Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen, Indeed! Luke 22:54a; John 18:15a Then seizing Him, they led Him away and took Him into the house of the high priest. Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. (While all the other disciples had fled when Judas brought the temple guard and the accompanying mob to seize Jesus, only Peter and most probably John were brave enough to return to the shadows to follow their Lord to his destination. Instead of braving possible danger, we, too, often try to stay in the shadows as we walk out our testimony of friendship with Jesus.) Luke 22:54b; John 18:15b-16 Peter followed at a distance. (Already holding back, Peter begins to take actions that separate him further and further from the Lord. We, too, may begin to follow Jesus only at a safe distance so that we don't get too close to possible hardships or recriminations.) Because this disciple [the disciple accompanying Peter, probably John] was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in. (As a friend and partner in ministry, John, though younger, took the lead and paved the entry into the mission field, following Jesus, returned for his friend, and gained admission into a restricted and dangerous place close to the action and to highly possible danger and retributions for themselves.) Luke 22:55-56; John 18:17 And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. (Peter continues to take steps that separate him from Jesus. Like Peter, we can legitimize our actions by saying we need to meet personal needs, in Peter's case to warm himself from the cold. Like Peter, we can yield to our need for companionship when others have left us. Like Peter, however, we place ourselves in circumstances that may seem harmless, but, in reality, are dangerously compromising.) A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with Him." "You aren't one of this Man's disciples too, are you?" she asked Peter. He replied, "I am not." Luke 22:57 . . . he denied it. "Woman, I don't know Him," he said. (Now, Peter, having left the fellowship of his companion John, has aligned himself with those who are against Jesus. Now, peer pressure, a real influence on all of us, exerts its effect and causes Peter to deny his Friend to a mere servant girl.) John 18:18, 25 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself. Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. (Even after he had actually denied knowing Jesus to a complete stranger, to a mere young girl, foolishly, he remains among the same group of troublemakers who are against Jesus.) So they asked him, "You aren't one of His disciples too, are you?" He denied it, saying, "I am not." Luke 22:58-60 A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied. (Peter again betrays his friendship with Jesus and denies Him a second time, pushing himself still further from his bond with his Lord.) About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with Him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. John 18:26-27 One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with Him in the garden?" Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow. (What Peter had loudly argued would never happen only a few short hours before this time, he has now done, something he said he would never do. Depending on his own strengths and abilities, the prideful man has fallen, a graphic lesson to us that we have to depend on the Lord to keep us from straying into indifference or, even worse, into denial of the sure truths in which we walk in Christ.) Luke 22:61-62 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. (What a moment of truth and love. Even in the midst of His Own agony and suffering, the Lord was mindful of His friend. He knew the moment Peter denied Him and immediately turned His attention to Peter and looked at him. His look could have been one of accusation or resentment or disappointment or judgment. Rather, I think the Lord caught Peter's eye with an expression of forgiveness and love and mercy. He wanted to reassure Peter even in Peter's failure, just as He still reaches out to us when we fail Him today.) Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown Me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. (As soon as Peter made eye contact with Jesus, as soon as he heard the sound of the rooster crowing, he realized what he had just done and experienced great remorse and regret. Peter's immediate next step was to remove himself from the crowd with whom he had associated himself and to weep in repentance. He gives us a hopeful reminder that when we fail the Lord, not if we fail Him, but when we fail Him, we need to recognize and acknowledge our failure and make heartfelt repentance so that the Lord can convey to us His already provided and generous forgiveness.) Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen, Indeed!
