Deny or Deny Yourself
Mark 14:26-31
26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
27 “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written:
‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.’28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
29 Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”
30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.”
31 But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.
In this passage, just after the Last Supper, Jesus is preparing the disciples for what is about to happen, namely their falling away when Jesus is put on trial and then crucified.
Peter, full of confidence in himself, says what everyone else thinks, that he won’t fall away.
What I never noticed before is the timing of Jesus telling the disciples at the Last Supper that one of them will betray him, just before Peter is told he will fall away and deny Jesus three times. This must have been hard to take in.
Clearly the disciples are struggling to take in a lot of what Jesus has been saying about his death and rising again. It just doesn’t fit their view of who the messiah is.
Peter’s view of himself is about to get tested. In my field of work, we see that most people are not good at estimating how long it will take to do a task. As humans most of us tend to overestimate our ability to do things. In fact, I can testify to this happening to me this weekend with a certain tree that we planned to chop down this weekend.
The issue here, however, is that to follow Jesus, we need let go of relying on our own abilities (and sometimes our assessment of our ability, whether positive or negative), our own judgement and understanding and rely on the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Jesus has chosen to reveal some things to the disciples about the future in order that they may remember this and understand that even when we are not in control he is in control and is worthy of our trust.
The good news is that God does transform our hearts, minds and lives.
O Lord forgive me the times I have not stood up for who you are and especially who you are in my life, and I have not trusted you for the words to speak.
I really like this prayer of Paul from Ephesians 6:19.
Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Written by Dave Moore