Peter's Denial

Peter's human nature was soon to be revealed. A while back, I wrote about how Peter told Jesus how he would die for Jesus and Jesus said that he would betray him three times before the cock crowed. Peter did not realize what Jesus said until the cock crowed. Even when in John 18:17 when the woman asked Peter, "Aren't you one of Jesus' disciples?" Peter answered, "No, I am not." At this time, Jesus was taken into the inter courtyard, where Peter could not go. Peter was watching from a distance to see what would happen. It was cold and he was trying to warm himself around the fire. Peter was scared and afraid. He remained there by the fire as Jesus was being questioned by the high priest. Again, someone asked (v 23), "Aren't you one of his disciples?" "I am not," he said. One of the household servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, "Didn't I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?" Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed. According to some of the other books in the gospels, Jesus actually made eye contact with Peter when the rooster crowed. Also, some of the other gospels talk about how they recognized his accent as being one like Jesus'.

As I read this, I think about how Peter must have felt when he realized that he did deny Jesus, just as Jesus predicted earlier that day. He must have felt terrible. The bible said he ran away from there. Could you imagine what it was like to look Christ in the eye as the rooster was crowing, knowing he knew you had denied him? Although I have never denied him with my words, I have have denied him with my actions. I am ashamed to say, I have made choices in my life that denied Christ the opportunity to work in my life. Instead of choosing what God would want me to do, I chose to do what I wanted. Like Peter, I was afraid and in a very lonely place. I felt alone and rejected. I was numb. Basically, I was in a pretty bad place emotionally. To ease the pain in my life, I made bad choices and denied Christ's power to ease the pain. I regret those choices and have paid the consequences for my actions. I acted in the ways of the world and not how Christ would have acted. Thank God that my story had a happy ending.

The story about Peter doesn't end here. God gave Peter the opportunity to make things right in Chapter 21:15. I will discuss this when I get there.