MATTHEW 26 - SERIES NR 3
Theme : Simon Peter
Scripture : Matthew 26: 26 - 35; 69 - 75
If there is one part in the Bible which we always want to misunderstand, it must surely be this one: Peter who disowned Jesus.
We usually think like this: "Yes, Peter sunk terribly low, but fortunately he was spiritually good enough to have remorse. Fortunately he was just a little better person than Judas. The message for us: We must strive very hard not to do what Peter did. And if we should fail, we must try to have remorse like Peter".
However, if we take a closer look at this passage of Scripture, we make the surprising discovery that the Bible talks about Simon Peter in a completely different way. This morning, I invite you to make this discovery along with me.
The important thing which we must discover, is that in Peter's behaviour, it really is about Jesus' great work. And, through the great works of Jesus, He gave Peter hope, and he also gives us hope. See if you can discover that with me, and also become excited about it.
Perhaps you have never realized that one can actually become excited about a passage in Scripture such as Peter's-denial-of-Jesus. Never! Surely it is a depressing passage about sin and failure. It is a passage that makes one cringe with feelings of shame. Yes, of course it deals with sin and failure. But look carefully, and see what is actually happening here.
That which is written up front, is not Peter's denial. What is written up front is the way in which Jesus - before His disciples failed (Yes! ALL of them, not only Peter) - took precautions ahead of time to retain them all to the end - even if they should all failed completely. Peter's eventual restoration was due to the precaution Jesus had made even before Peter failed!! Let us look how it happened step-by-step.
When Jesus and His disciples were eating the Passover meal on the Thursday evening before He was crucified, He literally instituted a brand new Feast. In front of their very eyes, He gave the Passover meal a brand new meaning. He fulfilled the Passover in Himself!
Towards the end of the supper, Jesus took the unleavened bread and the wine, and He used it to signify His own death: "Do you see how I am breaking the bread and how I am pouring the wine? This is the way in which the passover lamb was broken and slaughtered, and this is how its blood was shed. Like this - as the bread breaks and the wine flows. In this way My body will be broken and My blood will flow. That is the real meaning of the deliverance of the nation out of Egypt of old, and thousands of years' celebration of the Passover. All of that pointed ahead to Me. And it will now, this night, be fulfilled. Then My blood will finally be shed. Therefore, the bread and wine will no longer be blood-signs. Thus, no more slaughtering of passover lambs. Yet you will still eat the Passover Lamb. Because by the bread and wine, you are eating Me - the Passover Lamb. This bread is My body and the wine is My blood."
Can you see how Jesus literally gave Himself together with the bread and the wine to His people - right inside of them - through the bread and wine they ate and drank and swallowed. This does not mean that the bread literally became the physical Jesus as believed by the Roman Catholic Church. The bread did not change to become Jesus' flesh. When Jesus said: "This IS My body", He was physically sitting at the table with them. The bread was not His body, it was ordinary bread, yet it WAS His body. What does that mean? It was a token of His broken body, just like Cape Town on a map IS Cape Town! We will point to a certain spot on the map and say: “Look, there is Cape Town”.
The COVENANT sealed by the blood of Jesus, of which He was speaking in verse 28, was the connection/permanent relationship with God that was restored.
The COVENANT is God's agreement by which He unites people with Himself - people who do not want to be united with Him and who do not deserve to be united with Him. His enemies. He unites Himself with His enemies and He reconciles their sins by giving His own blood, and consequently wins their hearts so that they can/want to repent and live in a relationship (united) with Him for all eternity.
But can you see: This connection cannot become to reality without a sacrifice, because man's guilt barricades the way. And the sacrifice removes the guilt. Therefore Heb 9:22 - without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Also notice two wonderful assurances one should not overlook.
In verse 28 Jesus said that His blood was to be poured out for "many". Not a few. Also not everybody. For many. As He says in John 10:11: "The shepherd lays down His life for the sheep ". You see: Jesus' blood has reconciled a particular group of people with the Father with 100% certainty: the believers, those who would truly come to faith in Him. The sheep. The elect. Those people whom the Father gave to His Son before the foundation of the earth was laid (John 17:2). They are the ones who were reconciled on the cross.
Is it not an amazing thought that - if I am a Christ-believer - I can know that my reconciliation-with-God will not fail in all eternity, because it is not something that I have to maintain. I am included in the "many" for whom Jesus went to the cross. He did not die on the cross just for everyone in general and is now watching to see who feels like accepting it. No - He reconciled ME (all the sheep) with the Father with full intention. It is an accomplished fact. It is secure. It is true. It is eternal. It is indestructible.
No wonder that Jesus - on that Thursday evening - could refer to the future with so much assurance! "The day when I drink it anew with you in My Father's kingdom". He was refering to the eternal togetherness on the new earth. But take note of the astonishing certainty with which the Lord was speaking. He was linking that little group of eleven people with the far distant future. That first communion-evening circumscribed the most distant future.
And that is and remains the assurance the Lord gives even today when He lets the bread and wine be handed out: "Nothing can separate you from Me. And nothing can separate you from one another. Until we drink the wine together - on the new earth”. Can you see how He strengthened Peter even before he could disown Him?
Just after the Passover meal and after Jesus instituted the Communion and after everyone sang a hymn together while filled with hope (26:30), Jesus' next words hit them like a bucket of icewater in the face.
"All of you (not only Peter) will this night fall away on account of Me. Within hours. As the Spirit prophesied through Zechariah centuries ago: 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee".
Jesus was saying: "Because you do not understand that/why I must suffer and die, you are all going to disown Me, and in that way, and for that very reason you are going to advance My suffering. Still, My suffering - which you are causing Me - will put right your wrongs and sins and inplacability with God. And all of it will happen exactly according to the Scriptures (OT). And it must happen, because the Scriptures say so. But look! You will not fall into despair. Because I will be resurrected from the grave by the Father, and I will go ahead of you into Galilee".
Do you see how Jesus - with His words/promises - made preparations for what was still going to happen! "Even though you are going to fail completely, I am announcing your victory now already! I do it. I will do it. I will not let go of My disciples who let go of Me! I even give you the PASSWORD, so that - when I am resurrected from death - you will know that it really is Me. The password is: GALILEE. Next week, after My resurrection, a few women will be witnesses of that, and they will again use the word GALILEE. Then, when you hear them speaking of GALILEE - you will know that their testimony is true.
Do you hear who it is that was controlling the entire process? Not Peter in his weakness, but Jesus, who knew beforehand that His sheep will wander around without a Shepherd, but mightily made preparations ahead of time so that they would be guided safely through their confusion. And He would lead. Before the disciples would flee and fall, Jesus would already have protected them from their despair afterward. And how did He prepare them beforehand? With words of promise.
One cannot help wondering: How would the disciples react to those words? Peter reacted immediately. But as soon as he opened His mouth to speak, he immediately began to fulfill Jesus' words. Exactly what he did not want to do, he did. He said: "Even if all fall away on account of you - I never will. I would rather die with You."
You see - it sounds sincere, and undoubtedly Peter meant every word, but in reality he was hardening his heart against Jesus' words. His denial of Jesus already began on that point where he relied on his own strength and devotion to remain standing - and took offence at Jesus' words.
And then Jesus said: "You who are the leader in devotion, you will be the leader when everyone starts to take offence. Within hours you will disown Me three times."
Jesus could put things in such a sharply radical way, because remember: He had already taken precautions. He had already promised Peter's restoration. He had already promised that the road would not be destroyed - that resurrection would follow death. That is why He could speak about sin - straight and direct.
There are very few places in the Bible where we can see our own indescribable weakness and frailty so clearly, as in Peter's behaviour that night when Jesus appeared before the Sanhedrin. Take note: It was only a couple of hours after Peter had passionately declared that he was prepared to die with Jesus. A few hours. And then Peter's strong commitment collapsed. And remember: ALL the disciples deserted Him and fled. Thus: this inherent weakness sits in all of us. Also in me. Also in you.
It is a fatal misunderstanding to think that we can keep ourselves "close to the Lord" by means of our choices/efforts/decisions/devotion/remorse/tears. Peter thought that he was totally committed to Jesus. That he was a deeply spiritual believer. But, at the first sign of opposition, his devotion fell apart. He was to discover only much later that what actually kept him standing was not his devotion-to-Jesus, but Jesus'-devotion-to-him. Jesus' promise of restoration - even before Peter's fall - saved him.
Did Jesus not say to Peter in Luke 22:31: "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you." Not Peter's promises to Jesus. But Jesus' promise to Peter. Not Peter's prayers, but Jesus' prayers. Precisely the suffering and death of Jesus - which Peter could not understand at that moment - was his salvation and preservation.
You see: The true "choice-for-Jesus" & "devotion-to-Jesus" is to focus on His choice for you/ His promise to you/ His suffering and death which saved you from eternal punishment. Our choice-for-Jesus is to hold fast to His choice for us - which He sealed with His own blood.
But, we should first learn to get to know our own weakness before we can begin to truly understand these things. We first have to know the absolute inadequacy of our own devotion, before we learn to depend/rely ONLY on Christs's merit.
And where do we get to know our own inadequacy better than to watch Peter? It is almost humanly unimaginable that Peter, mere hours after his passionate declaration of devotion to Jesus, AND after Jesus had told him that he will deny Him, that he literally walked into the danger zone with open eyes, and disowned Him. While there was no pressure on him. No danger. No ill-treatment. Even when the cock crowed for the first time after the first denial (according to Mark 14:68), it did not pull him up short. Jesus' words of earlier did not come back into his mind! He did become a little uncomfortable, because he leaved the courtyard and moved to the gateway. But when he denied for a second time that he had anything to do with Jesus, he remained where he was. You see: it gets easier - and much worse. Because he denied with curses and oaths that He knew Jesus.
At that moment the Lord used the second crowing of the cock to bring Jesus' words into Peter's mind. Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly he realized exactly what he had done, and what he had vowed only a few hours earlier would never happen! Shame and remorse overcame him. Not despair. Because he was supported with the words-of-precaution that Jesus had given him before. But shame-grief and remorse. Remorse because the Lord had forgiven him already before he sinned. The resurrection was a fact even before the crucifixion took place. Jesus would surely go ahead of Peter into Galilee! That is why he could repent and be forgiven.
How wonderful that the crisis in our lives - which we ourselves cause - does not mean the end of the Lord's reign in our lives. Ever and again we hear the words: "I am going ahead. I will find you on the other side. On the other side of your dark problem. The other side of your struggle and sorrow. Even the other side of your death."
Translated by Marthie Wilson