"Ours were the sufferings he bore" (Is 53:4)
The Lord put on our weakness to clothe our inconstancy with the firmness of his strength. He came from heaven to this world like a wealthy and generous merchant and, through a marvelous exchange, concluded a deal: taking what belonged to us, he granted us what belonged to him. In exchange for what was cause of our shame he gave us honor, for pain, healing, for death, life…
The holy apostle Peter was the first to experience how much this humility benefited all believers. Shaken by the violent storm of his own confusion he was brought to himself by this sudden change and recovered strength. He had found the remedy in our Lord’s example… Indeed, the servant “was not greater than his lord nor the disciple than his master” (Mt 10:24), nor could he have conquered the trembling of human weakness unless the conqueror of death had not first trembled. And so the Lord looked at Peter (Lk 22:61); in the midst of the accusations of the priests, the lies of witnesses, the insults of those who struck and mocked him, he met his shaken disciple with those eyes that had seen his distress beforehand. Where his heart needed healing, Truth penetrated with its look. It was as though the voice of the Lord made itself known there and said to him: “Where are you going, Peter? Why withdraw into yourself? Come back to me, put your trust in me and follow me. Now is the time of my Passion, the time for your suffering has not yet come. Why fear now? You too will overcome. Do not be disconcerted by the weakness I have taken, It is because of that which I have taken from you that I trembled but, as for you, fear not on account of that which you hold from me.”
St. John Damascene