Three times disowned

Three times disowned 

Scripture:-

⁶⁹ Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. ⁷⁰ But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. ⁷¹ Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁷² He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!” ⁷³ After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.” ⁷⁴ Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵ Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. Matthew 26:69-75

Observation:-

This passage looks at the betrayal of Peter. Now the Lord’s supposedly most courageous disciple dared to follow discretely to see what would happen to Jesus. However, Peter soon encountered trouble in the courtyard when a servant girl called him out as a disciple who was with Jesus. Quickly, Peter defensively denied even knowing Jesus and went to the gateway but another servant girl there said the same thing. Again, Peter exclaimed that he didn’t know Jesus, but shortly after, those standing there reaffirmed their suspicion that he had been with Jesus because of his Galilean accent. For the third time, Peter again denied knowing Jesus, and just as the Lord prophesied, the rooster crowed. Then Peter went outside and wept bitterly.  

Application:-

Why did Peter follow in the first place? What emotions must have run through him? As probably the Lord’s foremost disciple, he must have felt completely helpless at what was happening. Perhaps he desired to do something to help Jesus and was looking for an opportunity to do so. Perhaps, he expected the Lord to use His miraculous powers to get out of his predicament, and would be pleased to see him close by. Still, it is commendable, that he had the courage to follow, as he could quite easily be thrown to the same fate as Jesus by the authorities if they recognized him.

However, when the crunch came, Peter immediately melted and showed his cowardly self in denying the Lord three times. Earlier, he said he was willing to die with the Lord, but when the moment of truth came, he failed to stand up to the test. It is easy to condemn Peter, but who among us could actually have done differently in his circumstance. The disciples had seen their Master and Lord violently taken from them, and the Lord did not protest or show any signs of resistance at all. It was too much for them, and their faith was shaken like never before.

What is the lesson for us here? We need to be aware of the frailty and cowardice of our human weakness. In ourselves, we are weak, even if we think we are brave. We need the Lord. We need His grace and His help to stand courageously for Him. The Lord did not condemn people and He does not condemn us, but it is for us to stay true to Him, even in the face of persecution, especially in these last days.     

Prayer:-

Dear Lord, we thank You for this lesson on Peter, and how even great men of God can fall because of human weakness. Give us Your grace and strength we pray that we might stand by Your Spirit. In Jesus name, Amen.