Matt Carter preached on Peter’s denial of Jesus today. The story has had a large impact on me every time i read it, because it’s so very human. Peter had spent the last 3 years of his life following Jesus at any cost, and only a few hours earlier had been in the following exchange:
Jesus: Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.
Peter: Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.
Jesus: I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me. ~Luke 22:31-34
This is the same Peter who affirmed the deity of Christ before all the other apostles(Matthew 16:16). The same man who walked on water until his eyes wavered (Matthew 14). The very same man who witnessed the Transfiguration (Mark 9). And in the hours before dawn both on that day and in redemptive history Peter chose the estimation of a slave girl and some dudes around a fire over claiming the name of Jesus. How often is it the testimony of my life that a joke at someone else’s expens or a configuration file are worth more than the name of Jesus.
And yet as much as the story is a punch to the stomach, the ending is happy. For every denial, Jesus gives Peter an opportunity to proclaim his love for Himself. Peter answers every time with variations of “you know that I love you”, and Jesus gives him the roles of “feed my lambs”, “tend my sheep” and “feed my sheep”. Peter, after decades of spreading the good news of reconciliation with God through the blood and resurrection of Jesus, ended his days on a wooden cross in Rome under Nero; traditionally said to have been crucified upside down at his own request because he did not deem himself worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. Jesus doesn’t owe us anything, we should be so lucky as to die upside down at the hands of our oppressors, for it is far better than to land in the hands of the holy, holy, holy God of the universe whose justice demands an outpouring of divine wrath. But that price has been paid.
The last few weeks have taught me that it takes an alarmingly small amount of persecution to cause me to drift from the loving embrace of the living God, but I am confident that he who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phillipians 1:6)