OUR FATHER WHO TRANSFORMS HIS PEOPLE BY HIS SPIRIT

As the Lord Jesus was being questioned, harangued and abused in Ciaphasˋ palace, the disciple Peter was waiting in the courtyard to see what was going to happen to Jesus when in quick succession, three different people confronted him with the fact that he seemed to be one of the accomplices of Jesus. 

Peter, having pledged to the Lord Jesus that he would never deny Him even to the point of death, suddenly found himself under pressure and fear overwhelmed him and he instinctively distanced himself from Jesus using curses and swearing to provide camouflage for himself by seeming to be from a crass underword culture rather than an associate of a righteous prophet.

Matthew chapter 26 verses 69 - 75 captures these interactions thusly.

69 Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.”

70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.”

71 And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

72 But again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the Man!”

73 And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.”

74 Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. 

75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.

When Peter had devolved to instinctual behaviour three times, a rooster crowed as morning was breaking and Peter realized that in the face of personal danger, he had denied Jesus in public three times even though a few hours before, he had been boldly proclaiming that he would steadfastly stand alongside Jesus.

This brought Peter to a crisis where he had a sudden loss of confidence in himself and he wept bitterly at the realization that he had been weak and like a reed, was easily blown around by the wind.

Later on, after Jesus had risen from the dead, the same Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, was a new man. He was now very courageous and when he himself was arrested and brought before the religious and civic authorities for propagating  a new message of the risen Jesus and healing people, he declared to their faces that they had rejected the Son of God who was the Messiah whom they purported to be waiting for and as such, were now obsolete vestiges of a by-gone era. This example of Peter's transformation is found in the book of Acts chapter 4 verses 10 - 13;

10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,

   which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

The transforming power of Jesus dramatically changed Simon to Peter, a reed to a rock.

Amen.

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