It's not about your strength or mine...

“Disowned”

(Matthew 26:69-75, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 9, 2008)

Matthew 26:69-75 ⁶⁹ Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, "You also were with Jesus the Galilean." ⁷⁰ But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you mean." ⁷¹ And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth." ⁷² And again he denied it with an oath: "I do not know the man." ⁷³ After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you." ⁷⁴ Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately the rooster crowed. ⁷⁵ And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.

Introduction – Do you have any regrets?

I am always amazed when I hear people claim that they have no regrets. It is especially surprising when those who hold to a biblical understanding of sin make that kind of statement. There is not a lot of good that can come from beating yourself up over your past errors or from continual 20-20 contemplations of former days. Yet it is a healthy thing to have an honest recognition that our sins are so frequent and serious that a day cannot go by without us thinking, saying, and doing many things that we should regret. Maybe we can’t do all that much about it. Maybe we should just press ahead in the freedom, grace, and joy that we have in Christ. Nonetheless, it’s foolish and inconsistent to pretend that we have no regrets. These few verses in Matthew 26 form the documentation of what must have been one of the biggest regrets in the life of one of the greatest leaders of the Christian church.

Now Peter…

The Apostle Peter was under a lot of pressure. He had committed to the Lord that even if everyone else abandoned Him, that he absolutely would never abandon Jesus. He even said that he was ready to die with Him if necessary. That pronouncement was made just hours before, but it must have seemed to him like a lifetime ago. Since that point Peter had been unable to stay away with Jesus at his darkest hour. As Peter woke up, Judas came with an armed mob that would capture Jesus. Peter stabbed a man. Jesus corrected Peter about this, and then willingly gave Himself into the hands of those who were arresting Him. Peter followed Jesus at some distance, first to one location and then to another, near the proceedings of a religious hearing designed to gather evidence that would justify the death of Jesus. There were all kinds of false accusations against his Lord that night, and Peter was nearby.

It was there that Jesus made the definitive statement that all would one day see Him at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of glory. This came in response to the vehement demand of the high priest, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” The effect of the Lord’s response was to indicate that He would come to judge them for what they were doing, and that they were in no position to judge Him. Throughout all of this we have every indication that Jesus was resolved to do His Father’s will, and to go to the cross as the Lamb of God who would take away our sins. We also have every reason to believe that Peter was still very much resolved to stay with Jesus to the end. One would keep His resolve; the other could not.

I do not know what you mean.

Earlier that night Peter had insisted that even if all the rest fell away, He would remain with Jesus through it all. Jesus had very pointedly told Him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” That had not happened yet, but now His time of testing was to begin. A servant girl came up to him who must have observed Peter with Jesus. She said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.”

Of course he had been with Jesus that very night. More than that, he had been with Him almost continually throughout the last three years. It all began when his brother Andrew came to him with this outrageous claim: “We have found the Messiah.” Andrew brought him to Jesus, and Jesus gave this man who had been called Simon the new name of Cephas or Peter. Somewhere along the way, Jesus came upon these two men, Andrew and Simon Peter, and we are told that they were fishing. And He said, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” They did follow him. We are told that immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”

Since that point Peter was one of His key followers. It was Peter who was frightened when he went out on the water at the command of Jesus and started to sink. He cried out, “Lord save me!” Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him. Peter heard Jesus teach parables, and had the privilege of asking the Lord to explain the parable only because he was indeed with Jesus in a very close way. Peter was the one who said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and then almost immediately tried to convince the Lord that this dying on a cross must never be. Peter was also with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, and He saw the Lord with Moses and Elijah in some kind of heavenly glory. He suggested that He could put up tents for them when a voice came from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Peter knew the privileges of being close to Jesus. But now when a servant girl asked, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean,” he says, “I do not know what you mean.” What did she mean? She didn’t mean that Peter was with Jesus incidentally or anonymously as so many thousands had been when they followed Him during His days of teaching and healing. She meant that Peter was with Jesus as someone who knew Him closely and was somehow related to Him as a true follower. Peter said in front of everyone there, “I do not know what you mean.”

I do not know the man.

Another servant girl challenged him. “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” He denied it with an oath. That means that he solemnly swore using the Name of God. Of course Peter was with Jesus, especially in this critically important week in Jerusalem. He was there when they came into Jerusalem. He heard the words of the children praising Jesus, and He knew about the anger of the religious leaders. He heard the final messages of Jesus against the scribes and the Pharisees and he knew what Jesus had later taught about the destruction of the temple and about His coming again. He knew about all of the private events of which so few were aware. He knew that Jesus had washed his feet. He would have remembered what that was like, and how he had objected to it. He would have still had those words in his mind when Jesus said, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” He would have remembered that Jesus had said that one of them would betray Him, because he was the one that signaled to young John to find out who it was who would do that. He saw Judas go out into the night and He saw him come through the darkness later with a group of armed men. He would have seen Judas kiss Jesus and remembered the words that Jesus had earlier said around the table: “This is My body.… This is My blood.” Peter had most definitely been with Jesus. Therefore it is a horrible shock when we hear him answer the servant girl, “I do not know the man.”

“I do not know the man.” That’s a big thing to say; a complete denial of His association with Jesus in any way. Not only is he not His friend, not only is he not His associate for the building of the church, he does not even know Him. He claims this entire lack of connection with the Lord of glory, the Savior of the world. After being challenged again by some bystanders based on his accent, he calls down curses upon himself to show how serious he is about this. He says something like this: “May God Himself strike me dead if I am lying about this, I do not know the man.” What Christ suffered for us included this: that He heard His friend say these words: “I do not know the man.”

Bitter tears

Then it happened. The rooster crowed. And Peter remembered. When the Lord had said, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times,” He used a phrase that often referred to the earliest part of the new day, the time when the rooster would be crowing. What better way to bring this prophecy to mind than to have the actual crowing of a rooster come to the ears of Peter. Up to this point, Peter may have actually thought that he was being faithful to the Lord, though somewhat secretive. But now we are told that he abruptly went out from there. He would not be there anymore. And he wept bitterly.

Why was he weeping? Was it because Jesus had been accused of all kinds of things and Peter was so close to it all? Was it because the Lord was in the hands of evil men that hated him, men that were spitting on him, mocking him, punching him, and slapping him? Or was it a moment of deep and profound regret? He had said those words: “I do not know what you mean.” “I do not know the man.” “I do not know the man.” Perhaps it was that he had been so wrong in his pride, and he had failed so badly. He remembered the earlier conversation with Jesus. Part of that was recorded in Luke’s gospel when Jesus said to Peter, “Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

That could have been an encouraging thought in the midst of regret and bitter tears. The Lord who would die for sinners had prayed for him. He had denied the Lord he loved, just as Jesus had said he would. You may have done the same in your life. You did not want people to associate you with the man Jesus of Nazareth and with his church. You did not want people to think that you were saying that you knew Jesus. It just sounded too wild a thing, too unbelievable, so you were content to leave others with the impression that there was no connection at all between this man Jesus Christ and you. You disowned Him. If you have done that, than you did what I did for years, and I deeply regret it. Our Lord’s words to Peter give us hope. He who knows the beginning from the end knew not only that Peter would deny Him, He also knew that Peter would ultimately make it through that big mistake. Though Satan wanted to use all this as an eternal accusation against Peter, Jesus had prayed for him, and Peter would be useful in strengthening others when He returned again to feed the Lord’s sheep.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What was Peter’s assessment of the coming trial of this night when this matter was discussed earlier?

2. How was the night different than what he might have expected?

3. Why would Jesus have allowed one of His foremost disciples to go through this horrible experience?

4. What evidence do we have concerning how this experience might have changed Peter’s life?