And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

Mark 14:27-31

We can be tremendously bold when we don’t need to be. We can all talk the talk when nothing is going wrong. We can all make statements about how to live but we rarely live that way when we need to. Jesus tells the disciples that they will all fall away. All the disciples tell Jesus they won’t fall away. I’m going to focus on Peter more than the others because he replied back emphatically. That word means to do something in a forceful way. You get a picture of Peter saying with such passion and force, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you”. You could probably see the passion in his eyes as he said that. Though we all know what happens in the end.

And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Mark 14:66-72

Peter had been bolder that all the other men. He had followed Jesus right to the courtyard of the high priest and he was sitting down, warming himself at the fire, with the guards (14:54). He had made it all that way not denying the name of Jesus. Then this servant girl says that he was with Jesus. Suddenly he is not comfortable anymore. A sense of trouble comes about him. He knows that not denying Jesus will have consequences. Before, he was able to be free with his words because nothing would come of them. He didn’t have to suffer because he told Jesus he would die with him. But now when the trouble was right in front of him his words might actually mean death for him. Maybe he had seen the young man that they had tried to seize for following Jesus. All these thoughts would have gone through his head about death. He was also sitting with guards all around him in the courtyard of the high priest. It wouldn’t have been a big bother for the guards to bring him to the high priest. They would probably have taking him straight away and put him down before Jesus.

The point is, Peter had been tremendously bold and courageous when nothing would happen to him. He would not deny Christ at any cost, even death. But when the problem faced him everything that he had once known disappeared. He denied Christ! The man that had once forcefully said he wouldn’t deny Jesus forcefully denied Jesus. Boldness and courage aren’t measured by what you say or do in the absence of troubles, but what you say or do in the presence of troubles.

We can all be like Peter. The countless times I’ve gave advice to people from the Bible in times of their trouble and yet when I go through the exact same thing I don’t know what to do. The times in church or in small groups or talking to friends that we can say I would never do that. The times when we talk about our faith in non-troubled times and tell others what we would do and how courageous we would be. The times when we look at others and judge them because they’re going through a problem and aren’t really turning to God. We are all eager to judge others and make excuses for ourselves. We are quick to forget our God when we need him the most. When trouble comes the person we once were is quick to disappear. Worry and fear come in and traumatise us. We forget our God is bigger and better than anything that faces us. We forgot to keep our eyes focused on Him. We deny Christ in our own ways. Be bold and courageous when it matters! Pray about it..

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9