What will we do?

Peter said to him, "Even though all become deserters, I will not." Jesus said to him, 'Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times."  But he said vehemently, "Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you." And all of them said the same.

Mark 14: 29-31

I like Peter.  I want to know more about Peter. He is so passionate about what he believes in, and so impulsive. When I read the passage above from Mark, I feel for Peter. He is so certain he will not betray Jesus, and we know how wrong he is. And we know how desperate sorry he is later, and how grateful he must have been to Jesus after the fire on the shoreline.

I also thought about us. We are pretty quick to judge. If we only saw Peter and his betrayal, we would condemn him - how could he betray the one he followed?

And how quick we are to say, when we look at the lives of other people, "If I were in that situation, I would behave differently." I think none of us really know how we will react when faced with fear and danger. We can't predict our responses, even when we are vehement that we will react a certain way. Maybe we will do what we are certain we would do - maybe we will not. Maybe we will betray that which is most important to us.

Maybe when injustices happen, we will remain silent. Maybe when the racial joke is shared, we will say nothing, rather than call the person out for their bigotry. Maybe when our child behaves in an unpredictable and inappropriate way, we won't have the perfect response. Maybe we should stop judging others.