Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. ~ John 18:25-27
On the night of Jesus’ life, He explained to His disciples one of them would betray Him. Peter insisted that He wouldn’t do that. That all the rest may leave Him, but he would never leave Him. He would follow Him even to death, but just a few hours later, Peter denied Jesus three times. Peter had failed his test because he failed to study.
Jesus had warned the disciples that He had to die. He told them time after time that He had to die in order to fulfill the Law and bring life, but Peter didn’t grasp this concept. Peter missed the purpose of Jesus because He had his own idea of who the Messiah was, even though he walked and talked with Jesus daily. Because of this, Peter set up a trap for himself to fall into. When in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed until Judas and the Guards came to arrest Him. Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to pray with Him, yet they all fell asleep. Now was the time for the test, and Peter wasn’t ready. He sliced off a servant of the High Priest’s ear clean off. This was the trap he set for himself.
The garden was dark. They came with only torches to light their way. Judas had to identify Christ so that they didn’t accidentally arrest the wrong man because Thomas, called the twin, was also in the garden with them. Peter wouldn’t have been recognized by the last accuser if he had never cut off the man’s ear. It was a relative of that man that recognized Peter from the garden. It wasn’t just hearsay. It wasn’t he said, she said. It was, “No, I saw you with my own eyes in the garden.” Peter never would’ve been recognized by this man if he hadn’t cut off the man’s ear a few hours earlier.
When we don’t pray and spend time in worship, our weak flesh overcomes our weak spirit. It allows for any stronghold to come into our lives and run us. We have to fight the good fight while we can. We have to store food up before winter. We have to prepare for coming trials so that we don’t accidentally set a snare for ourselves to be trapped in later on. If we pray and worship, we’ll clear the path for ourselves and build up our spirit so that when trials and tests come, we can pass with flying colors.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Clear Paths.
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