Wholeness Ministries
www.wholeness.org
www.wholeness.org
Moving Beyond Failure Part 1
I know you are familiar with this story from Matthew 26 regarding Peter's denial of knowing Jesus and his attendant failure. I want to look at this again from the perspective of the healing that Jesus walked Peter into after the failure. We don't often have a problem with God doing big things like healing the sick and raising the dead. But we do have problems when we feel we have failed miserably or we have not been faithful or bold or any number of things we do to ourselves. I want to look at the dynamics of what is happening here as Jesus takes Peter beyond the failure and back into restoration.
First lets go back to when all this started. They are all sitting around the table eating, probably really enjoying each others company when the conversation turns serious. First of all he says "one of you will betray me", then he begins talking about the bread and the wine and how they represent his body and blood. Shortly after this they go out to the Mount of Olives where this following conversation takes place.
Matthew 26:31-35
Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will." "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.
Think about what is going on here. Peter has made this very emphatic statement that he would never deny or disown Jesus. I'm sure he was sincere when he said it and couldn't imagine himself in a position when he would ever deny knowing Jesus. All the other disciples said the same thing. Can't you picture them standing around shaking their heads saying "yes, me to, I will never deny you."
How do you think Peter felt when Jesus told him straight out that he would not be able to keep that vow he had just made. That he was going to fail. How would you feel if your best friend told you that when push came to shove you were going to bail. How do you think Jesus must have felt as he looked at Peter, one of his best friends and told him, "you are going to fail me"! Don't you think he felt sorrow as well as betrayal. I mean he was human and he had to have felt something. I bet he felt along with the betrayal, sorrow for Peter, and what he knew Peter would have to go through.
Now lets skip down a few verses and reacquaint ourselves with what happened.
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.
When did Peter realize what was happening? When the rooster crowed. This was like a trigger point for him because at that point he remembered what the Lord had said. Imagine what he must have been feeling. Big time failure and probably shame as he remembered himself standing in front of Jesus and all those other disciples loudly proclaiming: "even if.. I will never." What utter despair, shame and rejection he must have felt! They are all going to reject me and Jesus is going to reject me, I am a failure, I'm just a stupid fisherman, what made me think I could be anything else! Can't you just hear this going on in Peter's head? Can you relate to Peter? "When, if ever have you felt like you betrayed Jesus. Maybe betrayal is to strong a word, how about failed. Ever felt that? Yea we have all dealt with failure. But Jesus is in the business of redemption.
When you think about it isn't it interesting that both Judas and Peter caved in under pressure but they both reacted differently. Judas hung himself and Peter went back to being a fisherman. Judas must have felt he was beyond redemption, there was no hope, he had failed and betrayed Jesus and could never be forgiven. Peter probably felt that way but he just went back to doing what he did before he came in contact with Jesus. That's how he made his living, that's where he was comfortable. How they handled failure determined the future course of their lives. One was destroyed the other became a pillar of Christianity.
Next month we will explore how Peter was totally restored and grew as a result of his failure.
Wholeness ministries offers a weekly School of Healing Prayer, individual prayer by appointment, numerous resources on both audio and videotape as well as our book "Learning To do What Jesus Did."
For more information please contact:
Rev. Mike Evans
4301 Stine Rd. Suite H
Bakersfield CA
USA 93313
661-833-2920
Fax 661-833-2934
mevans@wholeness.org
www.wholeness.org
