Failure met with Grace

Every story has two sides to it, and the story of Peter's denial of Jesus is no different. Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him three times before the rooster crows. And of course, Peter boldly refuses to believe Jesus; in fact, he argues the opposite, saying that he (Peter) would never do such a thing, and he was willing to die. This story is an acknowledgement that we as people are flawed creatures who fail, and as we will see, it ends in grace. But when you look at it from Peter's point of view, it is a tale of heartbreak, shame, and failure.

Matthew 26:30–35 “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.”

We can see that this story starts off in Matthew 26:30-35. Jesus is preparing his followers for what is about to happen. Soon, Jesus will be betrayed. And then he will be arrested and then put to death. And in this conversation, he tells the disciples that they will be scattered out of fear, more or less (v.31). At least this seems to be the main idea in the text that we can see. As Jesus is telling everyone this, Peter states that he will follow Jesus even to death that night (v.33). Just let the weight of what Peter stated sink in for a moment. Then Jesus gives Peter the bad news, the bad news is that Peter will deny Jesus three times before the rooster crows (v.34).

Question: How many of us can relate to Peter in boldness, just to have it not work out?

Matthew 26:69-75

Matthew 26:69 “Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.””

Matthew 26:70 “But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.””

(v.69)

This is after the trial of Jesus with the high priest, and emotions are still high as one can imagine. Peter is standing there, I can imagine trying to process exactly what is going on and what is happening as it unfolds in front of him. And then suddenly a servant girl walks up to him and says Hey, you were with Jesus in Galilee (v69). And then what happened next would be the impossible, according to Peter. He denied knowing Jesus for the first time (v.70).

Matthew 26:71 “And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.””

Matthew 26:72–73 “And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.””

(v.72-73)

I want you to pay attention to this part where Peter did not just deny Jesus, but he swore with an oath, saying he did not know the man. A way that I could put this is to where we could understand it in our context, it's like swearing on your mama's grave. Have you ever done something like that? Or saying, “I swear on a stack of holy Bibles?” The point is that there is a level of Intensity that has changed. It isn't that Peter is just simply denying Jesus, but he's telling the crowd that I swear to you that I don't know him. And I realize that there is a big cultural difference between our culture and ancient Hebrew culture because in the ancient Hebrew culture, when you swore something, you meant it, it was like it was your absolute word, and your word was everything back then.

Matthew 26:74–75 “Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.”

(V.74-75)

And then for the last and final time, we see that Peter denies Jesus again, but we see it again, a leveling up if you will, of he says basically, if I know him, then let something bad happen to me, he invokes curses upon himself. And then, after doing that for the final time, the rooster crows.

Then we are left with Peter crying bitterly. To be honest, I really feel bad for Peter. In a way, he messed up, and he knows it. This is not just an average kind of mess up, no, this is the kind that makes you question everything about yourself.

Question: Is there a time you missed the mark?

This may bring a different question, like why did this have to happen to Peter? Well, the long and short of it if we think about how bold Peter was and made some bold claims on his own power. It is quite possible that Jesus felt he needed to be humbled. And to be honest, this isn't too far off from what we see in Scripture, where individuals get too brazen and they become overconfident, we see that God intends to Humble people. The next set of questions it leaves us with is Where do we go from here? Well, the good news is that it is not where the story ends by a long shot.

John 21:15-17

John 21:15 “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.””

John 21:16 “He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.””

John 21:17 “He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

We see in this passage that Jesus asked Peter many times a simple question: “Do you love me?” And each time, Peter responded in the same manner with a simple yes. Now, there are a couple of theories as to why Jesus asked Peter three times. And when out getting too much into the debate on the issue, the simple answer or the general consensus is that Peter was allowed to profess his love for Christ to restore himself from the rejection that he had given.

In other words, Jesus extended grace and followed up with forgiveness. Some things that is worth noting is that Jesus did not do this for His benefit. In fact He knew what was going to happen before it did. He knew that Peter was going to deny Him. That means that Jesus did this for Peter’s benefit. Just take a second to think about it. Can you just imagine how Peter felt? He just told Jesus before that he was willing to go all the way, even to the point of death. But instead, he backed out of fear of what would happen to him.

So, what can we learn from these passages of scripture? First, we must choose our words carefully and mindfully, not carelessly. Words are powerful; they bring life into someone, or they can break down. Next, do not be overconfident in your own power, remembering that as things play out in life, we have little to no control over some things. Third, you are going to fail; that is a fact. Use it as a learning tool, grow from it. Life is something we are all trying to figure out as we move through it. Do not be afraid to own up to your pitfalls. Finally, when you do fail, you will be met with grace that is followed up with forgiveness from God, just like Peter experienced. And just like Peter’s story, your story does not end with failure; it begins with restoration.