Articles
I Do Not Know This Man
The pressure on Peter must have been enormous. The other apostles had fled in fear at Jesus’ arrest, but Peter and “another disciple,” presumably John, followed the mob that arrested Him and gained entrance to the palace of the high priest (Jn 18: 15-16). There Peter entered “the valley of the shadow of death” as the pressure gradually increased on him to affirm or deny his affiliation with the accused before the Sanhedrin.
Just earlier Jesus told the disciples that “all of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night …” (Mk 14:27). But as noted in last week’s bulletin article, Peter passionately insisted that Jesus was wrong; he would never back away from the Lord under any circumstances: “Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be … If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Mk 14:29-31). And now the moment of truth had come.
It was dark and cold; a flickering fire warmed the huddled figures standing watch. The flames, however, could not comfort Peter’s mind. Jesus had told them repeatedly that He would “suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed …” (Mt 16:21), but they did not grasp the real meaning of His words. Nonetheless, the sham trial was unfolding inside and people began to speculate that Peter’s Galilean accent identified him as a follower of Jesus. As the attendants questioned him, Peter’s fear began to spike. The accusations didn’t come all at once; they washed over him in waves incrementally ratcheting up the pressure. Finally when it appeared that he had been outed, “He began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know this Man of whom you speak!’” (Mk 14:71). Most poignantly, “the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ Then Peter went out and wept bitterly” (Lk 22:61-62).
It is hard to fathom the horror that overwhelmed Peter when he realized what he had done. Regardless of his good intentions to stay near the Lord in the crisis, regardless of his self-justification to lie, the end result devastated his conscience. Satan had crafted a scenario that Peter didn’t foresee when he insisted that he would never deny the Lord, and that devious scheme now bore its rotten fruit. Which leads us to … ourselves. How and when might we be persuaded to echo the words of Peter, “I do not know this man”?
“Soft” denial. A subtle way of denying Jesus is to claim to be a disciple of His but fail to follow His teaching and example. It is easier to offer lip-service to noble truths and principles than to actually put them into practice. When we become “disciples” of the Lord, we commit ourselves to something deeper than casual or occasional interest. We’re not just pressing the “Like” button or becoming a “fan.”
The extreme terminology of death and rebirth is used to describe the not only the process of spiritual regeneration but our entire thought process and values: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life … Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Rom 6:4, 6).
The “new man” that rises from baptism begins a lifetime of devotion that seeks complete transformation of the attitudes, character and lifestyle of a true follower of Christ. When we “soften” that commitment we are in effect saying that we don’t know Jesus as well as we claim to. This is a denial of laziness or indifference, but a denial nonetheless.
“Social distancing” denial. This kind of denial is more active and conscious. It is born of shame or embarrassment that comes from an unpopular association with Jesus. Thus we “social distance” from the Lord, we downplay our spirituality so that we don’t appear to others to be a hard-core devotee of Jesus. This can take many forms:
P Ashamed to mention your religious beliefs to others. We may be in a carnal environment – school, work, etc. – and something is said or done that clearly indicates a disdain for religion in general or Christianity in particular. We may fly under the radar and blend with the crowd.
P Actually participating in some sinful activity because we do not want to be a “wet blanket” on our associates. We might rationalize this by some noble outcome – like wanting to retain influence with the group so that we can teach them sometime down the road. But engaging in worldly activities is an extremely poor foundation to lay in the hope that you can study the Bible with someone later.
Jesus said without caveat: “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Mt 10:32-33). We need to think carefully about the Lord’s words and make sure that we believe them100% and are seeking to comply with them in every circumstance. NO outcome is worth denying the Lord in order to achieve it.
“Flat” denial. This is where Peter ended up by the fire in the courtyard of the palace. Secularists can be threatening, harshly judgmental, condescending and humiliating. When we see the powerful, popular and successful verbalize their disdain for religion or even denigrate Christ, it can be intimidating.
Institutionally, our country is heavily humanistic. Universities, the media, Hollywood, science and major corporations – the prime shapers of culture – have created a monolithic social structure that is overwhelmingly secular: professors, degree instruction, seminars, research grants, websites, TV shows, movies, magazines, music, news, documentaries, museums, publishing, sports, etc. In the face of these powerful influences far too many unsuspecting young Christians are embarrassed by identification with Christ, enamored with the allure of naturalism and stripped of their faith. They no longer believe in Him. The world’s deception can make Christ seem awfully small.
As we asked last week: How well do you know yourself? Are you determined that you will never deny Christ in any context? Peter thought he was, but he found himself wanting in the moment of truth.
