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Today we continue our look at the life and faith of the disciple Peter. Peter is a great role model for us because as much as we want to follow Jesus faithfully every moment of every day, we will fail. We don’t want to be a stumbling block, but there are those moments when we focus on ourselves and our own wants and needs and lose sight of what God is asking us to do and how Jesus is calling us to follow Him. Last week, Jesus had gathered His disciples in the region of Caesarea Philippi, which was about 25 miles to the north of the Sea of Galilee.
All of the stories we have looked at so far have taken place in the area around the Sea of Galilee and this is where most of the ministry of Jesus took place. But the final week of Jesus' life took place in Jerusalem. Jesus would have gone to the city several times during his life and ministry, but most of the stories we hear about Jesus in Jerusalem take place in the final week of His life.
Jerusalem is about 80 miles from the Sea of Galilee using modern day roads, but it could have been anywhere from 70-90 miles for those who walked in Jesus’ day. The journey would have taken several days and maybe longer if Jesus stayed over at people’s homes along the way. In Jerusalem itself there are many different places that we hear about. While we don’t know the exact location of these places, tradition and history gives us some insight on where they may have been.
This may have been where the last supper was held. This is where we think the Garden of Gethsemane was located because there are Olive trees that date back more than 2000 years that you can visit, and this is where we believe the house of Caiaphas the High Priest was located and this is the place where today’s story takes place.
We are near the end of Jesus' life and if you remember, Jesus was crucified during the feast of Passover. Passover was the celebration of God leading His people out of Egypt with the final plague of death. God had told the people to stay in their homes and put the blood of a lamb over the doorposts of their house so that the angel of death would “pass over” their homes and not take the life of anyone in their home. That night, the first born in all of Egypt died and it was only then that Pharaoh allowed God’s people to leave Egypt and travel to the Promised Land. Each year, God’s people celebrated their deliverance with a feast and a sacrificial lamb to remember how God had led them to freedom. Many people traveled to Jerusalme to celebrate the Passover.
Jesus traveled to the city with His disciples and He knew it would be during this Passover that He would be betrayed, beaten and crucified. Jesus came to the city knowing that He was going to be the sacrificial lamb who would be slain for the deliverance and salvation of the world. The night before He died, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples.
At the meal, Jesus not only showed His friends how much He loved them, but He also gave an example to his followers then, and us today, what love should look like. While all the disciples had gathered at the table for the meal, no one had been there to wash their feet and none of the disciples wanted to lower themselves for this rather disgusting job. So Jesus got up, took a towel and basin and washed the feet of His disciples.
We know this was uncomfortable for the disciples because Peter seemed to push back and tell Jesus that he wasn’t going to let Jesus wash his feet, but Jesus insisted. Then He said, I have given you an example of what love looks like. It looks like lowering yourself to serve others. Like Peter, sometimes it is hard to allow other people to serve us, but when we do we learn the power there is when we serve others. We only really understand the power of service in the lives of others when we are able to receive it ourselves.
Like many people, I struggle to accept help. I’m the pastor so I should be helping others and it’s hard to accept help when people want to give it. As many of you know, last year my Dad was diagnosed with cancer, was battling dementia and then ended up with an infection that caused a very significant delirium. I ended up needing to make many trips to CT and during those difficult few months there were so many people who stepped up and they didn’t offer help, they just helped. They didn’t ask if they could wash my feet, they just washed my feet. OK, they didn’t really wash my feet but they brought me food when I was in town, provided gas cards for my trips, covered for me while I was away and stepped into the gap in so many ways. Receiving care makes us understand the power of love and service when we offer it to others.
How are you doing on loving and serving others? In your marriage, are you taking the time to think of your partner first and meet their needs? In your family, how are you serving others? Are you setting aside what you want to do in order to fulfill the lives of others? How are you able to serve others at work or in the community? You may never know the power of putting someone else first, but it was one of the final acts of love Jesus gave to His disciples with a clear command to love and serve as He did.
Once He washed the disciples' feet, Jesus served them the Passover meal and when it was over He told the disciples that one of them was going to betray Him and that all the rest would fall away and leave Him. All the disciples assured Jesus that they would never desert Him, but Peter took it one step further. Peter said, Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. Matthew 26:33
Peter was throwing all the disciples under the bus saying, they may desert you Jesus, but I never will. He went on and boldly said, I am even willing to die with you. I’m sure Peter meant it in that moment - he was a faithful disciple, but as we have seen over and over again, Peter is faithful and yet flawed. Jesus tells him that before the rooster crows in the morning, Peter will have denied Him three times, but Peter says absolutely not.
A few hours later, the disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane where they had gone to pray. We see them beginning to fall away when Jesus asked them, begged them really, to stay awake and pray with Him, but they all fell asleep. Then Judas arrived to betray Jesus and hand Him over to the religious leaders. All of the disciples fled the scene so they wouldn’t be arrested with Jesus. While Peter also ran, he was bold enough to at least follow along behind Jesus in the shadows.
Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome. Matthew 26:57-58
If we go back to the map, we can see that this may have been the route that Jesus traveled from Gethsemane to Caiaphas’ house. What’s amazing about this location is that they have uncovered some stone steps in Jerusalem that lead to a location they believe to be the High Priest's house. (pic) These stones date back to the time of Jesus so it could have been this actual road that Jesus walked and then Peter followed behind in the dark.
While Jesus was being questioned by the religious leaders who were looking for any reason to hand Him over to the Romans to be crucified, Peter was going through his own interrogation in the courtyard.
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.
Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”
Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. Matthew 26:69-75
It’s really important for us to see what is going on here. Jesus is being questioned by the High Priest and they are falsely accusing Him of all kinds of things. During the questioning, Jesus remains either silent or gives honest answers. While Jesus is being questioned by the most powerful Jewish leader, Peter is being questioned by a servant girl, a person who has no power, no authority and no standing among the Jewish people.
As she questions Peter, he could have remained silent or been truthful and told her that he was a follower of Jesus, but he didn’t. He denied that he knew Jesus and each denial got more intense. First he said, I don’t know what you are talking about. Then he said, I don’t know the man (Jesus), and then he called down curses on himself and swore that he did not know who Jesus was. It was after this third denial that the rooster crowed and Peter knew that his faithfulness to stand with Jesus had turned to failure. All his bragging and boasting about how everyone else might fall away but he never would, turned into betrayal, brokenness and shame. Peter fled the courtyard weeping.
Faithfulness had turned into failure. Conviction had turned into cowardice. Boasting had turned into betrayal. Peter had come face to face with his own failure and sin and he is broken. He wanted to be faithful - he really did. He thought he could be faithful and stand with Jesus, but when it came right down to it, he had failed.
Most of us have been Peter at this moment. Most of us have felt like we would be strong in our faith and be able to stand with Jesus only to find ourselves failing to be who we wanted to be. Most of us have felt the shame that comes with failure and have been confronted with our own sin. It happens when we deny Jesus not so much by our words, but by our actions. Maybe we have stood silent when a joke was told that puts down a group of people. Maybe we have found ourselves being quick to judge others when God might want us to show grace and mercy. Maybe we have had to come face to face with the reality of our own sin and it has caused us to weep and want to hide in grief and shame.
Peter’s story is our story. It’s a story of great faith and faithful intentions, but the reality of being weak and broken. The good and faithful things we want to do we don’t do, and the things we don’t want to do we end up doing. This is Peter’s story. He wanted to walk on water, but took his eyes off Jesus. He wanted to follow Jesus as the Messiah but didn’t want to have to suffer or sacrifice like the Messiah. He wanted to follow Jesus to the death, but then shrank back in fear. His story is our story. Our denials and betrayals might look different but the results are the same. We deny Jesus and while this sounds hopeless and full of despair, it’s not the end of the story.
Stop and think about this story of Peter. It is found in all 4 gospels. There is great detail about who asked Peter these questions and what his response was. It tells us of the deep sorrow and shame Peter experienced when the rooster crowed. How do we know all this? How do we have this story in so much detail? It’s because Peter told it!
Next week we will see that this is not the end of the story for Peter. Forgiveness and restoration are coming, but why would Peter, the rock of the early church, the leader of the Jesus movement after Jesus was gone, why would Peter make sure this story would be included in all 4 gospels? It’s because Peter wants us to know the story. If Peter was here today, he would say, look, you think you have failed to be strong and courageous and faithful… let me tell you a story.
Peter made sure his story of betrayal and failure was told so that the world would know that no matter what we have done, there is always hope and redemption is always possible. Failure never has to be the end of the story.
Peter’s willingness to talk about his failure also teaches us that God can use our stories of failure to be an encouragement to others. If we can share our failures and success, our faults and our faith, we can give people hope and encouragement because we remind them that their failures are not final. Forgiveness is real and powerful.
Peter was a faithful and yet flawed follower of Jesus and yet Jesus made clear each step of the way that Peter’s failures would not hold him back. Jesus did use his boat to help spread the gospel. Jesus did call Peter to walk on water and do amazing miracles, and Peter did become the rock on which the church would be built. Even Peter’s greatest failure and denial of Jesus was not the end of the story but led Peter to a place of bold and undeniable faith.
Peter’s story is our story. God will use our gifts to accomplish His mission in the world. With our eyes on Jesus, we will do more than we ever thought or imagined. We can be the rock on which the church of Jesus Christ can be built and our testimonies of faith and failure can inspire and encourage many others. Let me close with a message Peter gave to the early church. It comes from 1 Peter 5 and this is from the translation called the Message.
Keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.
The suffering won’t last. The sin and faults and failures won’t last. God gets the last word and it is a word of grace and mercy and love. God will put us together and set us on our feet for good!
Next Steps
I Will Not Deny You!
Review the events of the Last Supper Matthew 26:17-36
How did the disciples begin to fall away in the Garden of Gethsemane? Matthew 26:36-46.
Why did they all finally fall away? Matthew 26:47-58
How do we see both Peter’s faithfulness and failure up until this point?
How do we see it in the rest of the story? Matthew 26:69-75
How is Peter’s story our story?
When have you wanted to stand firm in your faith, and with Jesus, and yet failed? What fear contributed to the failure?
We know Peter’s story because he wanted it to be told.
What stories of failure and redemption have inspired you?
How has God redeemed and forgiven some of your failures?
How can your stories of redemption be told to encourage and lift up others?
Peter’s message of hope for all of us:
Keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does. 1 Peter 5:9-11