I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up – Matthew 26:57-75

There used to be a commercial for a medic alert device for elderly people that they would wear around their necks in case they fell and needed help. The commercial showed a woman on the floor and she said into her medic alert device, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” It was funnier when I was younger.

The apostle Peter didn’t have one of these devices, of course, but he could have uttered the exact same words.

Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” And the high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:57-75 ESV)

Peter ran from the arresting guards as did the rest of the disciples when Jesus was arrested but now he tries to be brave and as Jesus is taken in before the high priest Peter mills around in the courtyard to see what happens.  What happens is a travesty of justice as this illegal court seeks witnesses, any witnesses, to bring false testimony against Jesus.  Jesus is unresponsive until the high priest adjures him to acknowledge whether or not he is the Messiah, which is to say, the Son of God.  Jesus admits it is so and alludes to Daniel 7 and the prophecy of one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of Days to receive the sovereignty over all world kingdoms.  The high priest Caiaphas recognizes the passage, of course, and its claim that all will bow down to this son of man and worship him, so he cries “Blasphemy,” and secures a death penalty for Jesus.

Peter, meanwhile, is recognized and three times denies knowing Jesus, pronouncing something like, “May God strike me dead if I am lying, I don’t know the man.”  Just as Jesus predicted, the rooster crows and Peter runs away, dejected, ashamed and utterly defeated.  He has found the edge of his courage and failed to be brave for his master.  He had fallen asleep instead of praying in Gethsemane and now has succumbed to temptation.  He needed courage, like Jesus did, from the Father. 

We are not sufficient in ourselves to follow Jesus or take up our cross, but the Lord has ways of showing us this insufficiency and moving us forward to trust in Him. It is actually of great benefit to find the limits of our abilities and so learn that it is through intimate conversation with God (prayer) that we find the strength we need to follow Christ.