end. And He always seems to find His way out of any tough situation He gets into.

But this time is different. Jesus has been arrested! And if people find out that I’m connected to Him, they might want to have me arrested too.

Oh, listen to me! I said I was willing to go anywhere with Jesus a few hours ago – to jail with Him, to die with Him (Luke 22:33). But now I’m scared of what people will think of me? If only one of the guards would say something! I just want to know what’s going to happen to Him!

“…Hey! Haven’t I seen you before? Aren’t you one of those disciples that followed Jesus around everywhere?”

Oh no, not again! “Nope, not me!”

TWO – Peter swallows, sits down on a nearby log, and starts cupping his face in his hands. Tears start coming to his eyes.

What am I doing?!?! No… Settle down… I didn’t deny Jesus this time. Not really… I just said that I wasn’t one of His disciples… That’s different, right? Oh, who am I kidding? I should just leave now before I talk to someone else and say something dumb.

But I can’t leave… I need to know what’s going to happen. Besides, nobody else is here. They all took off! Why did they all have to take off!

I mean, really. Anyone could tell Jesus wasn’t Himself tonight. After dinner, we went to the Garden of Gethsemane. We’ve gone there before, but Jesus seemed really quiet tonight. He told us to pray, and then He went off on His own to do the same.

But let’s be real. It was late, we were tired. I’m pretty sure we all fell asleep. But it’s not like I fell asleep on purpose! I tried to pray, but it didn’t take long after closing my eyes and saying that first “Dear God” that I had fallen asleep.

But then Jesus wakes us up and tells us to pray that we won’t fall into sin when we’re tempted (Luke 22:46). And then, all of a sudden, there comes Judas – that traitor – leading this small army of soldiers. He goes up to Jesus, kisses Him, and then the soldiers arrest Jesus!

I couldn’t help myself! I grabbed my sword and attacked the guy closest to me. I’m not the greatest with swords, though, so I only ended cutting off his ear. I thought I was helping, but then Jesus spoke to me in that firm voice of His. “Stop it!” And then Jesus goes and heals the guy who’s trying to arrest Him!

I haven’t heard that tone of voice too often. But it was exactly like when He called me Satan and told me that I was getting in the way (check out last week’s story for more on that). But I don’t get that! I’m trying to help! Can’t He see that?!?! I didn’t want Jesus to get arrested. I don’t want Him to die!

The tears start falling down Peter’s face.

Why do they hate Him?!?! What has He ever done? All Jesus does is teach, and He teaches us a better way. He says He’s the only way to God, and now the people in charge of our religion want Him dead? Jesus healed the ear of a man trying to arrest Him for pity’s sake! How did this all go so wrong?!?!?

And what’s going to happen next? Are they going to kill Jesus? Track us all down one by one and kill everyone that followed Him? This wasn’t what I signed up for? I’m a fisherman, not some world changer! I’ve got a family! I can’t die here!

“…This man must have been with Jesus. He’s from Galilee” (Luke 22:59).

Why does everyone keep saying that?!? “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

THREE – A rooster crows. For the first time that night, Peter finally gets a glimpse of Jesus through the gates. And Jesus is just looking at Peter, sadly.

Oh, God, forgive me! What have I done? I’m sorry Master…  Oh…

Peter breaks down, cries, and runs from the courtyard.

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Now I’ll admit, these might not be the exact thoughts that went through Peter’s head. But I’m sure he was thinking something like this. It couldn’t have been easy for Peter to watch Jesus – the man Peter had given up everything to follow – get arrested like that.

And I’m sure Peter was afraid that if people realized that he’d been following Jesus, then Peter would have to face the same fate Jesus did: get arrested, get beaten, and eventually get killed. No wonder Peter was so terrified!

But here’s the thing guys. Peter hadn’t really been listening to Jesus. Peter was getting so caught up on the fact that Jesus kept saying that He was going to die that he missed all the times Jesus talked about the fact that He was coming back! That even though Jesus was going to die the next day, He would be coming back to life three days later!

Peter didn’t know the end of the story. He was stuck at a cliffhanger, and he was terrified. But thankfully, we do know the end of the story. We know that Jesus had to die and rise again so that we could be forgiven for our sins – to have all those bad things we’ve done wiped away so that our broken relationships with God could be fixed. And because we know how the story ends, we don’t have to be afraid.

That’s right. We can share the truth about Jesus unafraid because we know how the story ends. We know that Jesus came back from the dead and that He’s still alive today! And because of this, we never have to be afraid of whatever tough stuff life might throw our way. Jesus is with us wherever we go and in whatever we do. He’ll stay with us and help us in those tough times, even if other people make fun of us for believing in Him.

That’s the end of the cliffhanger story. Jesus comes back, and He’s still fighting for us today! He might not be standing beside us where we can see Him, but He’s alive and with us every step of the way. So don’t be afraid to share the truth or of being connected to Jesus. He's got your back, and that's never going to change!

~Brentagious