I resonate with this passage. Its unlikely that I’ll ever have such a high stakes decision as Peter; he thought his life was at stake when he denied Christ. Even so, it makes me wonder how I practically deny Christ. I read this passage and think of all the times I’ve changed my behavior to be less Christ-like but more palatable to those around me. It makes me wonder how many times I’ve hesitated in sharing the Gospel simply because the story of a murdered wood-worker seems less than compelling. Sure sure.. we don’t usually have the giant denial moments Peter had.. but I wonder if our complacent, comfortable lives aren’t equally as much a denial as the words of Peter.
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
First Pres Joliet 
July 24, 2014 at 6:24 am
Is 53:6 “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” And this reminds me of the blog that .bo directed us to early yesterday before his post. This is what I consider to be the Gospel, the Good News.
July 24, 2014 at 7:01 am
Yesterday at Bible Study we were talking about sharing the Gospel and how we don’t feel prepared for it and may not know what to say, so sometimes don’t reach out to others. Is that complacency? I think in our discussion, we thought it’s more like fear. We’re afraid we won’t say the right thing. One of our members shared how sometimes the Holy Spirit just leads her to start a conversation with someone she might not even know. If that conversation leads her to talk about her faith, she is more than willing to share her belief in and love of Christ. May we all be more open to the Spirit’s leading in talking to others. He will help us know what to say.
July 24, 2014 at 7:21 am
I think fear is a big part of it.. At least for me. Sometimes I work myself into a frenzy thinking that if I do it wrong they’ll never come to Christ…i try to remind myself that I’m only responsible for sharing.. Not for the results. Its still hard though!
July 24, 2014 at 10:43 am
Micah, welcome back to our fair land! This “denial of Christ” is deeply within us. There is no larger evidence to the concept of “spiritual conflict” within ones self. Scarcely anyone that I know of will deny their knowledge of Budweiser products. When it comes to this Jesus fellow – I don’t know!?
To refute the concept of “seeing is believing” one need only to look at Peter. Peter had been everywhere and witnessed everything with Christ, including the transfiguration (Mark 9:2-13). If any visible event was to “seek” an individual, it would have been that curiosity. Judas was not around for the transfiguration. Peter was more guilty of the “crime of denial” than Judas during the events surrounding His Gethsemane arrest. Peter committed the crime thrice to Judas’ once. What’s really going on here?
As far as my self, of course, I have denied. I’m better now, no doubt my bad past experiences have helped. I simply “talk Jesus” to someone like I would about anything else; put the “religiosity” aside and trying to be something I am not.
I talk Jesus like I talk golf. I have finally figured out “the whys” of my brand of Christianity. My belief in Christ is rooted in undeniable history – BC/AD time split, the actions of the early church folk, no denial/deriding/derisive commentary from any Apostle contemporary Latin or Jewish historians surrounding Christians, etc. On top of the history, Christianity best answers answers the questions surrounding living here and now. Life, longer term, is pretty meaningless without Christ. On top of all of this there is the “feeling” of Christianity. It feels right.
July 24, 2014 at 7:28 am
Peter gives us all hope. He is the one that Jesus pours in all his teachings. With all of Peter’s passion, he stumbles all the time and Jesus patiently keeps on teaching him. Peter is part of Jesus’s inner circle within the twelve disciples, one of the closest to him, and yet he denies he knows Jesus just as said Jesus he would. I think Jesus tells Peter this before hand in an effort to say, I know that you will do this even though you don’t know it now. I still believe in you. Everything that I have told you is true. I speak the truth. Up until this point Peter has been following Jesus watching and learning, watching him perform miracles, being a man of peace. Now the things have taken a dramatic turn. Jesus is being taken from them. Jesus says that he could command an army just as all the officials fear he would, but that’s not the plan. Just imagine the fear and confusion Peter must have felt. Jesus predicts his denials and at the same time shows Peter that he is still with him. He is all knowing. It is on Peter, the one who stumbles and goofs things up, this is the passionate man that Jesus chooses to build his church. We don’t have to be perfect Christians to follow Jesus. We just need to dig into the teachings, learn from them, be passionate, share what we know and try to do the right thing. We are going to stumble along the way. That’s OK so did Peter.
I also think it is interesting that when Judas approaches Jesus to betray him, just as Jesus predicted, Jesus calls him out, by referring to him as his friend. That was a verbal slap in the face, worse that calling him the trader. Makes one pause, doesn’t it? Throughout history there have been many who have claimed to be a “friend” or a follower of Christ that have justified their horrible actions by saying it was in God’s name (the Crusades for example.) Judas was in a powerful position being one of the twelve disciples and he leveraged his power for his own gain. Perhaps Jesus was telling us to watch out for this too…With great Power comes great responsibility.
July 24, 2014 at 7:52 am
All of us can be a Peter at any time of our lives. That is why this passage resonates with me. I am not good at knowing when to share the gift of the gospel. I often think that I’m overstepping my bounds with others or that the holy spirit says not yet. I now pray for when I should share. This is what I need practice with.