The Lord Jesus had prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail, and though Peter went out and wept bitterly, he did not go away and hang himself like Judas did. The look that broke Peter’s heart brought the sorrow and tears of true repentance. The chaff of self-confidence was winnowed away, but the precious grain of love to his Lord remained.
We cannot tell how Peter bore those terrible, sorrowful hours when Jesus hung in suffering on the cross, when the dead body of his Lord lay in the tomb and it seemed as if His enemies had gained the victory, but they must have been the saddest in his life. Then came the third day, and very early in the morning, the first day of the week, Jesus rose triumphantly from the dead. When the women came to the sepulcher, they found the stone that had covered the entrance rolled away. Going in they found a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment. He was one of God’s messengers and he said to them: “Be not afraid; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified; He is risen; He is not here.” He told them to go their way and tell His disciples and Peter that He went before them into Galilee.
The women were too frightened to give the message. But Mary Magdalene ran to Peter and John and said, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we know not where they have laid Him.”
Peter and John ran together to the tomb. But Peter’s heart was heavy, and that made his feet heavy, too. He did not run so quickly as John, so John reached the tomb first. He looked in there but did not go in. Then Peter came up, he went right inside the tomb, and saw the linen grave clothes lying there empty. Then John went in, and he saw and believed.
When they found that the tomb was empty and the grave clothes left behind, they did not linger there but went away again to their own home. John believed, but Peter went home wondering at what had happened.
Mary Magdalene was the first one to whom Jesus appeared. But later in the day He came to Peter when he was alone, for Jesus had something to say to Peter that not even John must hear. And do you not think that Peter must have had something he badly wanted to say to Jesus? But all we know about that meeting is that when the disciples were gathered together that evening, they were saying to one another, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.”
ML-11/14/1976