As Jesus was speaking to Peter, James, and John in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas appears with “a great multitude with swords and clubs…from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders” (14:43). Judas proceeded to kiss Jesus singling Him out as the one and they immediately took Him captive (14:44-48). It was at this time that Mark also records that all of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him as He had said in 14:27. The mob leads Jesus away to the home of the high priest and Peter follows at a distance (14:53-54). The council begins to question Jesus looking for some reason to put Him to death, but they found none (14:55-60). The high priest finally asked Jesus directly, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus responded by saying, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (14:61-62). The high priest became upset and accused Jesus of blasphemy because He claimed to be the promised Messiah. All those who were listening agreed that He should be put to death and they began spitting on Him and beating Him (14:64-65). Mark switches back to Peter, who is watching all this take place from afar, where people begin to question his association with Jesus. Three times someone accused him of being one of Jesus’ followers, but each time he denied it more vehemently (14:66-71). On his third denial, the rooster crowed and Peter remembered Jesus words to Him in Mark 14:30. When Peter thought about this, the Bible says that he wept (14:72). I know all those who follow Christ can identify with Peter in this circumstance. I truly believed Peter loved Jesus with all his heart, but overestimated how far he would go for the sake of Christ. Many of us feel committed to do the work of God in our daily lives, but when serving Him results in persecution there is some hesitation on our part. We should be honest with ourselves and guard against overconfidence in our own spiritual strength. Jesus told His disciples that the key to spiritual strength was through prayer and I believe we must throw our dependence on God each day by confessing our need for Him.
Dear God, I need Your strength today as trials and persecutions may come my way. Help me to withstand each with Your power and that my confidence would be in You, not myself.
