Beginning at Luke 22:54 and continuing through chapter 23, we have Luke’s account of the day of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, which emphasizes different aspects of that entire day. It begins in the court of the Jews, which was first held in the high priest’s house. Luke’s account of that is more abbreviated than those of Matthew and Mark. From there, the Lord is taken to the court of the Sanhedrin and then to the Roman court. Luke gives a more detailed account, consistent with his message to Gentile believers, that Jesus is the Son of Man. The first two Gospels describe the hearing held at night and the decision reached early in the morning, a timing that would be more in keeping with the Jewish perspective.
It was during that time that Peter’s denial of the Lord took place over a period of several hours and ended with the cock crowing just before the breaking of the day. He had run away with the other disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, but stopped running and turned to follow at a distance those who had bound Jesus and took Him to the high priest's house. His experience upon arrival, when he entered the courtyard to warm himself by the fire, and the subsequent events changed his life. From a fearful follower at a distance, this same man became a faithful servant of the Lord and a leader among God’s people. He had to learn what he was not before he realized what he was.
Knowing that our fears and failures do not have to keep us useless for the rest of our lives is helpful. Our Lord Jesus Christ is seeking genuine people who live in a real world of lost sinners, who have experienced a genuine transformation through God’s grace, to represent Him as the real Savior of sinners. By representing Him in our generation with Christian love, righteous living, consistent testimony, and faithful service, we can demonstrate the reality of our living faith in a living Savior. Indeed, a follower of Christ will sometimes fail, but it is better to fail in our attempt to follow our Lord than not to follow the Lord at all.
Faith in Him and understanding that comes from experiences with the Lord make our enthusiasm balanced and realistic. Optimism and realism go pretty well together and are far more effective than pessimism and realism. Never consider yourself useless to God because of a failure and a fall. We may never be able to do what we once did, but we can still do what our Lord enables us to do and do it for His glory. Confession of sin in humility and genuine repentance gives us a sense of the awfulness of sin and a greater appreciation of God’s grace than we may ever have had before.
When sin is allowed to go unchecked, either by excusing it or not considering it “all that bad,” we allow it to grow and worsen. When that happens, it will progressively worsen its effect on us and, ultimately, on others. Our fellowship with God and usefulness for Him will be stopped. Peter first disowned the Lord by saying he did not know Him. Later, he denied being a follower of Jesus and, an hour after that, denied knowing what they were talking about. A cover-up of sin is like a malignant growth that gets more poisonous the longer it is allowed to fester.
The crowing rooster was all it took to awaken Peter’s conscience to something more serious than his physical well-being, safety, and fears. It is not uncommon for a person to be so embarrassed when alone and being challenged or mocked by a group of people that they will lie and deny their personal involvement in matters of God and the Lord's service. An awakening of any kind makes recovery possible for a true child of God.
Peter looked at Jesus, and at that moment, Jesus turned and looked straight at him. Whatever Peter saw in that look of pity and/or love melted his heart and soul. He had denied his Lord, turned away from the One who had been his Teacher for three years and had been a True Friend to him. He had even called Peter and those in the upper room with Him a few hours earlier, “My friends.” Jesus had “loved His own unto the end.” Peter had allowed fear to undermine his faith to the extent that he did what he said he would never do. He said what was against his own promise to the Lord.
We all have a point in our minds and hearts beyond which we can deny and fail. It is well for us to evaluate ourselves ahead of time to consider what we would do when we reach our breaking point. “Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall” are not trivial words. We are safer if we openly let our “light shine before men,” so people know ahead of time that we love the Lord. A preemptive testimony may make people around us uncomfortable and may lead to many avoiding or keeping their distance from us. The positive side is that even if people choose to avoid us, they know who they can come to in their time of need, distress, or sorrow.
Humiliation due to rejection for being a known follower of our Lord Jesus Christ is far better than being humiliated for failing to stand up for what we believe. Being mocked for the sake of our commitment to the truth is far better than being asked why we didn’t tell them we were Christians. Weeping, bitter tears of failure do have a cleansing effect if they lead one to confess and forsake their sins. Weeping may accompany a time of restoration, but that, too, is evidence to all involved that there is reality in such a life-changing event.
From Peter’s humiliating experience of failure, he found out that instead of being a man who was strong in himself, the real strength he needed, and so do we, comes from the Lord. His strength is made “perfect” in our weakness. The times of failure may result in periods of testing and training, enabling us to be better equipped for what lies ahead. Those who are to restore a brother taken “in a fault” have learned the value of a “spirit of meekness” from what they have experienced themselves. They have been down a road of learning that gives them the right and responsibility to “restore such a one in the spirit of meekness,” considering themselves lest they also be tempted.