Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

Drinking the Cup--The Denial

Peter was ready to face anything for Jesus Christ. Or so he thought. Perhaps he thought that he had endured the worst of his trials with Christ in the Garden. He had impulsively drawn his sword, slicing through the air until his mark lopped off the ear of the high priest's servant. None of the other disciples had acted so courageously. Peter stood alone.

Pumped by his gladiatorial act, Peter made his way to the courtyard of Caiaphas, the high priest. But something happened in the darkness of that night that made Peter’s heart turn to water. His heart was laid bare by the words of a slave girl. He did what he said he would never do: deny Jesus Christ. In the Denial, we learn that lurking in the shadows of every soul is the capacity for denying Jesus Christ.

Jesus had made it clear what he was about to do. His face was set on the cross, which had been his destiny since before the foundation of the world. Our Lord was offering himself as the Lamb of God—the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins. He would be buried in a borrowed tomb and rise from the dead three days later. This was Christ’s mission. It’s why he came. He made that clear. But Peter thought he knew better. He dared to protest. He thought Jesus needed to be corrected. This was nothing new for Peter. He had previously argued with the word of the Lord, thinking that his own judgment was clearer than that of Jesus Christ.

On a previous occasion Jesus met with his disciples at Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16). He had some questions for them. “Who do people say I am?” Responses ranged from John the Baptist to Elijah, to Jeremiah or one of the prophets. “But who do you say I am?” Characteristically, Peter spoke up. “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” After pronouncing a blessing on Peter for having received this revelation from God, Jesus went on to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised (v. 21).

But Peter treated the word of the Lord lightly. Matthew tells us, “And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’” What impulsiveness! What foolishness for a mere mortal to cast aside the word of the Lord! Jesus’ reply is startling, for it shows the devilish foundation for such a casual treatment of the word of the Lord. “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man’s” (vv. 21-23).

We’re aghast at Peter’s behavior, but aren’t we a lot like him? When we read or hear the word of the Lord, do we quickly lay it aside or think it only applies to others? Sure we do. When we do that, we are daring to look in the face of Christ and say, “Not so!” When the Word of the Lord turns everything in our lives upside down and He exposes the error of our thinking in relationship to Him, we often respond the way Peter did. We resist what the Lord says. We turn aside to follow our own opinions. When God’s Word confronts us, we use “creative hermeneutics” to take the heat off ourselves by giving it another meaning. We are all vulnerable to this practice. If we are going to make a stand for Christ, we must give attention to the deceitfulness of our hearts and avoid treating the Word of the Lord lightly.

Leave a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.