But Then, You Stumble

John 18:25-27 Peter was standing at the fire, keeping himself warm. The other people said to Peter, “Aren’t you one of the followers of that man?” Peter denied it. He said, “No, I am not.” One of the servants of the high priest was there. He was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. The servant said, “I think I saw you with him in the garden!” But again Peter said, “No, I was not with him!” As soon as he said this, a rooster crowed.

In just a couple of days we’ll be commemorating that terrible day, “Good Friday”, when Jesus was nailed to that Cross for all to see. How could that possibly have been allowed to happen?

It was a shocker of a day. An innocent man, who’d only done good, had nails driven between his radius and ulna at each wrist, between his Achilles tendon and fibula in each leg, to be hung to die by suffocation as, over many hours, his intercostal muscles lost their ability to expand and contract.

Why didn’t his friends stand up for Him? Why didn’t they appeal boldly to the Roman governor who in the end found no case against Jesus? After all, the Apostle Peter swore to Jesus, “I’m ready to die for you!”

But Jesus answered, “The truth is, before the rooster crows, you’ll say three times that you don’t know me.” Hmm.

John 18:25-27 Peter was standing at the fire, keeping himself warm. The other people said to Peter, “Aren’t you one of the followers of that man?” Peter denied it. He said, “No, I am not.” One of the servants of the high priest was there. He was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. The servant said, “I think I saw you with him in the garden!” But again Peter said, “No, I was not with him!” As soon as he said this, a rooster crowed.

The sound of that rooster must have been like a dagger to Peter’s heart as he recalled the Lord’s words. That’s the dagger of our failure. That’s the dagger of our sin. But hang in there … the good news is coming.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.