Our Word

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

OUR WORD

 John 18:26-32

26 One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?" 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.

28 Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?" 30 "If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you." 31 Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." "But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. 32 This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

NIV

This is the third time Peter was noticed and asked about being one of Jesus’s disciples and this is the third time Peter denied it and of course the rooster began to crow. John does not give us the details as the other three gospels do, in fact, Luke even includes the fact when the rooster began to crow, Jesus turned and looked straight at Peter. Of course, Peter remembered what Jesus had said about him denying him three times, and on that third time, the rooster would crow. Peter then left the courtyard, going outside the area and wept bitterly. He knew he had failed Jesus, he had failed miserably at being a disciple. He has promised that he would never fall away, even if all the others did. His word was meaningless. In many cultures a man’s word means everything. Today it seems that no longer applies as we have so many who say what they are going to do, and they do not do it. Promises have no merit at all for few ever keep them, especially among the leaders in government and business. But this not keeping our word has infected many of us, ordinary people, as well. How many couples make vows to each other in the sight of God and friends to love and cherish each other until death parts them, yet so many of them never keep their word. Promises seem void of meaning. However, looking at the idea of denial or keeping our word has another view. This is keeping our word to the Lord. How often have we failed to keep our word to Him? Jesus, himself, told us not to swear by anything, or make an oath, but let our yes be yes and our no is no. The idea is that Jesus knows we cannot keep our promises we make to Him, we will always fail. We just should not promise we will never sin again because we will. It is inevitable that we will keep sinning as long as we are in this body. Not a single person alive has ever accomplished a perfect life, except Jesus. When Peter understood how much he failed to keep his word, he wept bitterly. Do we weep bitterly when we fail the Lord? Have we become so accustomed to failing, to our sin, that we either ignore it, or ask a quick prayer seeking forgiveness, and go on? Maybe it is best to obey Jesus and simply keep from promising we will not do this, or that we will do that. If we say we will, then we should keep our word. Our yes should mean yes, and our no should mean no. do we even do that right? On the other side of the coin, maybe we should never ask anyone to promise us anything as that would put them in a situation which might cause them to not be able to keep that promise thus breaking their word and that could be considered a sin. So then we should not put people in a position that could cause them to sin. It is all centered on keeping our word. Peter failed to keep his word, have we failed as well? Is our word our bond?