Coffeeville First Baptist Church By Craig Baker, Pastor
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As dawn approaches, the full moon of Passover bathes Jerusalem, that ancient city of David, along with the mountains, valleys, hills, and plains surrounding it with the soft glow of its light. Last week we learned that earlier in the night the agony of Jesus had passed. The betrayer had come. The time was upon Him. Jesus had turned His face with resilience towards the cross. It was His destiny, but the night was far from over.
As the temple guards make their way through the city with their prisoner, the streets are just as still and quiet as they were when Jesus and the Apostles had made their way to the garden earlier in the night. After all, it was the night to observe the Passover meal, and most people are gathered in their homes with their families enjoying the feast. But the streets were not totally deserted, for two men, one close by and another from a distance, follow the precession of soldiers. As Jesus is brought into the courtyard of the high priest, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, who has been following close behind the soldiers enters the courtyard. Soon after the trial begins, the other man, a dark figure slipping through the shadows of the night, reaches the gate of the courtyard.
As the man makes his way through the gate, the servant girl catches a good look at him. She is sure she has seen him before, so she follows him to the place in the courtyard where the soldiers and servants have built a fire to warm themselves on this cool night. She continues to ponder the man’s identity until it finally comes to her. As if she has come to some great revelation she excitedly blurts out, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” The man cannot believe his ears. How could this servant girl have recognized him? Perhaps he has been hiding his face with a cloak or scarf. Regardless, he is found out. He must do something. For what will they do to the man who cut off the ear of one of the soldiers? The words came almost without thinking. “I do not know what you are saying.” His words pierce his heart. It is as if the words did not come from his lips. He is stunned by what he has just said and walks away for a moment.
As he approaches the gateway off to the side of the courtyard, he is shocked when another young girl standing nearby recognizes him and shouts for all to hear, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Again, his quick reply caught him off guard as if the words were not his own. “I do not know the Man!” His minds swirls with emotions and dizzying thoughts of disbelief at what he has done. To not raise suspicions, he returns to the fire. He must find a way out of here, but he dares not leave too quickly for fleeing at the words of a young girl would be a sign of his guilt. Off to the side of the courtyard some have gathered debating the identity of this stranger. After a few moments, their minds made up, they approach him, questioning and accusing, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.”
His Galilean accent has given him away. His mind races. What will he do? If he admits he is one of the twelve, they will surely drag him before the council to stand accused and condemned alongside Jesus? What will he do? They impatiently demand an answer to their inquiry. Cursing and swearing, he shouts, “I do not know the Man!” As those words roll off his tongue, the night falls silent. Off in the distance the faint sound of a rooster crowing can be heard. In that moment time stands still for this stranger in the courtyard, known to us as Peter, had just a few hours earlier so boldly and pridefully declared, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”
A flood of emotions overtakes Peter. Shame, guilt, pity, and anger assault him as he recalls the words Jesus had spoken to him earlier in the night. “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”
Peter must get away from this place. He can take no more, so he goes out. Perhaps he returns the Mount of Olives because it was there he had last experienced peace and solitude as he and the others slept. As the night begins to fade into dawn, if you listen closely, you can hear a sound piercing through the lingering darkness. It is the bitter weeping of the man who feels he has thrown it all away. He has denied Jesus; his Lord, his Savior, his friend. How could he ever recover from what he has done?
Peter’s story is a story of risks, failures, victories, denials, forgiveness, and renewal. It is personal for Peter is me. He is you. He is all of us. Peter’s story is our story for each one of us at some point will fail the Lord and hear in some way the rooster crowing for us. When that happens, Satan will tell us that we are finished, that we have no hope or future, but the Lord has promised our story does not have to end with our failures. Our story, like Peter’s, can be one of forgiveness and renewal for God’s grace flows abundantly to all who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
