The Sheep Scatter

v. 31 After enjoying the intimacy of the Passover and the instituting of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus shares some shocking news with His disciples. He tells them that they will “all” be offended because of Him. In reading Matthew’s gospel we know that Judas will certainly be offended. He has already been revealed as the traitor. But Judas is not the only one of the disciples whose devotion questionable. Jesus tells the disciples that they will all be offended. The word “offended” means to “stumble, fall away from”. And it won’t be long before it happens. Jesus says it will be “this night”. And the reason that the disciples will fall away, Jesus says, is because of “Me”.

The disciples will be faced with the reality that all that Jesus has said about His coming arrest and torture is true. He has spoken about it continually but it just hasn’t sunk in. Because the disciples had not taken Jesus words seriously enough, they were not prepared for what was about to happen. When they saw Jesus get arrested and taken to jail, they reacted like cowards.

Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7. In this New Testament passage Jesus makes it clear that the prophet Zechariah was speaking of Him. Let’s break down what that verse means.

The smiting of the Shepherd refers to the arrest, torture and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. The Shepherd is obviously the Lord Jesus. The sheep of the flock can be viewed in two ways. When you read what Zechariah said, it’s clear that it refers broadly to Israel in general. However, Jesus narrows it down to emphasize specifically the disciple’s reaction to His being struck. “Scattered abroad” has a double meaning as well. In the broadest sense it refers to Israel’s rejection of Christ. Judgment would come to Israel for their rejection of Christ. After the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 Israel would become scattered as a nation. Here Jesus is focusing on the fact that the disciples are going to tuck tail and run different ways because of the cross.

v.32 One might think that if the disciples desert Jesus, it’s all over. Even if Jesus were to somehow come out victorious why would He want to use such cowardly men to do His bidding? One can see clearly the contrast between Jesus and the disciples here. Jesus, who should be afraid, faces His trial with courage. Note the courage and confidence with which Jesus speaks in verse 32. He speaks confidently of His resurrection “after I am risen”. Jesus faced death so confidently because He knew, in His omniscience, that He would conquer it.

Not only would Jesus rise from the dead, but He would continue to lead the disciples. He tells them that He will go before them and meet them in Galilee. After Jesus rose from the dead He sent instructions to the disciples to meet Him in Galilee at a designated place. Matthew 28:16 reveals that this did indeed happen. It was then and there that the Lord gave the eleven disciples the Great Commission. This is an important promise the Lord gives the disciples. It reveals that He will not abandon them. Christ and the disciples would be polar opposites. The disciples would run from the cross. Christ would march straight to the cross. The disciples would lose all hope because of the cross. Christ had perfect peace, knowing the resurrection was a reality. The disciples would disassociate themselves from Jesus, Jesus would stay faithful to them.

v.33 Peter doesn’t like what he is hearing. He speaks up and basically rebukes Jesus. he tells Jesus “You are wrong!” Let’s look at what Peter said.

*He said he was stronger than the others. He kind of throws them under the bus. He tells the Lord that the rest of the guys might be offended. Clearly Peter saw himself as the most committed of the disciples. His “is it I” from 26:22 has changed to “It can’t be me!”

*He said he would never be offended because of Jesus. Clearly Peter thinks too much of himself at this point. He is trusting in the power of the flesh.

* He tells Jesus he is willing to suffer the same fate that Jesus suffers. Peter says “though I should die with Thee” in verse 35. He is saying to the Lord, “Wherever you go I will go!” In Luke 22:33 He tells Christ that he is ready to be imprisoned and even killed for Christ if need be. Christ would soon be imprisoned and put to death. Peter told Him that he was willing to endure this with Him. This proved to be false. In the end however Peter would be both imprisoned and killed for his faith in Christ (John 21:18-19).

v.34 Jesus wastes no time in telling Peter that he will deny that he even knows Christ. In fact, he will do it before the rooster crows! Not only will he do it once, but he will do it three times. Peter’s denial would be a very small part of his life. The denial that results in Christ denying us is more than that. It is a continual rejection of Christ that springs from an unconverted heart (Matthew 10:33).

v.35 Peter is very bold in his self-righteousness. Even after Jesus tells him what will happen, Peter refuses to believe. He flat out contradicts Christ here. Jesus says, “You will deny Me” Peter says “No I won’t!” His boldness conjures up some boldness from the other disciples as well. hey all follow suit with Peter and declare that they won’t deny Jesus either. But Jesus hadn’t said the other disciples would deny Him. He said they would desert Him.

So we have Judas as a traitor, Peter as a denier, and the other 10 as deserters. Clearly what Judas did was the worst, but what Peter did was right behind that. Luke tells us something that Matthew doesn’t about this incident. He tells Peter that he is about to be attacked by Satan, before he warns him of the coming denial.

Luke 22:31-32 reads “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren.” Jesus calls Peter by his old name for a reason. His actions would soon be characteristic of a person that does not even know Christ. The same thing is done in John 21 where Jesus confronts Peter about his love for the Messiah. The fact that Jesus repeats Simon’s name highlights the seriousness of what He is about to say.

“Satan has desired you” literally means “Satan has asked/demanded for you.” What Satan did concerning Peter was the same as he did with Job. Satan must have the permission of God before he can touch any of God’s children.

Satan’s purpose was to sift Peter like wheat. The shaking process of separating wheat from chaff is what is implied here. God may sift us to get the bad out but Satan sifts us to get the good out!

Luke 22:32 Jesus encourages Peter by telling him that He has prayed for him. The specific thing that Jesus prayed for was that Peter’s faith would not fail. Basically Jesus prays that Peter will remain a loyal disciple. Of course we know that Peter denied Christ. However, in the end we know that Peter’s faith was proven to be real as he persevered in the faith.

Notice that Jesus says “when you are converted”. Jesus omniscience is revealed. He knew that Peter would return. The word “converted” means to “return”. Discussions on whether or not Peter was genuinely saved up until this point are useless. The seal of the new birth is the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13). The day of Pentecost would usher in the new covenant enabling believers to live the Christian life. This would not occur until after Christ’s ascension (Acts 2).

Jesus wastes no time in giving Peter an assignment. When Peter comes back to the Lord he is to strengthen his brothers. Peter is to encourage his brothers to grow in their spiritual life. Peter will become one of the most important leaders in the early church. His epistles are especially encouraging. They are filled with instructions in growing in grace as well as encouragement to hold on during trials. His sermon on the day of Pentecost would result in the salvation of three thousand (Acts 2:41). His willingness to stand firm in his faith was a great testimony as well (Acts 5:29).

These verses remind us that as believers we can live in a state of ignorance about our spiritual maturity. We can, and often do, believe that we are stronger than we actually are. Our spiritual lack is often revealed when the trials of life occur. And oftentimes, the more intense the trial, the more clearly we see our weaknesses. Certainly we will never face what the disciples faced. Christ will never be crucified again. But we do enter the valley and sometimes those valleys can be deep. In those days we discover things about ourselves that we do not like. Perhaps we see things in our hearts that we did not know were even there. It is our responsibility to deal with sin and strengthen our character when we recognize our deficiency. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that the Lord allows us to go through so many valleys. Too many mountain top experiences may lend to pride and a self-sufficient attitude.

Thank God for His grace. He continues to gather His sheep when we scatter. His rod and staff are indeed our comfort. Thank God we have a High Priest that continues to pray for us! When we do fall we can be encouraged that our failure can lead to strengthening and that strengthening can lead to new ministry opportunities.

Thoughts to Consider

1. It must have been a terrifying thing to see Jesus arrested and treated so brutally.

2. We don’t have to scatter when trials come.

3. Falling is inevitable for the proud.

4. We often do multiple times what we swore we would never do once!