Last week I awoke at 3:00 a.m. to what I thought was a child crying in distress. Always a mother, I roused myself from a sound sleep to ensure that I wasn’t dreaming and that I would be ready to respond. I listened again. A soprano like moan that sounded and then became quiet emanated from outside my house and down the street. I strained to hear once more.
It was a rooster.
Irritated that my slumber was interrupted, the crows only got louder as the sun rose more. This cock had raised my cockles!
Listening to the telling of the Passion on Palm Sunday, I thought of my neighborhood rooster and Peter’s denial of Jesus. Despite Peter’s certainty that he would never abandon him, Peter denies Jesus three times before the cock crows. What self-delusions do I entertain in a similar vein? What prideful affirmations do I hold that I need to have punctured?
In case we didn’t reflect deeply enough, the Church invites us to hear this tale again on Good Friday. Peter’s denial of Jesus is there in case we missed it the first time. How do we fail to commend or acknowledge the faith that is in us? When do we shun our relationship to Christ?
Peter never forgot his denial of Jesus. When Peter was due to be killed by the Roman government by crucifixion, he asked to be hung upside down on a cross. The Church also remembers this rooster in its symbolism. In the 9th century, Pope Nicholas made the rooster official. His decree was that all churches must display the rooster on their steeples or domes as a symbol of Peter’s betrayal of Jesus. In accordance with the decree, churches started using weathervanes with the rooster.
Symbols always carry more than one meaning, however. The Church began also using the rooster as a symbol of Christ, like the lamb, emphasizing its connection to light and resurrection. The rooster announces that light follows the night.
As we walk the way of the cross together, may we be awakened by the rooster of denial and light!
-The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector