Peter's Denial of Jesus

It wasn't long after Peter vehemently told Jesus that he would die before denying Jesus that that proclamation was put to the test. And sadly, in that moment of testing, Peter failed. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Hello and welcome back to Cultivating Growth. Thank you all for joining us again this week. This is our second episode in the series discussing the denial of Jesus by the Apostle Peter. Last week we talked about Jesus predicting that event, and this week we're going to spend some time talking about the denial itself. And so with that, let's get right to the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Well, John, one of the points you made last week when we kind of opened up this discussion and talked about kind of the prediction, uh, the foretelling of this event from Jesus to Peter and the other apostles, that all four gospels make mention of it. And then him actually denying Jesus, as we talked last week, just hours from you know that prediction. Again, all four gospels make mention of it. Matthew, Mark, and Luke give us a little bit more than what John gives us just a snippet of it in his gospel. But again, John does help us with timeline. But really, all of the other uh the gospels at this point tighten up the timeline, you know, you know, pretty good. I mean, it it does give you a you know pretty good idea because we're moving just minutes at a time where Jesus is arrested and he goes from place to place to place until he ultimately will find himself on the cross. And before we get into the actual denial of Peter, I thought it'd be good just for a couple of seconds at least, just to kind of make mention of how we got to where we are from where we were last week. And so we talked about they're in the upper room, they spend quite a little while there. They're talking about all sorts of different things, a lot of important things take place. This prediction of Peter uh not just stumbling because of Jesus, but flat out denying him. Not once, not twice, but three times, and Peter denying that denial is going to take place. And we talked about that less, you know, last week. And so it won't be long before he'll leave from there. He goes to the garden where he prays. He takes along Peter, James, and John, even a little bit further along with them. Uh, he's arrested in the garden, and he'll be shuffled to a few different places through the night. And just kind of following the biblical narrative, uh, we know John, the apostle John, is somewhat close by, kind of keeping an eye on things. And from Peter's denial, we know he also is getting close and at least keeping an eye on things. It seems that the other apostles have kind of fled a bit uh from the scene itself. But Peter finds himself kind of in a courtyard, uh, in my mind, kind of just waiting for information, right? He's he's waiting if he hears something, or you're waiting to kind of see what happens, and uh he's just kind of hanging out. He seemingly is minding his own business, and then he's going to be approached in several different ways about his relationship with Jesus. And ultimately, now just hours away, uh, he's going to respond uh to these people kind of that's going to lump him in uh with Jesus. That's what they're attempting to do. And like we said, Matthew's account is where we'll spend a little bit of time, kind of does a good job of kind of painting that picture for us.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Yeah, and and to your point, in in Matthew's account, Matthew chapter 26 and verse 58, we're told that Peter followed him at a distance. And I I think that is an important point because I think you made the point last week, or rightfully so, that when Peter was standing next to Jesus, his faith was pretty strong.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

I mean, strong, you know, he was pr he was bold enough to look Jesus in the eye and say, You got this one wrong, buddy. He was he was pretty bold when he was standing next to Jesus. Now he's following at a distance and that boldness is gone, and that faith is not what it once was. And there there are points to be made, I think, about the proximity to Jesus and the impact that that has on our faith, even for us today. This is why we need to remain so close to Jesus, because when we begin to follow at a distance, our faith weakens, and that's what's happening to Peter. He is now separated from Jesus, physically separated from Jesus, and as a result of that, he's now going to have to confront opposition by himself, and he's not prepared for that. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, and Peter's standing there right next to Jesus, he draws his sword. He's ready to fight. He's ready to fight, he's ready to carry out the promise he made to Jesus that I'm ready to die for you. He was ready to do that. This is just an hour or two later, a few hours later. And so the the proximity to Jesus is really important and the impact that that has on Peter's faith because he is clearly a different man when not standing next to Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Yeah, and you see it kind of play out, and the narrative is so good in the way that we almost take a pause. Certainly from Matthew, Mark, and Luke's account, and even in John, even though John's pause about Peter is much shorter than what you'll get in the synoptic gospels. But you've been now for a lot of verses on Jesus. This is what's going on with Jesus. Jesus has been arrested, and this is what's happening, and you're like, oh man, let's follow that story. And then they almost leave that for a second, and they're like, We'll get back to Jesus, but let's give you a picture of what's going on with Peter. And it goes to Peter, and he he's here in the courtyard, he's kind of minding his own business, and it's seemingly that just a single person, you know, comes to him, and you have in verse 69 of Matthew chapter 26, a servant girl even, comes to him and says, Hey, you I think you you were one. You were one with Jesus of Galilee. And he says in verse 70, he denies it. I don't I don't know what you're saying. And he kind of goes into a different area, and he gets over there, and and someone else comes to him in verse 71. And it's like, hey, this this is one, this is a fellow that was there with Jesus, and he denies it again. And he says, This time, I I I don't know the man. And to me, we're we're ramping up a a little bit from hey, I don't I don't really know what you're saying here, to now, I don't even know who Jesus is. To ultimately this third time where it seems like there's more people now involved, where he gets pretty agitated and he begins to curse and he begins to swear and reiterates now specifically, I do not know the man. It's not I don't know what you're talking about, or I want to stay out of it, or I plead the fifth, or I don't want to have this conversation, I do not know Jesus of Nazareth, and he is cursing and he is swearing hours removed from telling Jesus to his face, no, that's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Yeah, and I I love how the text continues this story because literally, immediately after what you just read there in verse 74, when Peter is cursing and swearing and saying, I do not know the man, immediately a rooster crowed, and fulfilling the prophecy that Jesus made that you'll deny me three times before the rooster crows, and it happens immediately. And that that is so telling because we we can just see, I mean, literally, the the text is so beautifully composed, you can just put yourself in Peter's shoes as he hears that rooster crow, and it all begins to hit him about what has just transpired. There there's some different slight variations in how each of the gospel writers talk about this. Um Peter remembered the words of Jesus, that's Matthew. Luke will talk about them actually making eye contact in this moment.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

And then him remembering.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

And then him remembering, and I just can't even imagine what that would have been like. Here's Jesus, who is on his way to death, and you have just denied him after proclaiming your allegiance to him just a little few hours earlier, and he turns and looks at you. And oh man, I mean you can just feel just the heart the Peter's heart just sink in that moment as he remembers what Jesus told him. I'm sure he remembers the boldness in which he told Jesus it's not gonna happen to me. Everybody else might stumble, but I'm me. All those things come rushing back into his mind, and you can just feel the guilt. I've heard it said before that you know, oftentimes we associate roosters crowing with waking us up in the morning. And in this situation, a rooster crowed to wake Peter up. Yeah, it wasn't because he was asleep, but he had to be woken up to the guilt of the sin that he had been involved in. And that that's a really powerful image, I think, to apply to this passage.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yeah, and it uh it's interesting. We talked about this last week, and I think it's important to note again when he remembers the words of Jesus, he doesn't have to go back very far in his mind. I mean, he's not going back years or he's not going back even months or weeks and trying to roll through all of the thousands of things that Jesus has told him. It's one of the last things that Jesus told him, right? I mean, it's one of the very last things. And so he's going to remember this immediately. And I think you're spot on. He's not just remembering Jesus' words, he's remembering his words. Yeah. And he's remembering his attitude. And one thing that all of the gospels uh they agree on is at the end of this story, uh, I've I'm open in Matthew 26, verse 75, Peter remembered the word of Jesus who said to him, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Then he went out and wept bitterly. And that is a phrase that is found all throughout the Gospels, no matter the story that you open up to, that Peter goes out and weeps bitterly. And it it really is a altering moment for Peter. It's a crossroads in in a lot of ways. We'll talk more about that next week.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

But it is a crossroads for him because he feels the guilt, he feels the shame, he feels the weight of all of that. He should be weeping bitterly. But ultimately, it's going to be what's he then going to do with all of that? And so, you know, it you know, we're gonna we're about done with this episode, and I hate almost leaving it, you know, in this moment, but it's a crossroads for Peter. And it ultimately sometimes is a crossroads for us that when we we come to the realization of guilt or the realization of sin or the realization of telling Jesus no or turning our back on him, denying even knowing who he is. That's exactly what Peter is doing here. It should cause us to weep bitterly. And it it's now almost this time, this is the right reaction. It's hard to almost say that because it's it's feels so hurtful and ugly almost, but this is the right reaction in comparison to I think the way he reacted to the actual foretelling of it that we talked about last week.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Yeah, the the only way that there is an episode three of this series where we talk about John chapter 21, the only way that there's a Acts chapter 2, Peter, is because of how he responds in this moment. Right. If we were doing this series on Judas, there's no episode three. That's correct. Because because he didn't have this experience to the confrontation of sin, and it didn't move him to weep bitterly over it and then seek restoration with Jesus. This is what has to happen when we're confronted with sin if we want there to be an episode three for us. And that that really is how all of us should be responding to sin is uh this emotional, this deep reaction to it that is then going to lead us to a renewed relationship with Jesus. This you're you're absolutely right. This is a crossroads for Peter, and this is the response that Jesus wants to see from all of us when we are awakened to sin in our life. This is what he wants to see out of us ultimately.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah, and we're gonna close with a passage from John 17 here in just a second, but I I'm just reminded, so I'll kind of close with two passages. You know, it it kind of struck me if the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five, that you know, Peter is living out in a lot of ways the first two beatitudes, right? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. That's exactly where Peter is. And you're right. Listen, praise be to God that we have in episode three that we're gonna be able to spend some time. Is that, yeah, Peter comes to a crossroads. There's no question about that. But John's gospel, especially at the very end of it in John 21, helps us with that. And it is restoration with Jesus. And you're right, that's what gives us the Peter that we see in Acts, whether it's in Acts chapter 2 or the Peter we see in Acts chapter 10, even it is that Peter, this piece has to happen, you know, because of that. And so let's close uh with a very similar place that we closed last week as well. In John 17, when Jesus is there with his disciples and he's praying specifically for them, he says this in verse 9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours, and all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Thank you for listening this week. If you haven't already done so, we'd appreciate it if you would take just a second to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you're listening and rate and review the show so we can continue to spread the good news of Jesus as widely and effectively as possible. Thanks again for joining us this week, and we'll talk to you again next week.