Thursday August 08th, 2024
« But Peter followed Him (Jesus) at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire »
50 Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away.
51 One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him,
52 he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked.
53 They took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered.
54 Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the high priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.
55 Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find evidence against Jesus, so they could put Him to death. But they couldn’t find any.
56 Many false witnesses spoke against Him, but they contradicted each other.
57 Finally, some men stood up and gave this false testimony:
58 “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.’”
59 But even then they didn’t get their stories straight!
60 Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?”
61 But Jesus was silent and made no reply. Then the high priest asked Him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”
62 Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
63 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses?
64 You have all heard His blasphemy. What is your verdict?” “Guilty!” they all cried. “He deserves to die!”
65 Then some of them began to spit at Him, and they blindfolded Him and beat Him with their fists. “Prophesy to us,” they jeered. And the guards slapped Him as they took Him away.
66 Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard below. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by
67 and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and said, “You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth.”
68 But Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed.
69 When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, “This man is definitely one of them!”
70 But Peter denied it again. A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”
71 Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”
72 And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.
Many churchgoers these days are merely paying lip service when they call themselves Christians.
If you were to really check, you would discover that instead of carrying their cross to follow Jesus closely, many are only following Him from afar.
The moment things get a little bit tough; they deny Him.
Peter was an ardent follower of Christ; he was also very vocal about his beliefs, thus he was the last person one would have expected would deny Christ.
We need to really enquire about what happened that day in Mark 14.
« And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire »
Take note of the first clause in the passage above – Peter followed Jesus from afar.
How closely are you following Jesus now?
So many Christians are following Jesus from afar, hence they deny Him over and over again.
Peter had boasted of how impossible it was for him to deny Jesus in Mark 14:27-31, but in Mark 14:54, he followed Jesus from afar and ended up denying Him.
- Why did he follow Jesus from afar?
This is because he did not want to be associated with the persecutions of Jesus Christ.
Are you also running away from the persecutions of Jesus?
You don’t talk like a Christian in the office because you don’t want anyone to tag you with Christ.
You go for business meetings and even though you are prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray before the meeting starts, you subdue the prompting because you don’t want the people you are meeting with to know how seriously you take God.
You don’t preach the gospel to those you interact with daily because you don’t want them to start calling you a Christian fanatic.
When you let them know from the onset that you are a child of God, there are deals and suggestions that they would never bring your way.
On the other hand, if you are following Jesus from afar, they will bring those temptations to you because they have never known you to be serious about your faith.
In Church, when you are engulfed in the presence of God and boasting that you will never deny Him like Peter did, ask yourself, “When I get out there in the world, would I be following Christ closely or would I be following Him from afar?”
Application – The only way you will not deny Jesus is if you are following Him closely and everyone can easily associate you with Him.
Author – Bishop Enoch Adejare Adeboye; General Overseer of the RCCG
Edited by Naomie Joseph
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