Jump Start # 815

Matthew 26:74 “Then he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know the man!’ And immediately a rooster crowed.”

Our passage today comes from one of the dark pages of the New Testament. It seems that the world was falling apart, at least for Christ’s apostles. Judas had sold Jesus out and the Lord was arrested. The apostles scattered. Peter followed at a distance. As Jesus was being interrogated  by the High Priest, Peter was out in the court yard. Others were there. It was cold. A fire was started to keep them warm. No one seems to be a defender, believer or supporter of Jesus. A servant girl passes through the crowd and recognizes Peter as “one of them.” He denies it. Then another servant girl. She, too, connects Peter with Jesus. He denies it. He curses to give proof that he is not associated with “the Holy One.” He curses because he is caught. He’s scared and angry. Another recognizes his dialect. He is Galilean, like Jesus. He denies again, a third time. Morning breaks. A rooster crows and Peter remembers the words of Jesus, spoken just a few hours before. Peter had denied.

Many great lessons have been given on this section. It’s easy to thump Peter, and rightly so, he was wrong. It is textbook on how to get in trouble. Stayed at a distance…warmed himself with the enemy…alone…thought of self…overcome by the charges of a servant girl—he crumbled. It’s amazing that it wasn’t a soldier that made Peter crumble but a servant girl. Hours before, Peter, with a sword in his hand, tried to kill one who came to arrest Jesus. Now, the words of a simply servant girl crushes him.

Hanging out with the enemy is bad. Cursing is bad. But one of the worst has to be confessing, “I do not know the man!” Really? You spent three years with “the man.” You saw “the man” heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. You heard “the man” speak words that no one else ever said. You saw “the man” tested and tested by His opponents and every time He turned the tables on them. You witnessed “the man” being transfigured. You heard the God of Heaven declare that “the man” was His beloved Son. You even confessed that “the man” was the Christ, the son of the living God. You were with “the man” when He calmed a storm. You saw “the man” multiply food and feed 5,000. You even were allowed to walk upon the water when you asked “the man” if you could.  You asked “the man” more questions than any other apostle. You were chosen, hand picked, by “the man.”  Your name appears first at the list of the apostles. You were given the keys to the kingdom. All of this came about by “the man.”

Those two words, “the man” must have hurt Jesus more than anything else Peter did. Jesus was not “the man.” He was the Christ. He was God upon the earth. His words, His miracles, the testimony of John, the Scriptures and God Himself all pointed to that. Peter knew that. But at that dark moment, Jesus wasn’t the Christ to Peter, He was “the man.”

Sin will do that to us. It will lead us to give up, redefine, and deny what we know is true. We know the Bible is true. But late at night, alone with the enemy, the Bible doesn’t seem so alive as Hebrews says it is. Tired, upset, disappointed, we know what the Bible says about anger and unkind words, but we say them. Lust knocks and we open the door. Pride swells and we feed it. Prayers seem unanswered so we give up on them. Jesus, the Christ, becomes, Jesus, “the man,” when darkness falls upon our hearts.

Fear will cause a person to keep quiet, like Peter did. The need to look cool and be accepted will lead us to laugh at things we should not laugh at. It will cause us to poke fun at things that are precious to God, like His people and His word. Impatience will lead us to find fast solutions instead of waiting upon the Lord.

We thump Peter a lot about being in that courtyard with the enemy, but truth is, most of us have been there ourselves. Most of us have acted like Jesus is “the man,” instead of “the Christ.” We may have never denied the Lord with our lips but we have with our hearts and our actions. We have lived as if He never lived. I think the reason we get on Peter is that we see ourselves. We know what it is like. It is not a pretty picture.

Unlike the way we would act, Jesus did not give up on Peter. The Lord wasn’t finished with Peter. Upon His resurrection, the women who saw Him first were told to go and tell Peter. The recorded gospel sermon in Acts 2 are the words of Peter. It is Peter who later stands up to city officials and declares that we cannot stop speaking what we have heard and seen. It is Peter who traveled, who preached, who taught and who wrote. Jesus would never again be “the man,” to Peter. He learned. He conquered. He overcame.

The same is true of us. Jesus is not finished with us. We have let Him down and messed up. Instead of telling others about Him, we joined in their blasphemous taunts. Instead of shinning  the light, we helped darkness to become darker. The Lord is not finished with us. He is patient. He is counting on us to see Him as “the Christ.” He is counting upon us to speak out, stand up and strengthen others.

Sometimes after moments like Peter, we give up on ourselves. We must forgive ourselves and allow God to continue to use us. He’s not finished so don’t you be finished.

Roger