(Text and Audio)
Title: The Denial of Jesus, Part Three: The compound nature of sin, and the point of the whole story.
Today we reach the third and final installment of our series covering Peter’s denial of Jesus. Two weeks ago, we considered the question of whether or not Peter’s denials were pre-meditated, a reaction of the flesh, or something else entirely. Last week we spent some time looking at the parallel accounts of all four Gospels and identifying some “Unique Contributions” that each of the Gospels bring to light.
Today’s message will be a bit more brief, and it will focus on the compound nature of the three denials.
(read/pray)
- The First Denial: A Simple White Lie
There are many sound reasons for Peter to initially deny Jesus: he’s scared, he had a moment of weakness and was caught off guard by the question. Justin Perry and I even had a conversation a few weeks ago discussing the possibility that maybe Peter had prepared himself to lie, because he was there to try to protect Jesus, operating as a double agent, and would have said anything to not blow his cover.
I was watching a television show not long ago where a local politician was getting frustrated by her inability to get an old abandoned lot in her city filled in with dirt. The lot was originally supposed to become a condo development but after digging the holes for the foundation the company went bankrupt and this lot was just a big pit in the middle of residential neighborhood. It had become not only a nuisance to the community but a danger to the residents.
So this politician fought nobly and did everything by the book, to just simply get this pit filled it so it was no longer such a dangerous eyesore. Even though she was a life-long politicians she was shocked by the red tape and hangups that had kept this relatively simple task from taking place.
At this point a good friend of hers, the city engineer gave her a very telling piece of advice. He said to her: Sometimes it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Just fill the pit, hire the excavators, and when people start asking questions, just apologize and play dumb, say it must have been a misunderstanding. What is the city going to do at that point? Spend even more money to turn it back into a pit?
I wonder if Peter had this methodology in mind when he entered the courtyard of the home of Caiaphas? I wonder if Peter was fully prepared to be deceptive, and justify it by stating the “greater good” was at stake.
Of course we know, and even Peter would later come to know, that the events involving Peter that night were so much bigger than Peter, or his safety. It was a moment that would resound with the Church until this very day. We would see the full weakness of human depravity, which would set the stage for the full display of God’s mercy.
2. The Second Denial: Taking an Oath
-v72 Not only does Peter deny, he does so with an oath, compounding his sin. Consider two passages:
Numbers 30:2
If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
This was part of the Jewish Law that Peter grew up understanding. It was Peter’s way of saying, “Jew to Jew I promise you I do NOT know this man!” (Perhaps the weak equivalent would be lying while under oath after pledging upon the Bible, or saying, “I swear on my mother’s grave”)
Unfortunately, the indictment against Peter goes even deeper than that, however. Because Peter, just some two years earlier, was present when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. Peter was present when Jesus said this to the masses about oaths:
Matthew 5:33-37
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
3. The Third Denial: Cursing and Swearing
It’s amazing who and what we can become when we feel backed into a corner, isn’t it? If we feel threatened, often this is an opportunity Satan uses to “bait” our flesh and allow the worst of what we are to be on full display.
It’s not necessarily who we really are, but it is who we are in that moment. We can’t simply wash it away and pretend it didn’t happen.
A couple weeks ago during the Ohio State/Michigan game, OSU missed a FG late in the game and I was sure we had just lost the game. I was watching in my bedroom, and both my children were there. When the kick sailed wide left I jumped up, spun out of my chair and just walked over and stared out the window. It was taking everything I had not to lose my mind. The kids were dead quiet, waiting to see what I’d do or say. I just kept saying to myself, “This moment is greater than your anger, it is the very witness of Christ in you to your children.”
So I took a deep breath and said, “Well, thhhhhhhhhhhhhh”
We must consider soberly the power of our tongues, what a little thing can make such a huge difference. James talks about this famously in this passage in
James 3:1-5
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
(What’s the similarity in the three illustrations James gives us here?)
Close:
What’s the Point?
What do you think the lesson was here, both for the apostles AND the early church, and us?
- Despite our best efforts and our best intentions, we will fail our God.
- His Mercy, creates our (eventual) perfection. Our perfection does NOT earn his mercy.
- He not only restores us, but our moments of weakness become beacons of hope for future generations.