Denying Jesus
Introduction
It has been pretty rare for me to ever get first place in any competition. This was especially true in school when it came to any physical activity. I was a pretty scrawny kid. We were doing a number of different exercises one day in gym class and they were ranking how each student did. Not surprisingly, I was near the bottom in every category. Then it was time for the flexed arm hang. I was nervous because I didn’t have great arm muscles. What I didn’t realize was that I didn’t need much muscle because I was so skinny. I far surpassed every other student and then just chose to let go because I was bored. It was nice to finally come in first for something.
What about the apostles? If there was a competition for the top apostle, who would it be? For many of the apostles, all we have is a name. Among the twelve, there was a top three: Peter, James and John. Jesus invited them to be with him in some of the special moments of his ministry. I suspect that if we had to pick a top candidate, many of us would go for Peter. That would make sense. His original name was Simon, but Jesus renamed him Peter, which means rock, after he was the first human to recognize Jesus’ true messianic identity.
Peter lived up to this name as God used him ins some unique ways. It was Peter who preached at Pentecost, the birthday of the church, where the Spirit was poured out and three thousand people believed and were baptized. God also chose Peter to be the one to preach to Cornelius, which was the official extending of the church to the Gentiles. Considering the vast majority of the church today is Gentile, that was a major event.
That is not to say that Peter was perfect. He said some stupid things from time to time. But what we are going to look at today is more than the slip of the tongue. This is a story about the time that Peter really messed up.
Peter Denies Jesus
At this point in the story, Jesus has been betrayed by Judas and has been arrested. They all knew what this could mean and even the danger to the disciples by extension. But Peter was Jesus’ good friend and he couldn’t just sit back. So instead of going into hiding, Peter began to follow what was happening, but at a distance. He wanted to know what was going to happen to Jesus. But waiting in the middle of the night is not the most comfortable activity. It gets cold at night. So Peter came together with some others to warm himself by the fire. One of the female servants recognized him as one of the people who had been with Jesus. Have you ever been a position where you were discovered and you have that sudden surge of panic? That’s what happened with Peter. So even though he would not be afraid of a servant girl, he quickly denied knowing Jesus. If this was all that happened, we could easily forgive Peter. All of us have been caught off guard and said the wrong thing in the moment. But some time later a man accused him of being with Jesus. Once again, Peter denied Jesus. Then another man kept insisting that since Peter was a Galilean, he must have been an associate of Jesus. Peter continued to deny that he knew Jesus. Just then the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered that Jesus had warned him that he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed. At that time they were moving Jesus from one place to another and their eyes met. Jesus had known exactly what had happened. Try to put yourself in Peter’s place. Imagine what he felt at that moment, knowing that he had denied Jesus not once but three times, and that Jesus knew about it.
Why did Peter do this? There is no reason to suspect that Peter had any ill intent toward Jesus. The way he wept bitterly after this shows that he deeply regretted his actions. It is likely that it was simply a matter of self-preservation. He was scared enough about Jesus being arrested, he didn’t want to join him. He was afraid for his life and his survival instinct kicked in. Imagine if an armed person walked into this church and announced that anyone willing to deny Jesus were free to leave and that he would shoot the rest. While we may hope that we would stand strong, it would be hard.
We have recently looked at the betrayal by Judas. What is the difference between Judas and Peter? Both actions were terrible. Both probably felts some regret. But in Judas’ case that led to despair and his death. For Peter the regret led to eventual reconciliation with Jesus and a second chance to show his loyalty to Jesus. Tradition tells us that Peter eventually followed Jesus to the cross, although in case being crucified upside down.
We Deny Jesus
There have been people throughout the generations who have had their faith put to the test. Some of them passed and some of them stumbled. This continues to be the case in many areas of the world. Being a Christian in the West costs us very little. For others it is a loss of family, loss of job or even a loss of life. Some have to make the same choice as Peter, whether to stand for Jesus or to keep themselves safe. For most of us that is not our experience.
But this passage is still relevant for us. It is still easy for us to be put in a situation where we can deny or stand with Jesus. This can happen in two ways.
One is that of active denial. It may not be as simple of being asked if we are a Christian, although it could be. Someone may ask what we do Sunday mornings and we could say family time instead of church. It may be acting like a non-Christian so that we don’t stand out as being different. I can share a personal example. When I first came back to personal faith, I gave up drinking out of spiritual conviction. Soon after I found myself at a party and I was offered a drink by someone I didn’t know. I said no. But instead of letting it go, they asked why. While I didn’t have to give a sermon, I could have said that this was because I had recently become a Christian. Instead I said that it was for health reason. I had no health issues. It was a lie because I didn’t want people just meeting me to see me as the “Jesus freak.” That was denying Jesus.
More often, it may be passive denial. Passive denial is when an opportunity comes up to bring in a faith element, that we just remain silent. There is no lying, just a rejecting of the opportunity. No one around, other than ourselves and God, knows what had just happened. People make a statement that all churches are money hungry and have no interest in helping the poor and we remain silent. People say that Christians are all hypocrites and we remain silent. People may even know us for decades without knowing that we are Christians. It is not about shoving religion down people’s throats. It is not about debating every atheist we meet. Sometimes it is just lighting one candle in a dark room. It can be just responding gently to the opportunities that God gives us.
Conclusion
I have shared that I have made my own mistakes in my life. Perhaps you have made mistakes. Perhaps you have denied Jesus by what you have done or what you have not done. We could just give up. But Peter didn’t just give up. Peter regretted what he did and then was reconciled to Jesus. He brushed himself off and tried again. God is the God of second chances and third chances and fourth chances. There are two things we need to get from this passage. One is for to choose to stand up for Jesus rather than to deny him. The second is that when we fail, we don’t give up but determine to stand the next time. If Peter can do it, so can we.
