Mark
14:30 (NIV)
“Peter—this
very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you
even know Me”
Who does Peter represent in His denial of
the Lord? All of us! Yes, you!
Why? Because each of us,
including you, has in some way or many different ways, been false in your
relationship and friendship with Christ.
Peter was the lead disciple, the example, the one who usually spoke up
first, the one to whom Jesus likely talked to more than the others, who still
at the end of Jesus’ life on earth dissociated himself from being faithful to
Christ in the face of criticism and danger.
Peter also represents the hypocrisy in all of us at times, saying one
thing, doing another. Peter “insisted”
to Jesus that he would die with Him (Mark 14:31). When you read this statement you can sense
his self-confidence that he would not be afraid to die with Jesus. We are like
this, believing that our love for and faith in Jesus are so great that we would
be sufficiently brave to face our deaths for His sake. Yet Peter wasn’t that prepared and quickly
got into something way over his head where he was not strong enough to resist
or fight. Sometimes this can/will happen
to you too.
What Peter did not have within Him when he
denied Jesus was the indwelling Holy Spirit.
After being filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:4ff), Peter then was brave
and bold in preaching about Christ without any fear of persecution. Indeed, Peter was eventually crucified too,
with tradition indicating that he asked to be crucified upside down because he
did not deserve to die in the same way as his Lord did.
It is interesting that Peter was probably
prepared to face questions from Roman soldiers about knowing Jesus, but being
asked a question by a little girl somehow destroyed his confidence. Remember, Peter drew his sword and attacked a
Roman guard at the Garden of Gethsemane.
The question from a little girl blindsided him and this is an example of
how Satan attacks you. You prepare
yourself to handle temptations that you expect, but succumb to other
temptations or a subtle way a temptation that you are weak against attacks
you. Like Peter, once you are blindsided
and commit sin, you are in trouble and will continue to sin and fail.
Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him
three times before the cock crowed twice.
The word used for deny means to disown.
Peter not only revealed that he did not know Jesus, he refused to admit
that he had anything to do with Him. A
remarkable and tragic betrayal after being Jesus’ “right hand man” for three
years. Also, it probably was not an
animal (rooster) crowing, but a trumpet blowing that marked the changing of the
guard in the city. From 6 p.m. to 6
a.m. the guard was changed every three hours, so the trumpet (Greek word for
cock here is “alektorophonia” meaning “cockcrow”) would blow twice over the
time period between the time Jesus was arrested and when he was taken away from
the crowds to be beaten.
Although Peter failed in courage to admit
his relationship to Jesus, Jesus knew that this would happen and still declared
that Peter would be the first leader of the church after Jesus’ ascension
(Matthew 16:17-18). Jesus knew that
Peter was not a total failure. This should be a reassuring truth for you. Jesus sees in you not your failures and, at
times even your abandonment of your faith in Him, but sees you for your future
potential as His child and as His servant.
Indeed, while you might think of Peter as a person who denied Jesus,
remember that Peter became the main leader of the early church that is clear
from reading the book of Acts as well as his own two letters in the Bible.
How does this teaching on Peter encourage
you as you think about your own life?
You might tend to focus more on your failures than successes, but
realize that Jesus sees through your failures and ultimately will enable you to
be victorious (Romans 8:37, I Corinthians 15:57). Through the example of Peter you likely can
relate to times in your life when you have been caught off guard and let your
Savior down or not given Him proper priority.
Yet, you do not need to beat yourself up over such failures. Read what Peter himself wrote in I Peter
5:8-10. What hope, resolve and encouragement
does this give you?
No comments:
Post a Comment