John 13:36-38, Jesus Foretells Peter's Denial

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.” 

In the movie The Passion of the Christ, I found myself weeping at the scene where Jesus turns his face and looks into Peter’s just as Peter denies Jesus for the third time. Of all the visual horrors of that movie, that was the worst for me as I identified with Peter as a denier of Jesus. 

Jesus agitates Peter, who cannot stand to be left out, with the words “you cannot follow.” Jesus will lay down his life in a way that Peter cannot, but he does let Peter know that one day he will lay down his life. Peter has no idea of the darkness before him in the next hours of his life. He will be tested as never before and brought to complete brokenness, denying his relationship with Jesus, and running away from Jerusalem back to the safety of Bethany with the other disciples. 

Each of us has within us the capacity to follow Judas and Peter in betrayal and denial. We must cast ourselves daily upon the Lord and his mercy, remembering what Jesus says: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out (6:37).” There is an eternity of difference between their responses to their sins. 

Think of a time when you betrayed someone and how you responded. Now think of a time you denied Jesus. If you have not done so before, take the time to repent and seek the Lord’s forgiveness and be refreshed and renewed.