Luke 22:54-62 - Disowning Jesus

22:54-62

Jesus was seized and taken to the high priest’s residence. The arrest of Jesus was at the instigation of the religious leaders, not the Romans. Though the Romans would, of course, play a big part in the succeeding events. What we are going to read about first is Peter’s denial of Jesus. The synoptic gospels put the various denials into a single section, while John has Jesus being questioned in between the first and subsequent denials. This is a just a matter of the way they have arranged the material. Within the synoptics there is a superficial difference in who spoke to Peter, a servant girl, two servant girls, a man etc. It is likely that when one person raised the matter other people in the group would weigh in as well. Whatever the case, various people challenged Peter, saying he was one of Jesus’ followers. In each case, despite his earlier protestations, Peter denied being a follower of Jesus.

Peter’s denials get more vehement. Then on the last one the rooster crows and Jesus looks at him. Peter then realises what he has done and he is full of sorrow at his failure.

This is a very important incident. It is perhaps the clearest example of the gospels doing nothing to exalt the apostles, but instead to highlight their human failings. If the gospels were a man-made fabrication then it is highly unlikely that they would do this. Then it illustrates our human weakness. We can all be shocked at what resides within us, and extreme circumstances can bring it to the surface. In his letters Peter tells us to prepare our minds for action. In the heat of the moment it is so easy to do the wrong thing, whereas if we had prepared our minds beforehand we would have been alert to the danger and might have responded differently. Finally, there is the matter of denying Christ. Jesus has said severe words about those who deny Him, yet Peter, as we know, was restored and went to serve Jesus faithfully. So we should give these warnings of Jesus full weight, but also give the importance of repentance and forgiveness full weight. If we favour one over the other we are going in the wrong direction. In the early centuries of the church one of the issues that arose was how to treat Christians who had denied Jesus under persecution, and then came back. Some wanted them written off for their failure. Others were more forgiving. Interestingly, it was those who had endured persecution and remained faithful who tended to be the most forgiving. If we ever have to endure severe persecution it will only be by the grace of God that we manage to stand up under it, may He give us that grace!