"While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest's maids came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said, 'You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus' But he denied saying, 'I neither know nor understand what you are talking about'. So he went out into the outer court. [Then the cock crowed.] The maid saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, 'This man is one of them.' Once again he denied it. A little later the bystanders said to Peter once more, 'Surely you are one of them; for you too are a Galilean.' He began to curse and to swear, "I do not know this man about whom you are talking.' And immediately a cock crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him, 'Before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times.' He broke down and wept."
This situation happened long ago, but is it not still relevant in our lives today? Peter had promised Jesus that he would not deny him, but Jesus kept insisting that, according to the prophesy, he would. As always, Jesus was right.
I find myself doing the same thing in my life. It happens in little situations, but there is no denying my failure to stand up for my belief in Jesus. Sometimes it's at school, when people will question me about my faith and I shy away and make my faith sound less important to me than it really is. Why do I do this? The answer is simple: fear. I am afraid that, because I follow Jesus, people will judge me and I will lose my friends. Of course, I have found out over the past couple of years that this is definitely not true. I had one friend whom I had to stop talking to because she would constantly harass me about my faith, and I have been happier ever since. I have made great new friends, and still kept my old ones. Fear is a lie, and Jesus tells us all the time. So why don't we believe him?
I challenge all of you, including myself, to stand up for your faith. Pray that you will never deny Christ in your life. Take every opportunity to spread the Gospel. We need to learn from Peter's mistake in this verse, and do everything that we can to prevent ourselves from denying Christ.
Now, at the end of the chapter, He broke down and wept. Peter recognized his mistake in denying Jesus, and we must do the same in our lives. I personally have wept after realizing my failures to do what Jesus asks of me in my life. This sorrow and crying is a good thing! It means that, like Peter, we recognize our failures. You cannot learn from your mistakes until you recognize them. There is always hope, and to me this passage represents hope. We may fail to stand up for Jesus, but we can learn from those failures and grow stronger in our Faith.
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