PETER WEPT

   "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)

   Peter was from Galilee, and his brother's name was Andrew.  They were fishermen.  They lived their lives by day fishing in the Sea Galilee harvesting fish to feed their families as well as to manage their business properly because they also had to pay taxes to Caesar.

   Peter was tough.  Peter was strong.  The ways of the sea had made him that way. 

   But on a certain day in Jerusalem something happened in the life Peter.

   Tough Peter broke down.
   Tough Peter melted at the knees.
   Tough Peter became like a child when he saw the face of Jesus looking at him when the Lord was on His way to be crucified by the hands of the Roman soldiers.
   Earlier, of course, the Lord had told Peter and the disciples that this would happen:
       "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised up the third day."  (Luke 9: 22)
   Where did the time go for Peter?  Why did time pass so quickly?
    It seemed like only yesterday when he heard Jesus say, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.  And it was just earlier that morning, in fact, when Peter sliced the ear off a man who had arrived to take his Lord away.
    But for now, however, here was Peter:  weeping bitter tears on a street in Jerusalem when he saw the face of Jesus, his Lord and his friend, looking at him.
    It was Mary Magdalene who came and told him the news:  "that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her."  (John 20: 18)
    And Peter went running.
    Peter?  Tough Peter, strong Peter, man o' the sea Peter?
    First he was weeping, now he was running!
   And when he saw the empty tomb, Peter knew.
   Still, something else happened in the life of Peter that rocked him out of a boat when he and his companions were fishing on the Sea of Galilee.
      "Children," came a voice from the shore, "have ye any meat?
        They answered him, no.
        Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.  They cast therefore, and they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
        Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord.
        Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
        As soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
        Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
       Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, and hundred and fifty and three:  yet was not the net broken.
       Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.  And none of the disciples durst ask not, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
       Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.
       This was now the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples, after that he was risen from the dead."  (John 20: 5-14)
      
   Have you ever wept for Jesus?
   Simon Peter did.