The Rooster Alarm

My grandmother had some chickens and one rooster.  When he saw me, those beady eyes delivered an I-know-you recognition that was downright creepy.  His head turned to eye me with one penetrating eye as if to say, “What are you doing in my yard?”

So when Peter warmed himself by the fire in the courtyard where the high priest was interrogating Jesus, there must have been a rooster capturing new faces for his memory book, and Peter’s was one of them.

Peter thought he was safe in a group of strangers.  Then, three people recognized his association with Jesus.  This was one time Peter wanted anonymity and didn’t get it.  Not from the waiting crowd and not even from a rooster

Jesus knew about roosters.  He heard their piercing cry every morning.  He knew their affinity for sunrises.  He knew what they were thinking when they eyed a human.  I'm not sure why Jesus used a rooster to wake Peter up.  The fact that it worked confirms he made the right choice.  

Peter had already denied Jesus, and he didn’t recognize it.  At the Passover table, when Jesus tried to prepare his followers for what was coming, outspoken Peter couldn’t be quiet.  “I will lay down my life for you.”

We are all bold with our promises, but often under-deliver with our performance. Jesus knew Peter needed a wake-up call, so he sent a rooster.

It worked.  A rooster crowed his morning wake-up call.  But this time it was the stomach-turning realization that he had betrayed the one who called him to a new life. 

Here’s the lesson . . .

If Jesus can use a rooster to make his closest follower admit betrayal, what will he use in our lives?  A gentle nudge?  I don’t think so.  Here’s the deal:  if you aren’t listening to Jesus' moment-by-moment instructions, he can’t use a whisper.  He may not use a rooster either, but what he sends will be unexpected, but undeniably clear.

When we recognize how Jesus wants our attention, the only response is to repent the misspoken word, the missed opportunity, the wrong priority, or whatever we rejected to protect something less important than following Jesus.

A rooster took blustery, outspoken, self-sufficient Peter down.  And all the rooster did was crow.  Jesus knows how to use simple things to bring us back to him.  Don’t miss his timely signals.  But don’t just look for roosters, either.

---

This piece is the first in the series: where

we will look at some animal stories in the Bible.

Who will it be next week?