Confidently Blind
Peter was confidently blind. Jesus was in Jerusalem. He was hours away from being brutally tortured and then executed by crucifixion. He informed his followers that all would fall away. Peter confidently declared that he would be the one to be found faithful. Sadly, the confident Peter would soon deny Jesus three times.
Confidence can easily become a catch-22. Although we can be confident of our opinion and even our commitment there can always be a contrary part of our psyche we miss. There is little doubt that Peter was sincere when he declared his loyalty to his master. But his confidence was his undoing. His confidence made him blind.
Since Confidence is Admired What Happened?
Confidence is usually admired. It is important in achieving goals. Religious people are often confident of deeply help opinions. Even confidence that embraces hubris is admired by blind followers and sycophants. So what happened to Peter’s confidence?
Peter’s confidence was blinded by his ego. The ego, the conscious part of the complex psyche can easily become blind. Peter was confident of what he knew but ignorant about what he did not know. He was caught up in a movement and sincerely believed he was willing to die for Jesus. But his confident ego missed something.
What Must Accompany Confidence?
Days after Jesus’ death and resurrection He was with Peter on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The picture heading this blog post is the location that celebrates that encounter. The statue near the shore is Peter kneeling before Jesus. Imagine the encounter between the two 2,000 years ago.
Jesus asked three times, “Peter, do you love me.” Sounds simple but the first two times Jesus used the word that meant Godly unconditional love and Peter honestly answered that he loved Jesus in a brotherly love not the Godly love. Then Jesus asked Peter the third time if he loved him with the lesser brotherly love and Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” brotherly but not unconditional. He became honest with his master.
The once over confident Peter admitted that Jesus knew all things and that Peter’s knowledge was limited. His ego was humbled. He had compared himself to others. When he compared himself to Jesus’ knowledge he was contrite and received grace. That is healthy religion.
