From the Zebra Bag   Musings from a follower of Jesus, husband , father and pastor

If you have been with us for the last couple of Sundays at New Life you will understand me when I say its all about “the look”! That moment when two sets of eyes lock and the communication is louder and clearer than any words could be. Jesus looked at the rich young ruler ( Mark 10:21) and loved him. Jesus locked eyes with Zaccheus (Luke 19:5) and called him down from the tree.
This morning I read about another of these “looks.” Peter so badly wanted to be a hero for Jesus and on a number of occasions this desire prompted him to open his mouth simply to make room for his foot! Each time Jesus was kind and firm in picking him up and pointing him back in the right direction. On this occasion  Jesus even warns him it is about to happen but our hero is mounted firmly on his white charger! ( Luke 22:31-32) Then before he has time to think almost, the white charger throws him and our hero has denied he even knows Jesus not once, but three times. Then it comes ( Luke 22:61) “the Lord turns and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered…..”  I can never read that verse without getting chills .
Three looks, each magnificent in their eloquence, but each very different. Each with a powerful message of His love, a love that would not be crushed but would not compromise, a love that when we receive, changes our lives beyond recognition, and a love that will restore even the most abject failure and use them as “the rock on which I will build my church” (Matt 16:18).
I think Jesus had to cure Peter of his “hero complex” sincere as it was. To fulfill the amazing purpose Jesus had for him, Peter had to recognize his weakness enough to become simply a tool (and a hand tool at that!!) in the Masters hands.
I know that we can’t see those eyes today, however I don’t know about you but I have felt them more then once. Each time it would be true to say “ Then Jonathan remembered…”. Isn’t it wonderful to know to know however, that Jesus is still willing to use failures, even repeated ones like me, when we remember to surrender