Pride Before the Fall

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

PRIDE BEFORE THE FALL

Matt 26:30-35

30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 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

Oh, the boldness, the arrogance of Peter is too much at times. Sure, he had walked on the water, but he also almost drowns because he lost faith, by looking at his circumstances instead of looking at Jesus. Of course, Peter was the one at Caesarea Philippi who answered the question of Jesus, saying Jesus was the Son of the living God. Yes, Peter believed Jesus enough to cast his net on the other side of the boat after fishing all night with no catch and having a net too full he needed help hauling it in. However, to make such a claim that although all others will fall away, he would not, is akin to us saying that we would never sin on account of Jesus. Peter’s declaration could almost be considered ignorant of the truth. He was contradicting Jesus. Of course, we would never do that, but could this contradiction be seen as unbelief? Could we say that because Peter made such a statement in opposition to what Jesus said would happen, Peter did not believe Jesus was telling the truth? Because we know how the end of this story unfolded, we know it is an example of that saying that pride comes before the fall. Peter was so proud that he thought Jesus was not speaking about him, but only the others, yet as we know Peter fell hard, perhaps even the hardest than all the others. They ran scared, but Peter stayed close enough and the result was devastating for him. We cannot afford such pride, thinking that we would never fall short of being perfect. How could Peter be so prideful? Sometimes it appears we want others to think we are so spiritual, to the point of being without sin. At least it seems that when we are with other believers all of us give the appearance of near sinlessness, or at least not speak openly about our having some sin within. But then, it would not be good to confess before the whole church, but we should be able to with our close friends, or small group. It would not be good to be arrogant or prideful about anything in our lives. Boasting about our accomplishments, in essence, our holiness is surely seen by our Lord. No, we think, Peter should have been a bit humbler and asked Jesus for the strength to make it through the dark time ahead of him. That is all we can do. We must rely on the strength and the grace of Jesus as we live each day, hoping and praying that we do not become prideful, but remain in touch with the reality of our humanity. We will fall, but Jesus will always pick us up, dust us off and let us try again, to walk rightly before Him. Humility is our strength, but pride is before the fall.