By John Grant
Listen to this devotional read aloud online: http://thelife.com/blogs/experience/kindle/2008/10/05/something-to-crow-about/
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Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. Luke 22:60-62
My curiosity got the better of me as I rode the back country roads in Germany through small towns and villages. Why was there a rooster rather than a cross adorning the steeples? Getting an answer that was more than a guess initially proved to be difficult, but finally someone explained it to me.
Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times” Later, Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, nervously, watching the Roman soldiers who stood nearby.
Then a voice said, “Weren’t you with Jesus of Nazareth.” Peter said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about” and hurried off toward the porch. As he strolled toward the porch the rooster crowed. After awhile the same little maid saw him again and said to the soldiers nearby, “This is one of them.” Again Peter strongly denied the claim of the maiden. Then, after awhile the soldiers approached him and said that he was surely a follower of Jesus because his speech proved him to be.
This time Peter cursed and said, “I know not this man of whom you speak.” At that moment a rooster in the yard crowed again! The sound of the rooster came shrill and loud, leaving a shudder running down Peter’s back. Then Peter called to mind the words of Jesus which stated clearly that he would deny Jesus three times before the cock would crow the second time. Peter couldn’t put this out of mind. The more he thought on the words of the Lord the more disappointed in himself he became until the big fisherman had to hold his face in hand and break into sobbing.
How the Lord must have loved Peter, looking beyond his cursing and denials, giving Peter a sign of repentance when He would be taken away from him and unable to forgive him personally. The shrill sound of the rooster’s call worked upon the conscience of Peter as much as the Savior’s voice would have. The call of the rooster had become an extension of the voice of the forgiving Christ.
For this reason, the rooster has become a symbol of an aroused conscience and a reminder of a forgiving God. Peter was a symbol of personal failure who asked Jesus for forgiveness and through redemption rose to greatness. The rooster is a reminder that we live in a fallen world and the humanity in each of us fails God, but God can forgive, redeem and renew. The greatest impediment for living a glorious future for most people is a guilt ridden re-living of our past, but through Christ the past can be washed away and all things can become new.
Don’t let your past deprive you of God’s plan for your future. Listen to the roosters in your life. Think of the great Apostle Peter and what his life might have been without the proud strutting rooster who spoke for Jesus in His absence.
Permanent devotional link: http://thelife.com/experience/devotionalformen/something-to-crow-about/
Question: When are you most tempted to sin by denying knowing the Lord, and why?
About this author: http://thelife.com/experience/devotionalformen/authors/john_grant/
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