Episode Transcript
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Josh.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event Peter's denial predicted. This is found in all four gospels. We find it in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, verses 30 through 35, in Mark, chapter 14, verses 26 through 31, in Luke, chapter 22, verses 31 through 34, and finally in John, chapter 13, verse, verses 36 through 38. Follow along with us as we read in Matthew. And then we will follow up by reading also in Luke, Matthew, chapter 26, verses 30.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered him, though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.
And Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.
Peter said to him, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And all the disciples said the same.
[00:01:58] Speaker A: And I'll be reading the same event in Luke, chapter 22, beginning in verse 31. Simon, Simon, behold, 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. Peter said to him, lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.
Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you have denied three times that you knew me.
This event, we touched briefly on it before, but this event takes place after Jesus has gone to the Mount of Olives. And we find that this was his custom, going to the Mount of Olives as was his custom in Luke chapter 22, verse 39.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: It's very nice to have a place of prayer, to have our own little sanctuary when we can communicate with God. And if we do not have olives around our house and mountains or so we can have a holy place inside the house, a corner, have a special holy rug that you kneel on, have a corner of a table that you have your Bible or maybe other devotional book and use that as your special place to communicate with God.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: My sister in law strung a hammock up in her laundry room. And that was her prayer room, her place to have a special time with God. But yes, we need these places. And so Jesus place was the Mount of Olives and here he's gone there as was his custom, and he has this conversation along the way that they're going to deny, they're going to run away, but.
But be strengthened. Jesus says, I prayed that your strength, that your faith won't fail and that when you have turned again, so Jesus has given them faith that, yes, you're going to deny me, but you will come back.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Generally, as human beings, when we anticipate something negative, we just dwell on it. But Jesus ends both in Matthew as well as in Luke in a very positive way.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: And Matthew says, after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. That is, I'm going to lead the way to Galilee. And the Galilee was the place where Jesus Christ gave them the great commission, go into all the world and make disciples and baptize them and teach them and so on.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: And so Jesus is being very deliberate here and he's not sugarcoating, he's not hiding because he wants the disciples to know and to clearly know what is taking place.
And I think it would be easier in our lives many times if, if life was more direct.
This is going to happen.
But then given the hope. I can't tell you how many times I've seen churches cast someone out for a mistake they made and never give the hope.
And it's sad that they were never given the hope that, yes, you erred, but now here's a way back.
But Jesus gives that hope to Peter and he desires us to give that hope to other people.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: So let me put it this way.
That hope that you are talking about is the good news, and that is the gospel. There is good news even in the prediction of Peter's denial.
There is good news everywhere. And this is something that is coming from above. And we have to copy this model and everything we do and we say should be some good news.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: So Jesus is talking about Satan coming in and scattering the sheep and driving them away. It's his desire to disrupt.
When we are in the middle of the disruption, what should we do? What should have the disciples done? What would have been God's desire for them when Jesus was taken captive?
[00:06:35] Speaker B: In hindsight, looking back, there is always a better way, a better decision, a better choice.
At the same time, he's the greatest teacher. And this is just a quiz to see, a little exam to see what they have learned by now, where are they at?
And the quiz is necessary. In the same way in the Christian life, testing is necessary. And the Apostle Paul and Peter, they say God is using trials and temptations as a way of testing our spiritual maturity.
So from this perspective, it was a learning event that was pre planned by God.
Of course, God's desire was not for them to fall. Right. It was to pass this test.
And trusting God and not trusting themselves would have been maybe the solution, at least for Peter.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: And the commitment to follow Jesus Christ is good, but it has to happen with the power from above.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
And it needs to happen continually.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: You know, as we've mentioned this in the past, as Peter's making the statement, I'll follow you to prison, I'll follow you to death, it's easy to make those snap judgments, say those things, but when we're in the middle of chaos, is that what we're going to do? Are we going to follow Jesus to death? Are we going to follow Jesus to prison?
And we don't know that until we get to those moments.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Yeah. Someone said character is what you do when nobody's looking.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: It is. What surfaces in that, in those dark moments of, of life.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And, and emergency moments when, when you're in an emergency, what do you do? I think that also shows our character and we can build our character now in the little decisions in, in the many times we call those, those seem to be harder decisions to just get up and start the day. Reading the Bible can be harder than saying I'll die for Jesus to finish the day asking forgiveness for our sins and reflecting. Sometimes those little things can be harder than committing to go to prison for Jesus.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: I like to go back to the way you connected Matthew and Luke because you said Satan did strike the shepherd. Right. You put those two stories together and Jesus said that Satan demanded to have Peter and Jesus didn't say no.
What did Jesus do? Just prayed for Peter.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: So this is one of those rules of engagement in this conflict between good and evil, between Christ and Satan. Now, these rules are not listed somewhere in a specific chapter in the Bible, but it's transpiring in many places, especially in the book of Job as well as the book of Revelation. But here in the Gospel, it's very, very clear because of the rules of engagement of this war that started in heaven between good and evil.
Satan has some rights, but also some boundaries, some limitations.
And here is one of these events that is being revealed by Jesus Christ in just a few words.
Satan asked to have you, to sift you like weeds.
But I prayed for you.
And because in our weaknesses, the enemy is attacking us because he's watching any of those back doors to Kind of break into the house of the heart of our life.
Because Jesus Christ knows that his enemy is also our enemy. This is why he loves us even more. And this is why he always projects the victory, the positive outcome, the reunion on the Mount of Galilee, the strengthening of the brothers as the job assigned to Peter. And this is a pastoral responsibility.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: In the Gospel of Mark, the very last verse it says, but he said, being Peter emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same.
Were the disciples wrong? Should they not have said this statement that I'm not going to deny you? Jesus just said, you're going to deny me. And they come back and say, I'm not going to deny you.
Were they wrong in saying that?
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Look, I don't know how to answer your questions, but I can say they are sincere. Yeah, how about that? They are sincere. And many times we are sincere when we really want to do something for God, when we want to do something good. But being sincere is not enough.
There is a gap between our good intention or dreams and practicing that reality later, or applying it or taking it into action. And that is when we need the power of God. And that gap is sometimes not realized by us because we don't know ourselves very well.
You know, when Jesus Christ. We'll see that in a future episode has restored Peter and ask a couple of questions. Peter answered based on this experience. Lord, you know me. You know me better than I know myself.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: Many times our promises are like ropes of sand, they break so quick. But the power of God is offered to us.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
And exactly.
I will not deny you. I believe they were sincere, but I think you can be sincerely wrong.
And what we find is Jesus made a way for them that when we're wrong, when we err, we're not cut off. And this is one of the wonderful things about God, is He. He sets that plan for salvation, for redemption, for.
For reunification. In the very beginning, you know, Jesus would have come and died if only one person had of sinned.
And so when we mess up, even if we're trying to do right, even if we're trying to do the best we can, God has made a way for us to come back to Him.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: And that's what I want to end with today, is that God has made a way for each one of us to come back. Father God, I'm so thankful for Jesus Christ who came and lived on this earth and he dealt with us in our sin and you've forgiven us time and time again, even when we wrong you directly.
But I pray that you will work in our hearts and change us to be people who have that character that in those emergency times, in those times when no one else is looking, we do the right thing.
[00:14:44] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Please change our characters and make them like Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Amen.
