I remember many years ago the agonising pain of being in a relationship that had broken down. There was nothing I could do to restore it. Then one day I received a text message with just the words ‘I miss you.’ Suddenly everything changed. A corner had been turned and now there was hope that the relationship could be restored.
Mark’s Gospel records a similar event where just two words signal the restoration of a broken relationship. On the night that Jesus was arrested his closest friend, Peter, swore blind that he would never let him down. He went so far as to say that he would die for him. But when Jesus was arrested he swore blind, when challenged, that he didn’t even know who Jesus was. Within hours Jesus was dead and Peter was a broken man, guilt-ridden and distraught.
But on the first Easter Sunday when an angel announced to the women at the tomb that Jesus was alive, he made a point of telling them to tell the ‘disciples and Peter’ that Jesus would meet them in Galilee.
‘And Peter.’ Just two words, but two words that reassured Peter that Jesus still loved him and that he was still a disciple. The rest is history!
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