With friends...

Matthew 26:31

Peter’s Denial Foretold

Then Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written,

‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

Celebrating the Passover with friends

Taking time out in an upper room

Caring for their tired and weary bodies

with water, wine and bread.

Then, stories shared and hunger sated,

going into the garden in the cool of the night to pray.

Going into the garden 

where betrayal and arrest awaited him.

And one by one, the friends disappeared

slinking into the night

watching form a distance

feeling the hurt and betrayal

but powerless to change it.

And the Son of God

who removed his robe to serve his friends

was left exposed and abandoned

on the night before his death

as the light burned dimly

just before dawn.