Predicting Peter’s Denial

The hard truth

Mark 14:27–31 NIV

“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: “ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.

A couple of weeks ago - I asked you the question of Judas - “If Jesus’ plan doesn’t line up with your plan, what do you do?”

This is the question of Judas and of course, he went with greedy plan. The betrayal plan.

But there are other options… and Jesus brings them up here.

-Scattered

-Disown

And of course… we all think - NOT ME. I would never. We have stance of Peter.

-But yet, you, even you, will fall away.

Can we start with the idea of the COVENANT.

What is a covenant?

Covenant is one of the major themes of the Bible and yet it is one that I don’t think many people completely understand.

God enters into covenant with humanity. One modern example of Covenant would be a treaty. It is a partnership through a promise.

-It was a common practice in the Old Testament world. Oath keeping was a big part of the society in the Ancient Near East.

Two parties enter into an agreement which (typically) both sides are expected to keep up their end of the agreement.

The old testament talks about the Covenant between God and Israel. What we often refer to as the “First Covenant”

-The God of Israel initiates a covenant and binds himself to his people.

Genesis 22:16–18 “and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.””

Hebrews 6:13–19 “When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,”

Then Israel responds with their covenant back to God.

Exodus 24:3–11 “When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.”

The will follow the ways of Yahweh, will obey, listen, be led by and submit unto him. Will follow the LAW… and this is important — circumcision will mark the devotion.

However - Israel didn’t even make it a few weeks of keeping the covenant. They made the agreement in Exodus 24 but started worshipping a golden calf by Exodus 32…

This is when Moses learns that the covenant doesn’t become null and void because of the people… for God has what’s called grace and mercy. It will be renewed as God wills it through his love for his people.

So worked into the covenant, is the idea of repentance but also that only one party would EVER keep the covenant. It wouldn’t be the people of God that keep the covenant, it would only be God himself.

There would still be consequences and fall-out from disobedience. Yet, and this is the KEY, God would find a way to KEEP BOTH sides of the covenant. It would be God himself that would not only keep his side, that was done. But there would be a NEW Covenant made for humanity in which God would uphold both sides of the covenant.

This is where Jesus comes in and honestly, this is what the passage is a window into. Peter’s denial and falling away, is a showcase into what God has done for us, keeping both sides of the Covenant.

Jesus says - You WILL ALL FALL AWAY but that he knows this, and the time will come when he will gather his people back.

“You will all fall away”

There’s nothing more discouraging and yet at the same time encouraging as Jesus - looking you dead in the eye and saying, You will fail me. You will fall away. But - I know it, and will gather you back up.

Yet- part of the reality of being human and a healthy reality is knowing you will fail and learning to grow from it.

I love coaching sports because of this exact reality. You literally can’t be perfect in sports. It’s impossible to always succeed in sports.

-In baseball - the best players — Hall of Famers get out 70% of the time. Success rate is 30%.

-In football - the best quarterbacks still throw double-digit interceptions on the year.

-In basketball - the hall of fame numbers, still miss more shots than they make.

And then when you are working with kids and youth, there are always players that are brand new to the sport. And I will hear a kid tell me, “Coach, I STINK! I’m so bad at basketball”

You know what I tell them? You aren’t bad, you are new to basketball. There’s a big difference between new and being bad. So embrace the new and keep growing.

This is what is happening in this passage and what happens in our life as we follow Jesus.

-We fail, we mess up, we often do that even more than we succeed.

-Sometimes it’s because we are new but mostly it’s because we are human.

Now this isn’t an excuse to just be a mess-up. This is just recognizing the reality of what we are working with.

-For if we go back to coaching. And the new player.

-I’ve been coaching 3rd and 4th grade basketball and the skill spectrum is all over the place. And the OFFICIALS are trained to blow the whistle and call kids differently based on skill level.

-If they see a player that clearly knows basketball - do a double dribble they will call it. However, if it’s a player that looks like he’s brand new, they will let it slide.

So it is true in life. Hopefully, we are on the pursuit of becoming more LIKE JESUS in our lives. We aren’t just going, since God gives me grace, and he upholds my side of the covenant, I can just keep double-dribbling. I don’t have to follow Jesus all that closely, for he will forgive me.

And this is where Peter’s posture matters. — while he may have been misguided to think he wouldn’t fall away - his heart is in the right place.

I DON’T WANT TO BE THE GUY THAT FALLS AWAY SO I WON’T BE!

Mark 14:29–31 “Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.”

This mindset is good but it’s also misguided because Good intentions only go so far.

All scatter and disown

Pause for a second. We’ve been talking a lot about us wandering. Us walking away, us being scattered and that’s clearly the theme of the passage. But let’s look at the verses again and see the WHY.

Mark 14:27 ““You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: “ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’”

Why are the sheep scattered? Because the Shepherd was struck. This is a traumatic event for a sheep to see their shepherd struck, and the natural reaction is to flee.

Let’s look at the prophetic utterance that Jesus is saying. He’s quoting a prophecy about the Messiah from

Zechariah 13:7–9 ““Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!” declares the Lord Almighty. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’ ””

There’s a lot happening here that helps us understand the Mark text today.

It is God himself that is orchestrating the death of the Son, the Good Shepherd. And the sheep will be scattered is not the problem of the sheep as much as it is the problem of the times.

However, and this is important - the sheep then turn into a few different groups of people. Some will be persecuted and destroyed. Others will be left to wander. The last will come out of the trial, the problem, the pain, and be the REMNANT — the people gathered again.

So in other words, it’s not the scattering as much as what happens next that matters. The shepherd is struck, the sheep flee as they are scared… but its the ones that walk through the trial and are refined that become beautiful like GOLD AND SILVER.

Which is why the Peter passage then goes on to show what? That Peter himself, will be part of the scattering and he will have 3 times to claim Jesus but will he?

-No, 3x he will say, I don’t know Jesus.

-Peter says, I am not scared of death. I will die with you!

-His intentions are good, but like a sheep, when the shepherd is struck, he will also scatter.

But the hope of the passage even here in this passage and the hope of both Zechariah 13 and the story of Peter, is that…

Jesus will gather again

Remember how Jesus upholds both ends of the covenant? He became man so he could make the covenant on behalf of humanity.

He now the perfect person, can actually uphold our side, and we only come to him. His perfection becomes our perfection.

His life becomes ours.

We come to God not because we have any claim on the covenant or the gospel. We fell short, we scattered, we disowned, we walked away. But Jesus did not. The covenant remains in effect because Jesus holds it for us.

This is good news… and it comes with the idea that we now can be gathered by Jesus into his family. Into his way, into his life, into his truth.

Mark 14:28 “But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.””

Means not a lot now, in this passage but when the disciples read it later and us now, this is Jesus saying… the sheep may be scattered, but I will gather them back up.

For those that want to come to me, the option is there, to be part of my fold.

This is when the Gospel of John picks up the story:

John 21:15–17 NIV

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

What’s with the sheep/shepherd language? Jesus is fulfilling the gathering part of what he said, you may be scattered, even you Peter, but I will gather you back up.

You can come back to the flock. But now, I want you to lead them. I want you to feed them. I want you to be a safe place for them.

I want you to literally pastor them.

Jesus asks him 3x why? Because each time was a moment of repentance for Peter.

He denied 3x times, he is reinstated 3x.

Peter not only fell away, was scattered, disowned, but Jesus gathered him back up.

What about for you? What’s this mean for you?

Altar Call.

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What does the concept of covenant mean to you in your personal relationship with God?

How can the realization that we will fail God at times help us to grow spiritually?

In what ways can we recognize and accept the grace and mercy of God in our lives?

What steps can you take to ensure you are following Jesus more closely, rather than falling away?

How does understanding Peter’s denial and subsequent restoration impact your own understanding of forgiveness?

In what areas of your life do you feel like you are struggling to keep your covenant with God?

How do you respond when you feel like you are 'scattered' or distant from God?

What practices can you put in place to help you stay connected to God during difficult times?

How can you support others in your community who may be struggling in their faith or feeling lost?

What does it mean for you to be a shepherd to those around you in your daily life?