“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you (pl) like wheat;
but I have prayed for you (sing), that your (sing) faith may not fail; and you (sing), when once you (sing) have turned again, strengthen your (sing) brothers.”
But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” And He said, “I say to you (sing), Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you (sing) have denied three times that you (sing) know Me.”
- pl = plural
- sing = singular
In the light of all that has gone before, it is amazing that Peter hasn’t clicked to the fact that he has an inflated view of himself. Jesus made it abundantly clear over the last hours or days that the disciples are going to be severely tested. Peter himself has been reminded of his humanity by Jesus’ use of his former name. It is interesting isn’t it, that Simon’s new name “Peter” doesn’t actually replace his old name “Simon”. He wears both names into the future. He is a mixture of clay and class, glory and glib. Thus, he is known as Simon Peter – a mixture of the old and new man. Even after Jesus has warned the disciples of the testing that awaits them, and then tells Peter that he personally is going to be tested by the devil himself, he still comes up with a grand Peter-like boast. He is so predictable in his unpredictability. But oh, so human. What you see is what you get. Don’t you just love him? He is so like each one of us. You and me. As Shelley told me the other day – I would rather deal with an impetuous, spontaneous, off-the-wall Peter than a bunch of cowards.
Peter’s emphasis is as follows, “With You Lord, I am ready to go both to prison and to death.” The initial place in the Greek sentence is the place of emphasis. With you or for you Lord, I am ready to go to prison and I am ready to die. In fact, I am ready to go to prison AND die, in that order. Simply because if I do the die thing first Lord, I won’t be able to do the prison thing unless you raise me like Lazarus. But I really, really am ready and prepared to do both . . . and for you.
“Really Peter! You are ready to go to prison and die for me? Are you sure? I think you’re doing it again Peter. You so often come out with these grand statements but you don’t follow through with them. Or you speak out something that your deep inner-being doesn’t feel. Rocky, before the cock crows today you will deny Me three times.” Jesus use of “Peter” at this point is ironic. Well, “Rocky”, you may see it that way but let me tell you what is really going to happen.” Peter is so certain of himself that he comes out with this strong statement, despite all that Jesus has been saying. Especially after he has told Jesus what he will do in the light of Jesus’ specific statement that satan has asked to sift them all but Jesus adds, I have specifically prayed for you Peter. It would have been most natural for Jesus to say, “But I have prayed for you all.” But instead He said, “But I have prayed for you (sing) Peter.” Peter understood Jesus was talking about their loyalty. I am sure he also thought he was going to be faithful to the end. There was no way he was going to deny Jesus. He was so sure of himself. Moral of the story: be careful when you are so sure of yourself.
At this point, why don’t you consider yourself in terms of this reaction? Ask the Lord to show you His view of your life and your commitment and wait to hear what He tells you or shows you. We need a sober estimate of ourselves. As I said a few days ago, it is so easy to see the blacker part of our character, only to cover it up with other things so we don’t have to deal with it. It’s called deflection. Don’t deflect. Reflect. Look back on the number of times Peter has put his foot in it in the gospels. There are many of them. Think about them and then consider if you have a tendency to do any of those things too. Notice this section is a lot like, “He said . . . she said”. Only this time it’s, “You say . . . I say”.
- Peter said: I will go to prison for You or die for You
- Jesus said: You will deny three times that you even know me.
Rocky thought he was ready to either go to prison for Jesus or die for Him. But in reality he was so frightened by prison AND death that he openly denied that he even knew Jesus three times. We will investigate the denials. Some like to try to explain away Peter’s denials. I am not going to get into all the debate about the nature of Peter’s denials — real or figurative. Nor how many times Peter denied Him. Was it one denial three times? Was it an escalating series of denials? Or as one commentator or textual expert suggests, was it in reality four predictions of denial and eight actual denials? But when we reach the passage of the actual denials, we will look at the detail compared with the prediction of the denials to see what we can find out.
Don’t forget that the time setting of the denials was the night, the time before the early cock crow on the following day. Take the time to think about the events of the denial in the context of the prediction, before we come to the segment dealing with the actual denial in a subsequent Gem. One issue you will need to address is the matter of the cock crowing twice or once and the denial three times. What does that all mean and how do you reconcile Mark’s reference to the cock crowing twice while the other gospel writers don’t mention that fact?
I will leave the issue with you until we come to the actual time of the denials. In Peter’s context there were just a few hours between the prediction and the denials. In our case there will be a few Gems. So you have the time to make of it what you can.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.
Anon
Each of us is a mixture of dust and deity, clay and class, glory and glib.
Ian Vail
You have to do your own growing, no matter how tall your dad is.
Anon
So sad to see people are busy making excuses instead of making changes. Your life won’t get better by making excuses!
Jeffrey Rachmat
Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.
Sidney Mohede
Faith Is Not The Absence Of Fear. It’s The Divine Confidence That Causes Me To Forget The Reason Why I Ever Thought I Would Never Make It.
Robb Thompson