Week 7: Jesus The Sacrificial Lamb
Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:54-62 John 18:15-18, 25-27
We all have fallen short of the glory of God. In our sin, in our fear, each of us has denied the lordship of the one true living God, choosing our flesh over our Creator. Simon Peter knows this all too well.
In all four accounts of the life of Jesus, Peter is found guilty, denying his relationship with Jesus for the sake of saving his own reputation and soul. Three times across the four gospels, Peter says, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about,” or something of the like (Mark 14:71). It can be so easy for us to look at Peter with disdain, questioning how he could deny the Messiah he lived alongside and reached the lost with. You may be thinking, Peter, Jesus Himself said that you were the rock He would build His church on, how dare you deny Him (Matthew 16:18)? But who’s to say we wouldn’t do the same thing?
Just like death, sin, and the grave didn’t have the final say in the life of Christ, neither do they have authority over our eternity. By the grace of Jesus alone, could the very man who looked the servant girls and bystanders in the eyes and said he didn’t know Jesus three times become reinstated in mission and relationship with Christ. After His resurrection and revealing of Himself to the disciples in John 21, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”, to which he responds with a resounding “yes” each time, paralleling the three denials Peter made previously. What a gift it is to be made right before God, but what an incomprehensible miracle it is to be used by Him for the building of His holy and righteous Kingdom. Who are we, broken sinners, that the most blameless King would use us to bring Him glory?
Peter outwardly denied Jesus three times, yet remained the rock on which He built His church. Resonate, we deny Jesus in our sin daily, and yet, our gracious King desires to use us, too.
