Passage: Mark 14:53-72
The Big Idea
While Jesus stood trial before the high priest, confessing “I am” and enduring spit and blows, Peter followed “at a distance” and warmed himself at the enemy’s fire, where he denied Jesus three times. The lesson is simple: stay close to Jesus. Drifting happens slowly, but the Word of God and prayer keep us near Him, where there is fullness of joy. And when we fail, as Peter did, the answer is repentance: agreeing with God, including agreeing that He still loves us.
At a Distance (Mark 14:53-54)
They led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and scribes gathered. Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest, and he was sitting with the guards, warming himself at the fire.
“Peter followed Him at a distance.”
Here’s a hint for successful following: stay close!
How do we stay close to Jesus, the way Peter should have? How do we keep from drifting away?
Hebrews says we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we don’t drift away from it (Hebrews 2:1).
- The Word of God is the key! Stay close to it. Stay in it.
- What is Jesus called? The Word of God (John 1:1; Revelation 19:13).
- “Much closer attention” is emphatic: exceedingly, abundantly, earnestly.
In 2012 a Salvadoran fisherman named José Salvador Alvarenga set out from the coast of Mexico on what was supposed to be a short trip. A storm disabled his boat, and he drifted for about 438 days and some 6,700 miles, finally washing ashore in the Marshall Islands. Drifting doesn’t happen all at once. It happens a little at a time.
Robert Robinson wrote the hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” with its famous line, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” The story is told that years later, after drifting from the Lord himself, he was riding in a stagecoach beside a woman who was humming that hymn. She asked him what he thought of it. He burst into tears and said, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”
David wrote that God shows us the path of life, that in His presence is complete joy, and at His right hand are pleasures that never end (Psalm 16:11).
- Being near Jesus is joy, fullness of joy!
- John Piper’s book Desiring God makes the point that God is most glorified in us when we’re most satisfied in Him. If you want the deepest joy possible, seek God. In His presence is the fullest joy there is.
A holy habit:
- Spend time with Jesus.
- Spend time in the Word: read it, write it, listen to it. Stay in it!
- Pray.
False Witnesses (Mark 14:55-59)
The chief priests and the whole council were looking for testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they found none. Many bore false witness against Him, but their testimony didn’t agree. Some stood up and testified falsely, “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.'” Yet even then their testimony didn’t agree.
- What Jesus said about the temple of His body (John 2:19-21) was supposed to be wonderful news! But all they could see was their hatred of Him.
- It was meant to bring joy, but they didn’t want His joy. They wanted to be rid of Him.
“I Am” (Mark 14:60-64)
The high priest stood up and asked Jesus, “Have You no answer to make? What is it these men testify against You?” But He remained silent and made no answer.
Again the high priest asked Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
- “I am”: the name of God (Exodus 3:14).
- “Seated at the right hand of Power… coming with the clouds of heaven”: He was claiming the messianic prophecies of Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13 for Himself.
The high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard His blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned Him as deserving death.
Some point out that the Law forbade the high priest to tear his garments (Leviticus 10:6; 21:10). Whether or not Caiaphas realized it, in that moment of rage he was tearing the robes of an office that was about to be fulfilled. Jesus would offer His own blood to God for the sins of the world and ascend to the Father as our Great High Priest, who always lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:24-27).
Spit and Blows (Mark 14:65)
Some began to spit on Him, cover His face, strike Him and say, “Prophesy!” And the guards received Him with blows.
- Isaiah had foretold it: the Servant would offer His back to those who beat Him and His cheeks to those who tore out His beard, and He would not hide His face from mocking and spitting (Isaiah 50:6).
- So much of what happened to Jesus was prophesied centuries before He came.
- That way there would be no confusion, no doubt that He is the real Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world.
- Any heart that truly wants to know the truth can find it.
- But most people don’t really want to know. Because if He is God’s Son, He must be honored and obeyed, and that’s not what we naturally want. We rebel against any authority over us.
Three Denials (Mark 14:66-72)
As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant girls came by. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it: “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway, and the rooster crowed.
The servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it.
After a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you’re a Galilean.” But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”
Immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
- God will work things out to show you that you need Him.
- To show you He knows everything.
- To show you that you can’t succeed at anything without Him.
- We can’t stand on our own!
- To stand, we must live in moment-by-moment dependence on the Father.
Paul learned that the Lord’s power is made perfect in weakness: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). And we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Vance Havner liked to say that the Lord had the strength and he had the weakness, so they teamed up, and it was an unbeatable combination.
Hudson Taylor said that God chose him because he was weak enough.
The Reformer Thomas Cranmer, under pressure, signed recantations of his faith. But when the day came for his execution, he publicly renounced those recantations. He had promised that if he must burn, the hand that signed them would burn first. And at the stake, he held that hand in the flames. How else could he do that but by dependence on the Father?
How We Deny Him
Let’s be honest. We deny Him too:
- When I’m too busy to pray, I deny that He is the center of my life.
- When I neglect His Word, I deny that He is able to guide me.
- When I worry, I deny that He is Lord of my circumstances.
- When I turn away from the hungry and homeless, I deny that He is a God of mercy who has put me here to be His hands and feet.
- When I take something that belongs to someone else, whether a possession or credit that’s rightly theirs, I deny that He is the source of every blessing.
Yes, we deny Him daily.
What Do We Do When We’ve Denied Him?
Repent.
To repent means to change your mind, to agree with God, to say the same thing about it that He says.
- God says to pray. So we pray.
- God says to abide in His Word. So we keep reading.
- God says we can trust Him. So we do.
- God says to forgive and love others. Will we?
- God says He loves us. Can we agree with that?
That last one is where Peter’s story turned. Jesus had already prayed for him that his faith wouldn’t fail, and told him that when he turned back, he should strengthen his brothers (Luke 22:31-32). After the resurrection, the angel’s message was “Go, tell His disciples and Peter” (Mark 16:7). Jesus never stopped loving the man who denied Him.
Grace Takeaway
Peter didn’t fall all at once. He followed at a distance, sat by the wrong fire, and then denied the Lord he loved. Stay close to Jesus: in His Word, in prayer, in His presence where there’s fullness of joy. And if you’ve drifted or denied Him, don’t stay away in shame. Repent, agree with God about your sin, and agree with Him about His love. He has a message waiting for you, by name.