Midweek Lenten Service 3

6-3-2013

Pastor Lester Priebbenow

The Denial and the Dilemma

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.

last Sunday night's ABC 'Compass' program entitled, "A Farewell to Benedict," spoke about the challenges faced by Pope Benedict's successor and made the comment, "The ... Church's vision of itself as the visible presence of God in the world often contrasts starkly with the all-too-human failings of its members."

 

That's nothing new, is it? The perfect work of Jesus as God's visible presence in the world also contrasted starkly with the all-too-human failings of his disciples. And we probably don't need reminding of the fact that the real presence of Christ in our own lives also contrasts starkly with the all-too-human failings of our own natures.

We can read about Peter's denial in the courtyard on the night of Christ's arrest and easily overlook his dilemma; the inner turmoil that tormented him; the struggle between his boldly-confessed faith in Jesus and the all-too-human failings of his human nature. Peter's love for his Lord had led him to draw the sword in his defence, but this same love, mixed with the desires of his human nature, led him to follow Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest's house, even though Jesus had instructed his disciples not to follow that night.

Peter's plan now would be to remain undetected by two different sets of eyes; the eyes of Jesus whose commands he was disobeying and the eyes of the crowd who might do to Jesus' disciple what they were doing to him. Peter's love for his Lord was mixed with – and doing battle with – the 'all-too-human failings' of his sinful nature.

Peter, who had once left everything to follow Jesus, remained outside attending to his own comfort; 'warming himself' by the fire.

Peter, who in the garden had stood up in Jesus' defence, now sought to blend in with the crowd. He 'sat down with them' in the hope of not standing out as a disciple of the Jesus –already denying his Lord by his actions before a word of denial was spoken.

Peter, who had once vowed to die with Christ – and meant it - now defaulted to his natural instinct for self-preservation. When recognized by the servant girl as being 'with him' (Jesus), nothing but a muffled denial came from his feeble lips, saying, "I don't know him!"

When a man standing at the fire also identified Peter as a disciple of Jesus, he again quietly denied it, "Man, I am not," trying to avoid any further attention being drawn to himself.

A whole agonizing hour passed for Peter, mixed with concern for his Lord and his concern that his identity remain unannounced. Then the matter surfaced again. The third accusation was stronger than the first two. It began with an oath: 'certainly' or 'truly'; followed by an accusation: 'this fellow was with him'; and a piece of evidence: 'for he is a Galilean'.

As Jesus stood inside, silent in response to the false accusations levelled against him, Peter sat outside denying the truth, saying, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" As Jesus stood inside willingly accepting the lies and punishments of his accusers, Peter sat outside using lies to avert his own punishment.

Peter avoids being arrested but is nonetheless convicted – by the sound of a rooster crowing, by a look from his Saviour as he is led out of the courtyard, and by the memory of his Saviour's words, "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times."

He had tried to hide but Jesus knew he would be there all along. He had gone there out of concern for his Lord but had ended up caring more about himself. He had wanted to defend his Lord but had ended up denying him. He had simply wanted to escape detection but, in doing so, the sinful condition of his heart had been fully revealed. And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Isn't Peter's dilemma also our dilemma, as Paul described it in Romans 7: I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. We do make big sacrifices to follow Jesus, but then we find it so easy to invent noble sounding excuses for disobeying our Saviours commands.

We boldly stand up in defence of our Lord but are also often more content to 'warm ourselves' around the fires of our own desire for comfort, or 'sit down with the crowd'. We don't want to stand out as disciples of Jesus and risk ridicule and rejection from others.

We genuinely make and renew our confirmation vow to be 'faithful unto death' and yet also find ourselves denying our Lord by our decisions, our actions and our words.

Even the boldness that causes us to confess Christ openly before our fellow Christians so easily melts to cowardice when called to confess him before the world.
We miss the main point of this passage, however, if it becomes more about Peter (and about us) than about Jesus. We can't separate what was happening outside in the courtyard of the high priest from what was happening inside the house. There, Christ was choosing to own the denials of Peter and all the sins wrought by his human nature, my denials, all the sins wrought by my human nature and those of all mankind, as his very own. He was choosing to take them to the cross and the grave for us so that we could be free from their guilt and their consequences.

The events that were happening in the house of the high priest and in the courtyard of the high priest had both been foretold by Jesus: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times," and "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law" (Luke 9:22). Now both of these prophecies were being fulfilled according to God's plan of salvation.

When the rooster crowed in the darkness of Peter's hour, it was not simply to convict Peter of his sin, but to announce the new dawn of God's forgiving love, which rises on wretched sinners so convicted.

When the eyes of the Saviour on his way to the cross looked at Peter, the look of reprimand or reproach was balanced by a look of merciful redemption. The look that led to repentance is also a look that promised restoration. Although Peter 'wept bitterly' in disappointment over his all-too-human failures, he could again learn the love of his Saviour and the wonder of his forgiveness and restoration.

And so can we! Thanks be to God, that whenever we reflect on the wretchedness of our own human nature and the things of which it is capable – even as beloved disciples of Jesus – we can also know the victory of Jesus who took our nature, our sin and our punishment upon himself in order to forgive, strengthen and restore us as his disciples.

It is truly a miracle of grace that God chooses disciples with our 'all-too-human failings' to be his visible presence in the world. It has always been so; and will continue to be so until all is made perfect. God chooses to work with us, through us and even in spite of us.

In response to his love, acceptance and forgiveness for our 'all-too-human failings', let's seek to live in the victory and strength of our Lord; and to love, trust, confess and defend him even more boldly before the world. Amen.