Mtr Mary Trainor

I wonder how he knew  …*

Dear friend,

Late to the party? I’ve been late to most of the “parties” in my lifetime, figuring something out only after everyone else has moved on.

One of the parties I missed was the public-square discussion of Jesus Christ, Superstar, both its Broadway rollout and its big screen version.

Though intentionally not churched at the time, I nonetheless loved Jesus, and feared he was being disrespected in these portrayals. My opinion was based on absolutely zero facts, just fear. I finally embraced the movie a few years ago, and was I amazed. I worked to overlook the dated garb of the 1970s, but once past that, I was deeply moved by the movie’s layering-in of relational complexities. Mary Magdalene’s emotion-filled I Don’t Know How to Love Him moved me to tears—a song I previously had written off as near-heretical.

But enough of that. Today’s Gospel from Luke inspired me to review the movie’s soundtrack, where I found what I was seeking: Peter’s Denial, in which we overhear an imagined conversation between Peter and various parties to the story (see below.)

I wonder how many of us have distanced ourselves from Jesus when it wasn’t convenient, or cool, or culturally appropriate. Or maybe it was unsafe. I know I have committed these little treasons over a lifetime

Thankfully I am the child of a loving God in Christ. The same God who counted on Peter to found the church despite his human frailties--that God likely has something in mind for you—and even for me

Mtr Mary

* Peter’s Denial. Dialogue shown below:

MAID BY THE FIRE: I think I've seen you somewhere. I remember. You were with that man they took away. I recognize your face.

PETER: You've got the wrong man lady. I don't know him, And I wasn't where he was tonight, Never near the place.

SOLDIER: That's strange, for I am sure I saw you with him. You were right by his side, and yet you denied.

PETER: I tell you I was never with him.

OLD MAN: But I saw you too. He looked just like you.

PETER: I don't know him!

MARY MAGDALENE: Peter, don't you know what you have said. You've gone and cut him dead.

PETER: I had to do it, don't you see? 

Or else they'd go for me.

MARY MAGDALENE: It's what he told us you would do. I wonder how he knew.