"Personalities of the Passion – Peter the Denier"
Dr. Peter B. Barnes
April 13, 2014
(Mt. 26:31-35,57-58,69-75)
Introduction.
When my brothers and I were growing up, we liked to roughhouse and wrestle as brothers sometimes do.
Once when our parents were gone, my oldest brother Rob grabbed me from behind and pinned my arms behind
my back and began to try to run me into a wall in our kitchen. As we began to approach the wall with
increasing velocity, I did the only thing I could
think to do – I put my foot up to try and keep me
from plunging headlong into the wall and prevent
my face from getting smashed. It worked.
However, just as my foot hit the wall, it knocked a
hole in it.
When we realized what had happened, my
brother and I decided it would be a good idea to
cover the hole in the wall with a piece of bright
white typing paper. It was the perfect matching
color. And we thought, “Maybe mom will never
notice.”
And she didn‟t. At least not for a couple of
days. But then one evening when we were all in
the kitchen together getting ready for dinner, my mother began to notice that something wasn‟t quite right with
that wall. She walked closer to it and said, “What‟s this?” Then she pulled off the paper, and the shoe-shaped
hole was exposed. My mother was flabbergasted and sputtered out, “Who did this? How did this happen?”
My brother and I feigned ignorance, and we tried to escape blame. But eventually the whole story came out.
It was hard to evade the blame when the hole in the wall was the exact shape of my shoe. I don‟t remember
what happened to us as a result of that escapade, but I do remember what it felt like to try and deny I had
anything to do with it.
There‟s something in each of us that tends to live in denial on occasion. We‟re tempted to shade the truth in
order to save face or save our skin. Sometimes we find ourselves trapped in our own words, and we‟re afraid to
face the truth. We squirm and try to wiggle out any way we can in order to not own up to the reality of the
situation, or we deny we had anything to do with it. Jesus' disciple Peter was in just such a situation in the
passage we have read together this morning. Let‟s take a look at what happened to him and see what we can
learn about our own lives of denial.
I. The Over-Confidence of Peter.
"Then Jesus told them, 'This very night you will all fall away on account of Me, for it is written: "I will strike
the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered." But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into
Galilee.' Peter replied, 'Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will.' 'I tell you the truth,' Jesus
answered, 'this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown Me three times.' But Peter declared, 'Even
if I have to die with You, I will never disown You.' And all the other disciples said the same" (26:31-45).
If we look carefully at Peter's words in this passage, we discover that the disciple made 3 critical errors in
what he said. First, he was condescending toward the other disciples. Peter thought he was stronger than the
rest, better than everyone else, and he was convinced that whatever weaknesses may have existed in the other
disciples, they weren't a part of his spiritual framework. There are times when in an effort to prop ourselves up,
we look down on the faith of others, and we think we‟re better than they are. That‟s a great mistake, and it can
lead to our downfall, just as it did Peter.
Second, Peter thought of himself as the exception rather than the rule. “Others might fall away, but not
me,” he said. “I'm different, I‟m committed, I'm the rock, and what might happen to other people won‟t ever
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happen to me.” One of the lessons of this passage is that the follower of Jesus should never say “never.”
Rarely should we talk in absolutes, particularly when we‟re speaking about our spiritual ability. We‟re much
weaker and more fragile than we think, even when we believe our devotion is very strong.
The third error Peter made is that he contradicted Jesus’ own words. Even though Christ clearly said that
all would fall away, Peter wasn‟t willing to acknowledge that Jesus spoke the truth about him and that the Lord
knew better than he did. Whenever we come to the place where we think we know more than Jesus does,
whenever we contradict His Word and go against what He says, we‟re in for a rude awakening.
The painful irony is that, as we know, Peter, the disciple who exalted himself over all the others was the one
who, except for Judas, fell more deeply than everyone else. Over-confidence leads to pride, and pride comes
before a fall, as the Bible says. We‟re only safe when we replace the confidence which boasts in self with the
humility which knows its weakness and depends not on itself but on the help of Christ and His Spirit.
When Lorie and I were dating many years ago while we were in
seminary, I went out jogging one day. And on that run I began to
dream of all the things I wanted to accomplish for the Lord. I wanted
to make a difference, and I wanted to leave my mark on the world.
When I returned from the run, I shared with Lorie all my grand ideas
and the vision I had for my ministry. Then, with great spiritual insight
and wisdom, she said, "You know, Peter, the only vision you should
have for yourself is to be crucified with Christ." She was right.
The disciple Peter once walked on water. Jesus called him the
Rock. He was the first one to make the bold confession of who Jesus
was and say, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But he is
also the one disciple who denied the Lord on three occasions when
Jesus needed him the most. History is filled with examples of armies,
sports teams, political candidates, business tycoons, scholars, and
disciples of Jesus who have been overconfident, and the results have
usually been disastrous. In what ways do you struggle with
overconfidence, and how is God calling you to become more humble and reliant on Him?
II. The Three Denials Of Peter.
"Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard,
and a servant girl came to him. 'You also were
with Jesus of Galilee,' she said. But he denied it
before them all. 'I don't know what you're talking
about,' he said" (26:69,70). No disciple in
Matthew's Gospel was placed higher than Peter,
and almost no disciple fell lower. No one protested
their loyalty more insistently, and yet no one denied
Jesus more inexcusably.
The first denial occurred in the courtyard at the
home of the high priest. A servant girl identified
Peter as one of the followers of Jesus, and she
recognized him. But Peter responded by saying, "I
don't know what you're talking about." This
represents the most common way we tend to deny
the Lord – evasion, equivocation, or feigned
ignorance.
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The second time Peter denied Jesus took place when he retreated from the courtyard to the gateway of the
high priest's home. There another woman said to the people around them, "This man was with Jesus of
Nazareth." Again, Peter denied it, and this time with an oath, and he said, "I don't know the man." From
feigned ignorance, the disciple moved to sworn
ignorance, and now he refers to the One he called
the Messiah and the Son of God as simply "the
man." The taking of an oath was a violation of the
Jesus‟ words in the Sermon on the Mount, and it
reveals that the more we deny Jesus, the more we
will ignore His commands.
Peter's second denial had given him away, and
from his speech it was clear he was a Galilean.
People from Galilee had difficulty pronouncing
gutturals, and it was easy to pick out their accent
and where they were from – sort of like a thick
New England accent today. („Paaaaark your caaar
in the Haaaavaaard Yaaaard”). It‟s hard to hide
where you're from with that kind of accent. Once
again Peter was accused of being a follower of
Jesus; his accent had given him away. But this time not only did he swear that he did not know Jesus; he
actually cursed his Master's name.
From a mumbled protest of ignorance Peter moved to a vigorous public denial. At the very hour when Jesus
was making His great confession that He was the Messiah in the home of the high priest, Peter was out in the
courtyard of the same building making denial after denial.
In what ways do you and I deny Jesus in our everyday lives? How do we fail to own up to the fact that
we‟re followers of Jesus in the course of a given day? I think we deny knowing Jesus when in the locker room
at school or at the water fountain at work when people make crude comments and jokes, and we remain silent or
we enter in. We deny knowing Jesus on the weekends when we live one kind of life partying with our friends
and another kind of life when we go to church. And we deny knowing Jesus when in academic circles we hide
the fact that we‟re a Christian out of fear of what our colleagues might think or how it might affect our
possibility for advancement. Jesus said to His disciples, "If you do not acknowledge Me before men, I will not
acknowledge you before My Father in heaven" (Mt. 10:33). It is a sobering warning.
Jesus predicted in Matthew 10:17 that His followers would be tried in courtrooms of law for their belief in
Him, and indeed, that did happen. But most of the trials you and I face as believers, like Peter's, take place in
the more everyday life of courtyards when ordinary people ask us if we‟re one of Jesus‟ disciples. How does
your confession measure up?
III. The Bitter Tears Of Peter.
"Immediately the rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken....And he went
outside and wept bitterly" (26:74,75). I remember hearing roosters crow early in the morning in Jerusalem
when I was there a number of years ago. Our hotel was on the Mount of Olives, and looking out over the
Kidron Valley to the city, and hearing the roosters crow, I thought about this passage of Scripture.
The Romans and the Jews divided the night into four watches – 6-9 pm, 9 pm-midnight, midnight-3 am, and
3-6 am. It was between the 3rd and the 4th watches that a rooster usually began to crow. Peter felt that his
commitment to Jesus would last forever, but the Lord predicted that it wouldn‟t even last the night. And it
didn't.
When the rooster crowed, Peter remembered the prediction Jesus made, and it broke his heart. The text says
that he went out and wept bitterly. Whenever we come to realize just how badly we‟ve blown it with Christ,
there‟s a sadness that covers us, and we feel ashamed for what we‟ve done. Peter wept, and perhaps he
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wandered the streets of Jerusalem and replayed the sad events of the night over and over in his mind. Have you
ever had an experience like that?
Notice that the text says that Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him, and this led the
disciple to be remorseful. Whenever we contemplate the Word of God, whenever we consider what it has to
say to us, we come to see the truth, and it has a way of penetrating our denials and showing them up for what
they really are. Studying God‟s Word and thinking about what it says is one of the best ways we can come to
see our lives in the light of God‟s truth, and this can lead us to transformation. That road is often a road of
tears, but it‟s comforting to know that this same Word of God is the one that also promises forgiveness in Christ
if we‟re honest and come clean with Him. “Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.”
When I read this passage I‟m struck by the honesty of the
New Testament, and it makes me believe the Bible all the
more. If ever there was an incident one might have expected
to have been covered up, this was it. You‟d think that Peter
would want the gospel writers to eliminate this story because
of how bad a light it shows him in. Yet here it is.
The early church father, Papias, tells us that the Gospel
of Mark, which records this same incident with even more
detail than Matthew, was actually a record of the life of Jesus
which Mark learned from the preaching and teaching of
Peter. So it‟s an amazing fact that we have the story of
Peter's denial. The reason we do is because Peter himself
told the story to others.
Far from suppressing the incident, Peter made it an essential part of his story of faith. And he did so for an
important reason. Every time he told the story, he could say, "That is the way that Jesus can forgive a person.
He forgave me when I failed Him, and He can forgive you, too. If God can take a coward like me who denied
Jesus when He needed me the most, if He can use a person like me in His kingdom, then the Lord can use you,
too. My bitter tears led me to the foot of the cross. Let your bitter tears lead you to Jesus today too."
Wherever you have wandered, whatever you have done, you‟re not too far from the reach of God‟s love.
Return to Jesus today.
Conclusion.
Today is Palm Sunday, and we join with the children
in hailing Jesus as the coming King. We remember the time
when people spread the cloaks in the street and waved palm
branches as the Lord entered Jerusalem. It was an exciting
day for Jesus and His followers. Peter was in the crowd that
day, and he may have led the processional. He was as
enthusiastic as anyone in his support of Jesus. But later in
the week he found himself denying the same Lord he hailed
on Palm Sunday. It‟s easy for us to praise Jesus as King one
day and find ourselves denying Him later in week.
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This is a painting of Peter‟s denial I have in my office. A friend gave it to me years ago, and I keep it in my
office to remind me of just how easily I can praise Jesus one day and deny Him the next, just like my namesake.
I‟ve shared with you before that one of the major turning points
in my spiritual journey took place when I was a freshman in
college. I had given my life to Christ when I was in high school,
and I professed to be a follower of Jesus. But a friend pointed
out to me that there were things in my life which were
incompatible with a life in Christ.
Over a period of about 3 months, I realized I had to stop
doing some of the things I was doing, and I needed to change if I
wanted to myself a Christian. My life was a denial of Jesus as
much as the disciple Peter‟s was. That was a significant
crossroad for me, and my life hasn‟t been the same since. I‟m so
glad that God is a God of second chances, and even if we‟ve
blown it in awful ways in our relationship with Christ, like Peter
we can start over again and have a new beginning.
However, I‟ve also come to realize that denying Jesus
involves more than just the big ways we tend to blow it. It also
includes the little ways we deny Christ. Two nights ago Lorie
and I were at a restaurant in Spokane, WA, where I was attending
a board meeting. The place was packed, and we hadn‟t made a
reservation. So we had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. The
longer we waited, the more impatient we became, and I began to take out my frustration on her with my bad
attitude. (Have you ever done that? The person you‟re with isn‟t the problem, but you take out your frustration
on them anyway.)
Finally, a table opened up and we were seated. But as the hostess escorted us to the table, we saw a friend
and my whole mood and attitude changed. All of a sudden I was warm and friendly and patient, not in such a
rush to get to the table. It‟s like a switch flipped. We ended up talking to our friend for a half hour after we
ordered our meal and waited for our food to arrive before he left to attend a lecture.
Reflecting on that experience, I realize how easy it is for me to live my life in a way that contradicts the
very faith I profess. There‟s an incongruity to what I say I believe and how I act. My life ends up being a
denial of the Lord I say I love and follow. And the words of Jesus come back to haunt me – “Why do you call
me, “„Lord, Lord,‟ and do not do the things I say?”I‟m such a hypocrite sometimes, just like Peter. What about
you?
This holy week let‟s flee the temptation to deny that we belong to Jesus, and let‟s be all the more vigilant to
align our lives with the Lord we love and serve. Amen.