It is possible

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

IT IS POSSIBLE

Matt 26:31-35

31 Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: "'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'   32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."  33 Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will." 34 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."  35 But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.

NIV

We certainly know by now that Peter is a very rash, impetuses man. He opens his mouth way before he engages his brain. Sometimes he just does not think though things before he speaks up. Other times he is a very insightful man full of faith. By now he should know that whatever Jesus says is going to happen. It would have been better for him to question how would they all scatter, and how would he disown him. He could have asked if there was a way this could not happen. Is there something you can do to help me remain faithful to you? This statement he makes about the fact he would never disown him reminds us of the bizarre comments some Christians make about never sinning. How can any of us make such a pure fact statement about ourselves? There is just no way we can state with absolute certainly anything about our lives. We cannot say, “I will never” or “I will always” or even “I promise”. The odds are someday we will, some day we will not and some day we will break that promise. Instead of boasting about how faithful we will be, or how strong we are in our faith, we should instead boast about our weakness. It is not us, but Christ in us who produces any, in fact all the good in us. Of course we most likely would never consciously disown Jesus. We would have thought Peter would not have either. Maybe it was more an unconscious knee jerk reaction in his three times of disowning his association with Jesus. Then looking ahead to those three times, it appears it is not this spontaneous refusal to be seen as one of Jesus’s disciples. So we should look closely at how we live. Is there any possible way that at times we disown Jesus? That is to say do we, at times, not speak up when something is say about Jesus being a myth, or not divine, rather just a man, maybe a prophet, but still not a man who was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven. Do we speak up when someone uses the name of our Lord in vain? Do we speak up when someone tells us an off color joke, or do we just sort of smile? If our job is one the line, do we then agree to never speak about our faith? When asked, do we say we are a minister of the gospel or a follower of Jesus, or a born again, Spirit filled believer, or do we just say we are a Christian. The term Christian in this culture carries very little meaning as most all people think of themselves as Christian, with the exceptions of other religions or non-religions. But then even atheism is a religion. Peter was so full of himself, so full of spiritual pride. It would be better for us to forgo any pride and not even attempt to fool ourselves much less others. The beginning of all healing in relationships, first with God, and then we people is humility. We are weak, but he is strong. We fail, he never does. But let us resolve to make every effort to allow him to direct our path, give us the right words at the right time and live our faith out loud, not apologizing for loving the Lord. We should remember we too have freedom of speech, it is our God given command and our countries constitution right. But let us not be so bold to say or even think we would never disown him. We need to be aware it is possible in some way or on some level. When we think of the strength and faith of Peter, as well as the others who scattered at his arrest, we have to think it is possible we could falter.