Repeating the Pattern
Once Peter denied knowing Jesus the first time, could he have stopped himself from denying him again and again?
Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance. When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, ‘This man also was with him.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘Woman, I do not know him.’ A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, ‘You also are one of them.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I am not!’ Then about an hour later yet another kept insisting, ‘Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about!’ At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly. Now the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him; they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, ‘Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?’ They kept heaping many other insults on him. When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council. They said, ‘If you are the Messiah, tell us.’ He replied, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I question you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.’ - Luke 22:54-69
Peter was afraid to speak the truth the first time he was challenged, and once he lied, he was committed to lie again. Don't we all fall into that trap?
It could be that Peter was afraid those who challenged him might hear him say something different to the next person, so he kept the story going. Once he had lied, how could he avoid repeating the lie?
It wasn't until after Peter denied Christ three times that he remembered Jesus told him he would.
It is as if the mind shuts down when we start to lie and it doesn't turn on again until later, when the fear of being caught subsides.
Maybe that is the pattern we need to avoid. If we can calm the fear, we might be able to think of a way out of the situation without having to lie.
Of course, it is easier to lie, isn't it?
It seems everyone is doing it these days.
More to come...