Denial

Summary

And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. | 75

One of the things that makes the sacrifice of Jesus such a shock is the people that He dies for. As Romans 5 reminds us:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. | 6-8

The best way for us to rob glory from the gospel is to believe that we deserve it; to think more of salvation as God’s response to our belief. The truth is, we are betrayers. All of us. As we see Peter deny Jesus, it isn’t an opportunity for us to scoff at the apostle who puts-his-foot-in-his-mouth; this story is a reminder of how every one of us has treated Jesus. Not just in a past tense way. It isn’t simply how we were before we were saved. Even as we attempt to follow Jesus, we deny Him by prioritizing other things over Him. The question this text forces us to ask is not: will you do better? but do you recognize what grace overcomes?