Mark 14:66-72-- Failure

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 Jesus the Nazarene." But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about." And he went out onto the porch, and a rooster crowed. The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, "This is one of them!" But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too." But he began to curse and swear, "I do not know this man you are talking about!"  Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, "Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he began to weep.

It was already stated that Peter had followed Jesus to the court of the high priest, where the Sanhedrin met (Mark 14:54).  Mark goes back and forth between Peter and Jesus, to inform the reader that both events were happening at the same time. 

Peter was confused about his position, for Jesus made it clear that he didn’t want to resist arrest, but Peter claimed to defend Jesus with his life, so he felt he needed to follow.  Two girls who were servants of the high priest claimed that they recognized him as being a follower of Jesus.  Because of his confusion and his immediate fear of being arrested, he denied their claims.  Then others hear his Galilean accent, and confronted him with his lies.  However, now his honor was at stake, for they were accusing him of being a liar, and so he vehemently denied it, even cursing to show how strongly he felt about it.  Then the rooster crowed, and he remembered Jesus’ prophecy, connecting him denying Jesus with a rooster crowing.  At this point, Peter realized his gross sin and wept from repentance.  

His denial was a severe sin, for Jesus claimed that whoever was ashamed of him would be rejected by him and the Father (Mark 8:38).  But note that Jesus, even after knowing that Peter would deny him, still have Peter the “inner circle” status in Gethsemene, and so offered him forgiveness even before he had sinned.

Sometimes, in following Jesus, we find ourselves in situations that we never would have chosen ourselves, situations in which we are way over our head.  We don't even know how we got there, and once there, we are clawing at anyone and everyone to try to get out.  We look back at those times and we cry out to God, wondering why He ever let us get in that place to begin with.

Isn't it odd that Jesus isn't surprised at our failure or sin.  He knows what we are capable of, even if we do not.  He knows that we will be a screw up.  And he isn't disappointed in us, or heap more guilt on us than we do ourselves.  He just picks us up, dusts us off, and say, "Okay, let's do better next time, okay?"

In following Jesus, we WILL fail.  We need to expect that.  Jesus sometimes demands more than we can give-- or we demand more for ourselves than Jesus asks.  Failure is part of the process.  Through it we can both learn our own limitations and Jesus' mercy.