Return from Denial
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus, who will never deny His faithful followers.
Return from Denial is our sermon title tonight, taken from Luke 22:54-62, which we’ll look at later.
The evening had started so well. The disciples had gathered together in the Upper Room, on a sacred day for a sacred ceremony, the Passover Day and Meal. To us it would be like gathering at Christmas or Easter. The disciples were so excited.
In the close presence of their Teacher, and in each other’s company and friendship, they celebrated the Passover with their Master, perhaps for the first time; and they were probably thinking the first of many times. But as it turned out, it would be for the last time, their last Passover Meal and Last Supper with Jesus while he walked on earth.
As the events of the night unfolded, things became more and more disturbing and confusing to the disciples, starting with the seating arrangement. That might seem like a minor thing to us, but it was a big thing to them.
When Jesus seated the disciples for the meal, instead of giving Peter the seat of honor next to Him, as Peter and the other disciples probably expected, Jesus put Peter in the place of lowest honor, farthest away from Him. And, to everyone’s surprise, Jesus put Judas next to Him in the seat of highest honor.
Peter was stinging from this perceived insult, so when Jesus confounded them all, by taking a basin of water and a towel, and washing their, getting to Peter last, he took the opportunity to try to show Jesus that He had made a mistake putting him in such a low place.
Peter objected to Jesus stooping down to wash his feet, thinking that would show Jesus how much he revered Him. Peter didn’t understand what Jesus was doing. But Jesus knew what Peter was doing, trying to earn His favor and improve his standing, so Jesus told Peter to be quiet and let Him wash his feet.
As the meal began, Jesus said some stunning things. Most amazing of all, He told them that the bread they were to eat was His body, broken for them; and the wine His blood, shed for their forgiveness.
And He told them that soon He would be betrayed and handed over to His enemies. And He identified Judas as His betrayer, and told Judas to go and do what he had already decided to do. Judas left, and the seat of honor was vacated.
Seeing that, combined with Peter being seated at the lowest place, the other disciples saw that as an opportunity for them to try to improve their standing, thinking that perhaps Jesus would promote them to the place of highest honor.
So they started to argue about which one of them was the best and greatest and most deserving. They didn’t understand what Jesus was teaching them by washing their feet.
Jesus told them that as His apostles and leaders in the Church, they were not to lead in a worldly way, grabbing for power, abusing their authority and lording themselves over others. Instead, they were to lead with benevolence and humility, seeing themselves as servants to those whom they would lead.
Luke tells us that Jesus said to them, Let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.
Many times before Jesus had taught this to them. In Matthew 18:4 Jesus said, Whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And in Matthew 23:11, He said, The greatest among you shall be your servant.
Ironically, by placing Peter in the least honored seat, He was showing him and the disciples, that Peter would be their spokesman and leader, the most influential among them, and that Peter, and all of them, should lead as Jesus had led them, with humble service. Jesus showed this to them by washing their feet, but most of all, by dying on the cross for them, and for the world.
But they had trouble catching the idea of servant leadership in their minds, because it’s so different from how the world operates, and from what the sin and selfishness in us wants.
Our selfish nature wants to lord it over others, and have our own way in everything.
So Jesus showed Peter in a way he wouldn’t forget. He told Peter that before the rooster crowed twice, he would deny he even knew Jesus.
And He told the disciples that they would all desert Him, run away to save their own skin, while He was taken away in chains.
Jesus finished the meal with them, prayed for them, and then led them to the Mount of Olives, where, just as He predicted, they all ran away in fear as He was bound and arrested.
This is where our sermon text, Luke 22:54-62 begins. Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.
56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” 59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.”
And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
Not only did Peter desert Jesus in His time of need, but when he had a chance to redeem himself and boldly identify himself as a follower of Jesus, he chickened out. Before the rooster crowed, he lied and cursed and denied, to save his own hide.
So when have you and I chickened out, instead of standing up for Jesus, and all that He stands for?
Many times, I’ve been a coward, choosing sin over godliness, selfishness over service, greed over generosity, pride over humility; many times choosing to blend in with the crowd, rather than standing out as a courageous follower of Christ, joining in with the worldly and raunchy laughter and conversation, rather than choosing purity of mouth and mind; selfishly choosing the flaunting of power over submitting in love; choosing worldly pursuits over heavenly goals.
As Peter could not redeem himself, neither can we. But all is not lost, because we have a God who can and did redeem us all; we have a Savior who made all the right choices; who was denied and deserted for us; who suffered and died alone, bearing all our sin and guilt and denial, so that all would be forgiven.
Being restored by the cross of Christ, being comforted by His very body and blood given and shed for us, being pardoned by the Absolution of our sins, being renewed and washed by water and the Word, being strengthened in the Gospel and empowered by the Spirit, we can be more bold and confident to stand up for and speak out for Jesus, and for all He has to give to the world, infinitely more than anyone else; daily blessings for body and soul, and eternal blessings that only He can give.
It was a difficult lesson, but Peter learned. Later he wrote in his 1st Epistle, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
Because He cares for you, Jesus teaches you about a better way of life and shows you a better way to lead, even when it’s a difficult lesson to learn. But the hard lessons are the ones we learn best.
Peter never forgot what he learned the hard way, but learned so well -- to lead like Jesus leads, as a humble servant. May we never forget what God is teaching us about following Him and serving one another. And with His help and by His grace, never deny our Lord, but bravely confess Christ and the Gospel in this world.
And as we do, God’s peace, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, who never denied His dear Father, and will never deny us, His dear children. Amen.