S166P7 – The good disciple: a heart inclined to firmness
Mt. 26:31-35
Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.
The capture of Christ created a time of confusion among his disciples. Imagine leaving your life behind you in order to follow the Lord only to have him predict this seemingly dire end. Jesus said that they would be scattered and that they would stumble. He told them what would come, and they had no reason to doubt his words. These men had followed Christ as the Messiah that He is, seeing his work and learning from his teachings, so they would have known that His words are true. Yet, they did not accept these words. If they trusted Jesus always to share the truth with them, then we must ask ourselves why they disagreed with him here.
I do not think that the disciples thought that Jesus was lying here. What I think we are seeing is the disbelief of those who expect themselves to be faithful. Peter did not want to believe that he would be unfaithful and stumble. He wanted to be the faithful follower who would defend Christ unto death. In fact, all the disciples agreed with Peter that they thought they would be faithful and not stumble. We know that the words of Jesus indeed came true, and we know that one issue was that these men did not take the time to pray to keep from stumbling. [vv. 40-46] Despite this, I believe that the words spoken here by these men tell us that they wholeheartedly desired to follow Jesus faithfully to the end.
Anyone who has played a sport knows that a game plan is only as good as its execution. These men might not have exercised wisdom in doing what was needed to get their desired result, but they began with their hearts inclined the right way. As we face our daily challenges, it is easy to resign ourselves to expecting that we will fall at some point. The other option is to do as these men did and to expect success and desire faithfulness, not out of pride but out of a desire to please God. Proper execution might take practice, but we must begin by envisioning that we will be faithful. Father, give us confidence in our ability to be faithful along with the wisdom to prepare ourselves spiritually for the days’ challenges.