Behind the Woodshed

Parents discipline children differently now than they did back before I was a child in need of such moments in my life.  While I never was actually taken to such a place, when I was growing up I would on occasion hear a disciplinary threat which included some reference to the woodshed.  As I learned, some parents talked about trips behind the woodshed as the place where punishment for misbehavior of all varieties was administered.  Nowadays, children are, of course, not taken behind the woodshed, but sent to their room for timeout.  Times have a way of changing.

 

I have a feeling that the moment of discipline described in Luke 22:31 felt more like going behind the woodshed than going to timeout.  What Jesus said to Simon Peter must have sounded like a blistering and brutal rebuke.  It must have stung like that day when Jesus looked at Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan."  (Matthew 16:23)  When the Table time was finished, when the taste of broken bread and poured out wine still clinging to his mouth, Jesus told Peter that what he said he would do was the exact opposite of what he was actually going to do.  Instead of standing with Jesus, he would soon deny three times that he ever knew Jesus.

 

Like many of us, Peter did not understand what really in his heart.  Is our loyalty to Jesus a reflection of His blessing? Is it in proportion to His goodness?  Does our loyalty remain constant when it seems His blessings have been withheld?  Do we ever make promises to Jesus and break them?  Have our good intentions of service for Christ and those around us ever faded over the long haul?  Is our love for Jesus stronger by far now than it was in the beginning?  Do we sometimes shy away from speaking the name of Jesus for fear of what folks might think?  Be careful about asking Jesus to answer any of the questions.  It may be like going behind the woodshed.