Peter answered and said to him, "Even if I have to die with you,
I will not deny you!" (v. 35)
DENIAL, BY WORD AND ACTION
This verse appears in each
of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. I pondered why this
verse and Peter’s subsequent denial of Jesus was important enough to
appear in each of them – in particular, why it was important that
Peter be identified as the disciple pledging not to desert Jesus, but
then denying him three times.
In order to understand this, I think it’s beneficial to look at
why the Gospels were written. They were not written as historical biographies.
Rather they were written by advocates for the purpose of convincing people that
Jesus was not merely another in a line of prophets, but that he was the Christ,
the Son of God; much as The Federalist Papers were written by Hamilton, Madison
and Jay for the purpose of convincing people that the Constitution should be
ratified. They are relatively short summaries of Jesus’ life, and thus it’s
appropriate to ask of each passage in them, "Why did the author of this Gospel
think this story would be a reason that one should embrace Jesus as the Christ?"
Earlier in each of the Synoptic Gospels, it was Peter who
identified Jesus as the Messiah (Mark 8:29, Matthew 16:16, Luke 9:20). Looking
at these passages together, it occurs to me that the authors of the Gospels
related the story of Peter’s denial of Jesus to say that Peter was not merely
denying that he knew Jesus, but that he was denying Jesus’ identity as the
Christ.
This denial of Jesus as the Christ is what we all do when our
actions fail to follow his teachings. Fortunately, by grace we are forgiven for
this sin.
God, please help us acknowledge Jesus as the Christ through
our actions. Help us to follow him, and forgive us when we fail to do
so.
Ted Vlamis
