Daily Lesson for August 27, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 14 verses 27 through 31:

27And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all become deserters; for it is written,

“I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered.”

28But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.’ 29Peter said to him, ‘Even though all become deserters, I will not.’ 30Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ 31But he said vehemently, ‘Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ And all of them said the same.

It was all of the disciples who deserted Jesus.

Usually, we think mainly of Peter solely, and his denial of Jesus in the firelight outside the cell.

But Peter was only questioned because Peter dared to follow Jesus the farthest. The rest fled. Or, as the Lesson says today, they scattered like sheep.

Every year during the Lenten season, I say we are seeking to follow Jesus as far and as faithfully as we possibly can.

Yet, there is truth that no one could follow all the way. For the Creed says, only Jesus "descended into hell" to save the lost.

Let us be gentle with ourselves, little flock. We stumble, and fall, and out of fear or fatigue we stop short.

Yet grace abounds.

And all is grace . . .

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.