Second Chances

 Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”  Mark 16:7

Mark 16:7 is a beautiful Scripture, particularly for those who have at some point, failed Jesus....and that is all of us....The angel of the Lord had appeared to Mary Magdalene and two other women as they had come to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. He proclaimed to them that "He is not here. He has risen!" He then instructed them to tell the other disciples, "including Peter," that they were to go to Galilee where the risen Christ would meet them. 

"Including Peter." Peter, who had failed Christ at his trial, even denying that he even knew Him. Peter had failed Him, and he likely felt that he'd be the last person Jesus would want to see or meet with. Yet Christ made it a special point that the women should specifically let Peter know that He wanted him there. The meeting wouldn't be complete if he wasn't. Tell the disciples, "including Peter." Where can you and I insert our name into that command? Where have we felt, are we feeling now, that our failures in our faith walk have rendered us unwanted in His eyes? Jesus knew all about Peter's denial. As He was being led to his trial, His eyes had locked upon Peter's as he was warming himself at the enemy's fire, denying that he even "knew the man." Can there be a worse failure, one deserving of total rejection? Yet Jesus wanted him to know that He wasn't turning him away. He called him to Himself.

Ann Graham Lotz said, "He is the God of the fat chance, the slim chance, and the no chance." All of this is true, and knowing it is true should lift our hearts beyond any impossibility we face. I have it written in my prayer journal, but I have included my own words, "and the second chance" to it. He is the God of second chances. Of endless chances. Of the chance to choose life instead of death, hope instead of despair, victory instead of defeat, and love instead of hate. The world spirit would have discarded Peter after such a betrayal. Christ called the betrayer to His heart. Scripture calls Judas, "the betrayer," and such he was, yet in my prayer journal, I have the question, "How often have I been 'Gary the betrayer?' " How many times have I betrayed His trust, His command, His reputation? How many times have you? I'm not writing about a lifestyle of failure and betrayal. That wasn't what marked Peter's life and it can't mark ours, but if we should fail Him, we can know that He has the door of His heart open to us. The key to entering in is our confession and repentance. All the disciples, not just Peter, had failed Him. All were broken in their failure. All found welcome in their brokenness. He doesn't turn the broken away.

Let us give glory to the Lord of the Second Chance, and if that is what you need from Him today, He calls you to it. The chance is offered, openly. May the chance be taken. He will never be the One who turns away in the offer. Will you turn away in rejection?

Blessings,
Pastor O