Topic: ‘Denial and the Denier’:
Text: “Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times. Peter said to Him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you!” (Matt. 26:34-35).
EXPOSITION:
To deny somebody is to disclaim or disown the person, to claim not to have a relationship with him/her. This is what Peter, Jesus’ right-hand man and foremost disciple did to Him. You can imagine how painful and embarrassing this could be. But was Jesus embarrassed? Not at all, He foreknew what Peter would do.
Peter was so full of himself that he said even if it would require dying with Jesus, he would do that than to deny Him. But his boasting ended up being an empty one, He ‘chickened out’ and denied his Lord and Master not even once, but at three successive times. What a tragedy!
There’s a lesson here for us to glean. Perhaps Peter could have asked that Jesus pray for him that his faith would not fail rather than being boastful, relying on his human prowess, forgetting that ‘the arm of flesh can fail’. We need to call to mind the admonition of Paul in 1 Cor. 10:12, “…let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
It is better to rely on God’s strength when our faith is being tried and tested than to lean on our strength which may fail because it is frail. Consider the admonition given in Prov. 3: 5-7a. May the Lord stand by us and strengthen us so that our faith will not fail in times of trial. Amen.
Prayer:
Lord, I admit that I am weak, but you are strong; in my weakness Lord, cause your strength to be made manifest in me; let your grace be sufficient for me so that I would not fail when trials come, in your name I pray. Amen.
