Peter Disowns Jesus

Spiritual Sovereignty and the Human Experience…

Luke 22:54-62
54 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. 55 And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. 56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”

57 But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.

58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”

“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.

59 About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”

60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Jesus had told Peter that he would betray Him. I wonder if Peter knew the time was upon him. The time when he would denounce Jesus three times as the rooster crows. It must have hurt him.

Jesus forgave Peter, even as the words were being formed by his mind. For Jesus loved even His most bitter enemies, and He wept for them on His way to meet His destiny in Jerusalem. Jesus wept for His friend Lazarus before He brought him back from the dead. Jesus wept in the garden the night of His capture. Jesus cried out on the cross to His Father. Jesus wept for us.

As Peter agonized over his failure through denouncing knowing Jesus, I can imagine the pain. I would even say that I know it, because whether by word of mouth or by action, I am certain that I have denounced Him in my life as well. For those I repent. For those I am forgiven.

You see, Jesus is my Lord and Savior. He hung on the cross for me and He died for me. He died so that I would not have to carry the heavy yoke, for it could very easily break my back. Instead, He took the yoke from me and carried it to its death with Him. Then He turned to look at me and saw my heart, not my action, not my sin, not my failure. My heart.

When He rose again, he asked for Peter specifically. He knew Peter’s pain and anguish. As he knows ours. He knew Peter’s heart, as He knows ours. He forgave Peter, as He forgives us.

Now, forgive yourself and forgive others. Jesus Saves! Thank you Jesus Christ. Thank you!

Amen.
DK