The ‘Looks’ of the Lord Jesus – Part 4

On the very first time the Lord had met Peter, Andrew (Peter’s brother and one of the disciples of John the Baptist) had left the Baptist to follow the ‘Lamb of God’.¹

Andrew found Peter to tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’, John 1. 41 NKJV. Andrew then ‘brought him to Jesus’. Jesus looked at² him and said, ‘You are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas’ (which is by interpretation, ‘rock’³), v. 42 ESV.

And in the High Priest’s courtyard, Jesus ‘looked at’ Peter again, but Peter certainly did not feel much like a ‘rock’ now!

Among other things, the Lord’s look reminded Peter: (a) of his empty promises and self-confident protests of loyalty, ‘I am ready to go with you to prison and to death’⁴ and, of course, (b) of Jesus’ own specific foretelling of Peter’s repeated denial before the cock would crow.⁵ It has been well said that, ‘Peter, called to “deny himself”⁶ denies his Lord instead’.⁷

But who can tell all that was in that look? A look blazing with anger, such as He had once directed at scribes and Pharisees on account of their unbelief?⁸ Certainly not! A look of disappointment? Perhaps. A look of pain? Almost certainly. But there was so much more.

I do not think it fanciful to suppose that the Saviour’s changeless and limitless love spoke through His eyes that night. In the full knowledge of all that Peter had said and done, that single – that solitary – look declared, ‘Peter, I still love you, and, Peter, come what may, I always will’. We can, surely, be confident that, in Jesus’ look, Peter read both his own forgiveness and his Lord’s unquenchable love for him.

Shortly before, Jesus had assured Peter of His prayer for him, ‘Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you [the ‘you’ being plural, signifying the apostolic band], that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you [the ‘you’ being singular, signifying Peter personally] that your faith may not fail’.⁹

Certainly, as has been noted, combined together, ‘the prayer and the look had availed. The prayer had kept his faith from failing, but the look had broken his heart’.¹⁰

It has been well said that ‘Christ heals with more ease than any other: other physicians apply pills, potions, bleeding; Christ . . . can cure with a look. When Peter had fallen into a relapse, Christ looked on Peter, and he wept. Christ’s look melted Peter into repentance; it was a healing look’.¹¹

Now, in the High Priest’s courtyard, Jesus reached out, with His look, to save the same man from sinking into the depths of utter despair as He had once reached out, with His hand, to save him from sinking into the depths of the Sea of Galilee!¹²

And you and I can rest today in the knowledge that to us, our all-seeing¹³ Saviour still extends:

1. His power to help;
2. His sympathy in times of sorrow;
3. His consideration and His care;
4. His protection for the weak and oppressed;
5. His faithful words of rebuke, spoken always in love; and, if we fail Him . . .
6. His forgiveness and the assurance of His unquenchable love.

‘Lord, in all Thy power and glory, Still Thy thoughts and eyes are here; Watching o’er Thy ransomed people, To Thy gracious heart so dear’.¹⁴