7/18/13:

TFTD: “Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.”- Luke 22:56-60

Peter, Peter, Peter… how could you deny God after telling Him that you will never turn away from Him? Can you imagine what it would have been like to be in that time period? Just take a minute and put yourself in Peter’s shoes. Your first experience with Jesus is Him telling you to go back out and keep fishing. You are a fisherman by trade and have been out all night, what does this guy think he knows that you don’t? So you go back out to the lake, probably to prove this guy wrong, and wham! Nets so full that they are breaking. Later you see Jesus raise people from the dead, heal cripples who have never been able to walk in their lives, cast out demons, feed five thousand people, and get to listen to Him teach the word of God like nobody else. You spend three years of your life following Jesus seeing all of these miracles, and then one of your friends comes and betrays Jesus giving Him over to the Romans. You get so mad that you take out your sword and send a warning shot out by slicing a soldier’s ear off. Jesus turns to you and tells you to calm down and puts the guy’s ear back on. Now Jesus is taken in for questioning and you deny ever even knowing Him not once, or twice, but three times.

            Is this not the story of our lives? When we first meet Jesus we are amazed by all He has done and not really sure if it’s true. Then we dig in and see that Jesus is really this amazing healer and teacher who can do wonderful things in our lives. We follow Him by going to church and maybe even bible study or Sunday school, and then someone comes and points out a detail or something you haven’t thought of before, so you get mad. Then they keep poking and prodding, and life gets hard or scary and pretty soon you say “I don’t know that guy” or “I’m not even sure any of this story is true” or maybe even “it’s all a fake”. Seems a lot like Peter’s story doesn’t it. It’s a good thing that Jesus doesn’t disown us for our behavior. He doesn’t reject us when we treat Him like the all powerful iGod app that can be turned on and off. He welcomes us back time and time again from our stupidity and denial. No matter what we have done, or how many times we have denied Him. He runs to us even when we are far off like the father in the prodigal son story and will throw us a huge feast and party when we come home to be with Him forever! Our God is awesome!

“Although I was theologically certain, I was an obedience coward- no better than Peter. I could almost hear the cock crowing- this time for me!”- Clare De Graaf