Jesus keeps no record of wrongs

 JESUS KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS

Love … keeps no record of wrongs.

1 CORINTHIANS 13.5

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

LUKE 22.31

Based on LUKE 22.54–62

What would happen if we knew people’s offences against us before they happened? How would we treat the coworker who would steal our brilliant idea next week and present it as his own? How would we view the church member who would gossip about us next month at the prayer meeting?

Even without future-telling abilities, most of us have a list of offences once committed against us that we keep lugging around — not only reciting them mentally, but bringing them up in conversations long after the initial offence. But Scripture tells us that love keeps no record of wrongs, and Jesus beautifully models this principle in His relationship with Peter.

Peter, the oldest and boldest of the disciples, is the one we can count on to say what we’re all thinking, and often got himself in trouble by acting before thinking. But no doubt about it — he was genuinely committed to Jesus. So much so, that when Jesus tells His disciples that He’s going away and they can’t follow, Peter responds, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you” (Jn 13.37).

What was intended to be a declaration of loyalty and love had the opposite effect on Jesus. He who knew Peter’s innermost thoughts and who also foresaw his every action certainly discerned Peter’s sincerity. But still, Jesus was pierced to the heart. “Will you really lay down your life for me?” Hear Jesus’ hurt in these words. Really, Peter? Will you? “Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”

Crushing. There’s no other way to put it.

Jesus’ words to Peter would have crushed him, but the reality of Peter’s denial would have crushed Jesus too. And yet the next words out of Jesus’ mouth are intended to comfort His disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (Jn 14.1). Because Peter would have been very troubled indeed.

In John’s account, Peter does not say another word until chapter 18, verse 17, when he denies being a disciple of Jesus.

Yet even with the foreknowledge of Peter’s imminent denial, Jesus washed his feet, reassured him of his union with Himself (Jn 13.10), and invited him to join Him in a prayer vigil. He even prayed specifically for Peter, that his faith would not fail (Lk 22.31–32), and at the very moment of the third denial, Jesus turned to look straight at Peter (Lk 22.61).

What had Jesus communicated in that look? Certainly not judgment or condemnation, but love. Soul-piercing, undeserved, relentless love. Because Jesus did not hold Peter’s abandonment against him. He kept no record of Peter’s wrongs, He loved him to the very end.

But what’s more, after His resurrection, Jesus offers Peter a valuable gift. Three times He asks Peter “do you love me?” not because Jesus needed to be reassured of Peter’s love, but perhaps because Peter desperately needed the opportunity to reaffirm his love for Jesus — three times, once for each denial (Jn 21).

Oh, what love! Not only does Jesus refuse to blame and shame Peter, He graciously orchestrates a conversation that would allow Peter to voice the love in his heart, a love that would burn bright to Peter’s own death on a cross, in ardent devotion to his beloved Jesus.

Prayer 

Precious Jesus, You who know all things and see all things, You know the betrayals of my own heart, how I have turned from You and denied You in my affections. Forgive me. I want to love You wholeheartedly, and, in loving You, to love others too. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

If you want to read more 

Job 14.16–17, Prov 10.12, 17.9, Mt 26.34, 58, Mk 14.66–72, Lk 9.28–36, 22.56–62, Jn 18.15–18, 25–27, 21.15–22, Ac 2.38–39, 1Cor 13.5