I want to be very brief in my thoughts about the three men (Annas, ’Caiaphas and Pilate) that Jesus was brought before, in chapter 18. Not because I do not wish to deal with them, but because I have Simon Peter on my mind. Jesus had said, “He would be delivered to the ‘Gentiles, be mocked, spitefully entreated and spitted on…and on the third cay would rise again. He said that all of this would be the fulfillment of what was written by the prophets (see Luke 18:31; Matthew 16:21; Acts 2:23,24; Isaiah 53). If Jesus had been judged by ‘Jewish law, He would not have been crucified. Crucifiction was not used by the ’Jews. In Acts 2 we are told that Jesus was handed over to the Gentiles by “God’s set purpose and foreknowledge”.
I am thinking of Jesus foretelling of Peter’s denial. I have looked for something ‘beautiful’ to say about Simon Peter, because I feel to call him a coward and a liar would be unjust. Certainly, I am not going to be his judge. I have gone back to the conversation of the Last Supper (doing a little cross referencing). I will ask you to read Luke’s account of the The Last Supper in Luke chapter 22:7-38.
In particular, I want to call your attention to verses 31 and 32. Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, ‘Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers (this was before Jesus told Simon Peter that he would deny Him three times)”. (see also John 17:9,15; Romans 8:34). The King James says that “Satan’ desired to have you, to sift you like wheat“. One thing to understand here is that the ‘you‘ is plural, so I believe the Word is talking about all of the Disciples. And I found this great illustration by ‘John Piper’ on “sifting like wheat“.
“We can imagine a picture like this: ‘Satan has a big sieve with jagged-edged wires forming a mesh with holes shaped like faithless men and women. What he aims to do is throw people into his sieve and shake them around over these jagged edges until they are so torn and weak and desperate that they let go of their faith and fall through the sieve as faithless people, right into ‘Satan’s company. Faith cannot fall through the mesh. It’s the wrong shape. And so as long as the Disciples hold to their faith, trusting the power and goodness of God for their hope, then they will not fall through the mesh into ‘Satan’s hands.” by John Piper
That’s why Jesus said, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail”. I think that all of the Gospels tell us that the Disciples do not understand everything, yet. Peter, along with the other Disciples would experience a deepening of their faith. We will see, at the end of this Gospel, Peter’s deepening faith. I also see and know that “God’s set purpose and foreknowledge” were in place for Peter also. I won’t attempt to make excuses for him or give reasons why Peter denied Jesus. I just know that Jesus prayed for him and the others, and that God is the author of all that happened.
Thought to Ponder: “Hold to your faith, so that you will not fall into the wrong hands“
Scripture to Ponder: John 18:37
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