Seeds for 02/27/2024 - Matthew 26:69-75

Scripture: Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.

But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Observation: Throughout the Gospel, Peter has served as a sort of spokesman for the Twelve, speaking up, going first, sometimes saying what others were thinking but reluctant to voice themselves. So, because he doubled down on his loyalty to his Lord, when the camera is not trained on Jesus himself this night, Peter’s scene brims with intrigue.

Peter’s denial gets more strident with each round of interrogation. He begins with an attempt at misdirection, intensifies to stating it on oath, and crescendos with curses and vehement denial. The evidence points right at him (“This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth,” “your accent gives you away”). Still he deflects and denies. As the truth encircles him, Peter lashes out.

When the rooster crowed, “Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken… And he went outside and wept bitterly.” It is as if Peter’s denial was as much a ploy to shield the truth from himself as from the bystanders who recognized him.

Is this not an illustration of our relationship to our own sin? We dodge, deflect, and deny as if we can kid ourselves. Like a child that covers his own eyes in order to hide himself from the sight of the parent, we play a game. We pretend that if we refuse to see, then we don’t have to its existence to ourselves or to God.

When the mirage is exposed, however, we can’t pretend any longer.

Peter “wept bitterly.” These tears of remorse are tough, but they need not be feared. They water the hard ground of a heart in denial, readying it for the Gospel of grace to take root.

Application:

• When have you had a hard truth you wanted to avoid acknowledging?

• What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?

Prayer: Lord, in your mercy lead me from the weightiness of denial to the lightness of grace. Amen.

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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