Dismount!

In today’s Gospel Lesson, Jesus says to Peter, “Happy the servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment … When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him” (Lk.12:43,48).

Much was given to Peter. Jesus, Light-of-the-World, had come into His life. In Jesus, he was privileged to catch mankind’s clearest glimpse of a loving, caring, forgiving, God. Much, therefore, was asked of Peter: his very life, in fact. Peter was asked to choose between the settled life of mediocrity and the daring life of servant-of-the-Lord. And the choice did not come easy. He was hard put to accept some of the things Jesus was saying. When threatened physically, he denied Jesus three times. For a time he was an “almost, but not quite” disciple. He doubted, he fudged, he complained, he “ran scared.” But…