July 20

And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly

(Luke 22:61-62)

The Master might have turned and said to Peter, “Is it true, Peter, that you have forgotten Me so soon? Do you not remember when your wife’s mother lay sick of a fever that I rebuked the disease and it left her? Do you not call to mind your astonishment at the draught of fishes so that you exclaimed, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord’?

“Do you remember when in answer to your cry, ‘Lord, save me, or I perish,’ I stretched out My hand and kept you from drowning in the water? Have you forgotten when, on the Mount of Transfiguration, with James and John, you said to me, ‘Lord, it is good to be here: let us make three tabernacles.’

“Have you forgotten being with Me at the supper-table, and in Gethsemane? Is it true that you have forgotten Me so soon?” The Lord might have upbraided him with questions such as these; but He did nothing of the kind. He cast one look on Peter, and there was so much love in it that it broke that bold disciple’s heart, and he went out and wept bitterly.