Common Ground – Peter and Me

It seems that every day I am offered a ton of reading. Friends on Facebook post links to article after article. If I read everything suggested it would be all I did in a day. Why I choose one to read over another I have no idea. Marketing experts tell me it is what’s in the title.

There must be something more, maybe a respect for the one suggesting it. Today a friend whose faith and witness I admire suggested that her Facebook friends read Mark 14. She had done so this morning and was convicted in her own spirit by the actions of Judas. I decided to read it, too.

For me it was Peter. The verses that lead up to the crucifixion of Christ teach us about Judas’s  betrayal of Christ and Peter’s denial of Christ. Judas very deliberately went to the religious leaders of the day and made a very specific plan to betray Christ (with a kiss!) so they could arrest Him.

Peter’s denial of Christ was more subtle, more like I do it. He swore to Jesus that even if others fell away he would never do it. Jesus assured him that he would. And he did.

Peter did not make a plan. Peter did not look for the reward as Judas had. Peter never saw it coming. He believed he was a faithful follower who would never deny His Lord.

I like to think like that about myself.

Two women just came to my door. I wasn’t in the mood for the debate. They gave me an invitation to a “celebration of the death of Jesus”. I thanked them and told them I already have a plan to celebrate His death and resurrection. They said they were glad to hear I would be celebrating, thanked me for my time, and left. I closed the door.

Though I don’t think that I denied Christ, I surely did not care to engage these women to point them to the Living Christ for salvation. I believe they are involved in a cult and I didn’t directly challenge their beliefs. I hope this was of the Holy Spirit but I fear it was of the fleshly desire for peace. My own comfort was the desire of the moment.

Comfort was Peter’s desire. He was approached by a young woman, this is their conversation according to Mark 14:66-71, ”And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.”

In that moment, Peter feared what would happen to him if were to be found out as a follower of Christ, so he denied knowing Him.

What is our fear? Why do we deny Christ in social situations and in work place conversations? Why did I refuse to engage two women who were probably spiritually lost in their false teachings? Surely, we don’t face the same possible consequences as Peter did, but we show the same fear.

I love to study my Bible. Last week our Pastor, Joel Saint, said in his sermon, “knowledge without courage is useless”.  I am not sure I was afraid this morning to speak more truth but I wasn’t willing, for my own comfort. Mark 14 convicted me, too.  Like Peter, I will have to choose the uncomfortable in order to serve The Almighty God, Jesus Christ.

So, I’ll stick with reading recommendations of those I trust, and trust the Holy Spirit to show me what I need to see.