March 23
“Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are saying!’ Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ So Peter went out and wept bitterly,” Luke 22:60-62.
As Jesus was preparing the twelve disciples to send them out to teach and preach, He gave them some specific instructions. He warned that they would be confronted by all kinds of opposition. He told them, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves,” Matthew 10:16. While some would rejoice to hear the message of the Savior, others would deny Him. He said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven,” Matthew 10:32-33.
The warning against denying the Lord Jesus is something that we should not take lightly. For Peter, it resulted in the shedding of bitter tears.
When Jesus was taken captive at the gate of the Garden of Gethsemane, Scripture tells us that all His disciples forsook Him and fled, just as Jesus had told them earlier that they would do. However, Peter decided that he would like to see how everything ended, and so he followed Jesus. He wanted to play it safe, and so he kept his distance, as we say. Today, people often do the same thing. To play it safe, or to save face, they keep their distance from certain people. Later, Peter was joined by another disciple, who was acquainted with the high priest. That other disciple arranged to get Peter into the courtyard. Since it was cold that evening, the servants had started a fire in the courtyard. They all stood around the fire warming themselves, and Peter joined the group to warm himself. But he got burned!
Soon, he was recognized as being a disciple of Jesus. But he denied that he knew Jesus. Then he went out to the porch, but he was recognized again. And again he denied that he knew Jesus. Peter went to mingle with the people in another place, perhaps thinking that he could get lost in the crowd. It did not work. He was recognized as being a Galilean. For the third time, he denied that he ever knew Jesus! Then he heard a rooster crow for the second time, and he remembered the word of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” At that time, Jesus also looked at him from a distance. What a look it must have been! The crowing of the rooster and the look of the Lord Jesus called him to repentance and moved him to tears!
When we sin, let us remember that Jesus is looking! It is a look that calls us to repentance, and it is also a look of love, telling us that He paid the price to redeem us and that His blood has cleansed us from all sins, including the sins of denial! May it move us to pray:
“O Thou that hear’st when sinners cry,
Tho’ all my crimes before Thee lie,
Behold them not with angry look,
But blot their mem’ry from Thy book.
A broken heart, my God, my King,
Is all the sacrifice I bring.
Look down, O Lord, with pitying eye,
And save the soul condemned to die.” Amen.