Matthew 26:30-35 Mark 14:16-31
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30 After
singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
31 Then Jesus said to them, “You
will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I WILL
STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ 32 “But
after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 33 But
Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away because of You,
I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly I say
to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you
will deny Me three times.” 35 Peter
said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” All the
disciples said the same thing too.
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26 After
singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
27 And Jesus said to them, “You
will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE
SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ 28 “But
after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 29 But
Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will
not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly I
say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself
will deny Me three times.” 31 But Peter kept
saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not
deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also.
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Human
determination is an unreliable
Human
determination is an unreliable commodity. There are times when we feel strong and are
determined to do or avoid doing something and are successful. However, there are other times when we have
that same commitment but fail miserably.
The disciples have just had a wonderful time of intimate fellowship with
Jesus. He has washed their feet, celebrated
Passover, spoken to them of His plans and prayed for them. Even though they did not understand all that
Jesus had said and done, it was certainly a significant experience that had to
have encouraged and strengthened them.
But there is no way that they anticipated what would happen over the
next hours. Jesus warns them of the
frailty of their determination, but they have a hard time believing what He
says could be true. We need to be warned
that our determination is very similar to theirs.
JESUS PREPARES HIS DISCIPLES: Jesus does several things to
prepare His disciples in this passage. A
time of worship and praise as they sing a hymn together is preparing them for
what Jesus knows is ahead. He then tells
them that they will all fall away from Him that very night. It must have seemed so strange for them to
think in this way. They had just had
this intimate time of fellowship. How
could they fall away so soon? The truth
is that we are usually the most vulnerable to temptation right after times of
great victory and productivity. Pride
and self-confidence are the precursors to failure. Jesus goes so far as to quote Scripture as He
reveals that He, the Shepherd, will be struck down and that they, the sheep,
will scatter. He wants them to know that
He will be killed which must seem horrifying to them. However, it then got very confusing because
He follows that with the statement that He would rise up. They had seen resurrections during their
journey with Jesus, but it had always been done by Jesus. If Jesus was dead and they were scattered,
who would raise Jesus? He does not reveal
this information now, but He does prepare them by saying that He would go to Galilee. This may have been very confusing to them at
this moment, but Jesus was carefully preparing them to face the difficult of days. As these events unfolded, these words and
times of worship would certainly be a comfort to them and give them hope. He has done the same for us as we look
forward to His return. We don’t know
when it will be, but we know He is coming and that we will ultimately be free
from sin and death through Jesus. That
is our eternal hope.
DISCIPLES PROFESS THEIR LOYALTY: Peter and the rest of the
disciples would not believe that they would abandon Jesus at this crucial time. Peter was determined to stay faithful to the
Lord even if everyone else abandoned Jesus.
Peter seems to have great confidence in His own ability to stand. Jesus warns him that he would deny Him three
times before the next morning. Peter
responds to this saying that he would die before doing such a thing and all the
other disciples affirmed the same thing.
We know that Jesus was right, and that Peter denied Christ before a
young girl three times and that all the other disciples scattered Just as Jesus
said. Human determination is not a reliable
commodity in which we can place our trust.
When the Lord warns us to be careful, we will do well to pay attention
and instead of expressing our confidence in our own ability, we should ask Him
for help as well as others.
APPLICATION: Don’t depend on our own determination or believe
that we can be successful through our own will power. Understand the warnings in Scripture about
the dangers of our own hearts and trust in the Spirit’s power to help us walk
faithfully with the Lord. No matter how
difficult things may become, take comfort in the truth that Jesus is returning
and that He will set us free from all sin forever.
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