Did you notice that little detail in Mark 16:7:
“Go and tell his disciples and Peter.”
Wasn’t Peter one of the disciples? Why is he singled out? We could read it to mean that he is being excluded. He is no longer one of the disciples because of his failure. But why then would Jesus want to meet Peter in Galilee? Was it just a little consolation prize?
No. I think that when you look at the end of John’s Gospel you see a different reason. Yes, Peter’s denial of Jesus had cost dearly. But Jesus was not going to exclude him. Instead, he was going to forgive, restore and commission. Peter is singled out, to make it clear that his Lord and Saviour still loves him and that he is still welcome.
This is great news for us. We often fail Jesus and let him down. Some of us may have done so terribly. We may carry great shame and perhaps that causes us to distance ourselves from God’s people. In Jesus we find the one who won’t leave us alone, distanced, isolated shamed. He seeks us out to forgive and to restore.
Faithroots 