“I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop.”

—John 12:24

Who would not have been Peter that day in the garden as he sought to protect our Lord? After all this was the Son of God, the Messiah, and here a company of armed soldiers came to take him away from the ones who had given up everything to follow him.

Peter had watched Jesus heal the sick, walk on water, calm the storm and, most importantly, change the lives of those around him.

Peter had sat with him at the Passover table and even swore loyalty unto death. So here, under the black of night, they came to take Peter’s Jesus.

You may ask why I phrase it that way, but I believe at that moment it was exactly what Peter was feeling, exactly where sin reared its head in Peter’s life.

You see in Peter’s mind, Jesus was his, and no one would take him. Peter was comfortable with Jesus where he was, as he was, not wanting things to deviate from the plan or the feeling. As Peter drew the sword, Jesus yells at him to put it up, and at that moment we see Peter did not understand the lesson taught him earlier. Jesus must die, and through that death and coming resurrection there would be life, and Peter then could be with Jesus for eternity.

You see Easter is a reminder that I am his, and he came to save me, and not vice versa.

It is in humbleness that Jesus, the one and only Son of God, came to where he did not have to, to do what only he could do. I admire Peter for his boldness, but still wonder if, in later years, he ever pondered how, if he had had his way, he would have derailed the plan put in place since eternity.

I wonder if he ever sat down and prayed in the later years of his life, “Lord, please forgive me for that night.”

It would take a lunch on the shore with a savior for Peter to begin to understand that he was not called to protect Jesus, but rather to love him at all cost, feeding “his” sheep and following, not fighting unto death.

Lord let us be so blessed to learn that lesson as well.