February 15
Exodus 33-34
Psalm 22:11-15
Proverbs 5:9-10
Matthew 26:52-75
Failure
“I do not know what you are talking about.”… “I do not know the man.” … “I do not know the man.” And immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ And he went out and cried bitterly.” Matthew 26:69,72,74-75 LSB
We’ve all been there. We have said or done things we knew we would never do. We hear words come out of our mouths that horrify us and we instantly want to take them back, but the damage is already done. Peter had good intentions. Just a few hours earlier, he told Jesus that if everyone else fell away, he wouldn’t. He vowed, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matthew 26:35) LSB Who Peter denied Jesus to is even more shocking than the fact that he denied Him three times. Peter was not being questioned by soldiers or even the Jewish religious leaders. No one was threatening him. He was sitting in the courtyard and a servant-girl recognized him as one who had been with Jesus. He told her he didn’t know what she was talking about. Then outside by the gate another servant-girl proclaimed that he had been with Jesus and he said he didn’t even know Jesus. A little while later, bystanders said that he must be one of Jesus’ followers because even the way he talked gave him away. Then he began to curse and swear denying that he knew Jesus. He did not have the courage to even tell servant girls and bystanders that he was one of Jesus’ followers. He was afraid of what they would think of him and perhaps he was afraid they would turn him in to officials who would arrest him if he admitted his relationship with Jesus. He had good intentions, but he didn’t have the courage to follow through. He failed Jesus when He needed him most.
We can all point to times in our lives when we have failed. We were afraid or embarrassed or just weak and we did something we still can’t believe we did. Whether it was a temptation that we succumbed to, something we knew we were supposed to do that we just could not bring ourselves to follow through on, an opportunity God gave us to tell someone about Him that we ignored, or something we said or did that we knew we shouldn’t and we did it anyway. We have all failed God. So what do we do next? Do we give up? Do we run away and hide from Him? Do we decide that we are hopeless and just stop trying? For Peter the next couple of days were terrible. He watched his friend and mentor that he believed was the Messiah be beaten and executed, and then he and the rest of Jesus’ followers hid in their homes afraid they might be next. They were scared, disillusioned, and confused. But Peter was also dealing with the guilt of what he had done. He did the very thing he swore he wouldn’t do. What was he supposed to do now? The world had been turned upside down and he didn’t know how to carry on.
Early on the third day, some of the women went to anoint Jesus’ body. When they arrived they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. I love Mark’s account of their encounter with the angel. He told them, “Go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” Jesus knew what was going on in Peter’s head. He knew that he had failed and the guilt was crushing him. He made a special point of mentioning Peter’s name so he would know Jesus wanted him to be there. He didn’t want Peter to run away and hide. He wanted to see him. God knows when we mess up. He knows we are going to do it before we do. He doesn’t want us to run away from Him. He wants us to come straight to Him so He can help us clean up the mess and show us the way forward. He is waiting with open arms ready to forgive and restore us. It is always the right thing to run to Jesus and not away from Him.
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