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35
-- PETER DENIES JESUS
Luke
22:31-34 And
the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has
asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you,
that your faith should not completely fail; and when you are converted,
strengthen your brethren."
But he
said to Him, "Lord, I am ready
to go with You, both to prison and to death."
In the previous section we saw how the young men Jesus had called and appointed to be his apostles had argued between themselves in a very worldly way about who should be the greatest in the Kingdom of God. In this section, which carries on the account, Jesus, after putting the apostles straight regarding their ambition, then tells Peter, although not quite directly, that he has not yet been converted -- a word meaning "changed" in attitude and outlook, being derived from a root meaning to "turn" or "reverse".
The same word occurs again later when Peter himself preaches to a crowd who have witnessed a miraculous healing, saying: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19) -- and is given a different translation where Paul says: "You turned to God from idols" (1 Thessalonians 1:19).
The word is also used, and defined for us, when Jesus warns his disciples: "Truly, I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).
To become as little children clearly means to become trusting, teachable and receptive to God as little children are, or should be, to their earthly father.
Although the conversion process is initiated by the intervention of God in our lives (Romans 2:4), we cannot "convert" other people by our deliberate intervention in their lives -- and although the Church has been commissioned to preach the gospel, in a manner typified by a farmer scattering seed in a field, as in the parable of the sower, it has not been commissioned to "convert" the world, as Paul makes clear (1 Corinthians 1:17).
Nor are lay members of the Church commissioned to preach with words to those around them, but to be good examples of Godly living (1 Peter 3:1, Matthew 5:14-16) -- yet knowledgeable enough to be able to answer any questions of faith that may be asked (ibid, verse 15).
Peter identifies a crucial step in the conversion process when he says: "Praise be to the father our Lord Jesus Christ who has begotten us again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3) -- suggesting that the action of physical begettal by which a child is conceived has a spiritual parallel , both processes being initiated by the will of a father, and both imparting his nature.
An interesting implication of Peter's metaphor would seem to be that just as a baby in the womb does not yet experience the fullness of life and the world outside, so our present knowledge of ultimate reality is equally limited -- a point that Jesus may have had in mind when he told Nicodemus: "I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" (John 3:12).
However, no single metaphor ever offers a complete understanding of a situation, and so Peter then offers an additional one that stresses the need for spiritual growth. Comparing Christians to a new-born babies, he says: "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in salvation" (1 Peter 2:2). Again, he is not describing a static state of existence, and Christians should have a desire to learn more about God.
Putting these things together, the conversion process appears to involve: 1) a calling, 2) repentance, 3) begettal, 4) becoming as little children, and 5) spiritual growth.
Much confusion arises here because the Greek root word rendered in the King James version of Peter's comment as begotten can also mean born, depending on the context -- hence the notion of people claiming to be "born again believers", a claim that seems to be clearly confounded by Jesus' explanation to Nicodemus that those who have actually been born again into the Kingdom of God will be spirit beings, and therefore as intangible and invisible to human kind as the wind, which is in turn a divinely designed metaphor for the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-8).
Paul seems to be reinforcing Jesus' teaching to Nicodemus when he says: "As we have borne the likeness of earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:49) -- then going on to say in the very next verse: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the KIngdom of God", then going on yet again, in the remainder of the chapter, to explain that this crucial re-birth or transformation from flesh to spirit will take place for all Christians, dead or alive, at the moment of Christ's return, and not before.
Meanwhile, throughout the period of human existence that elapses between a person being begotten again and literally born again of the Holy Spirit, God is carefully working out a purpose (Philippians 1:6) -- leading them through a process of growth and enlightenment that is typified by a child growing up, the stages of which are described by Peter (2 Peter 1:5-11), who also identifies some of the pitfalls to be avoided along the way (all of 2 Peter 2), as we grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). We see again that Christianity is not a stagnant state or a "nominal" rubber-stamp "religion".
In the situation Luke is describing in this section, however, Peter the fisherman, a strong and no-nonsense individual from all accounts, evidently sees no need for any change in himself or for any help from God, despite Jesus' warning that Satan would dearly love to destroy him -- a danger of which the enlightened Peter himself later warned Christians, saying: "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).
As a result, when Jesus intimates the possibility of difficulties ahead, Peter confidently retorts: Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death!
What then follows appears to be part of Peter's personal conversion process -- as Jesus' predicts, when he tells him: The rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me!
The sequence of events that then brings a tearful and beaten Peter to his knees is clearest in Matthew's parallel account below.
Matthew
26:69-75 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard,
and a servant girl came to him. "You also were with
Jesus of Galilee," she said.
But he denied it before them all. "I don't know
what you're talking about," he said.
Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, "This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth."
He denied it again, with an oath: "I don't know the man!"
After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away."
Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!"
Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
The first denial comes when a lone servant girl accuses Peter of being a disciple of Jesus. Although the girl's accusation is easily and quietly dismissed, Peter no doubt felt very bad and must have quietly resolved not to slip up again.
A little later, however, the psychological pressure steps up when another girl accuses Peter and conveys her suspicion to other people standing near by. And so Peter weakens and denies Jesus for a second time, no doubt resolving even more earnestly not to slip up again.
However, the psychological pressure then takes a big step up once again when a group of those standing by actually went up to him to confront him with the same accusation. Yet again Peter finds himself too weak to cope with the situation, and makes a third and final denial -- and immediately a rooster crows, and a chastened Peter slinks out and weeps bitterly at his wretchedness.
Clearly the hand of God was at work in Peter's demise, with Satan possibly being allowed to play a part, as he had done in the conversion of the mighty and assiduously righteous Job (Job 1:8-12) -- a powerful ruler who had heard of God, but who finally came to actually know God (Job 42:5-6).