“They that stood by … said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them? Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the Man” (Matthew 26:73,74).
“Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, loves thou Me more than these? He said unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He said unto him, Feed My lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, loves thou Me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed My sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep” (John 21:15-17).
Peter vowed before his comrades that he would die with Jesus rather than deny Him. In a few hours the opportunity of doing so presented itself, but Peter’s heart failed him. He forgot his vow and threw away for ever this unparalleled chance of proving his love for the Saviour.
When the cock crew, and Jesus turned and looked at him, Peter remembered his broken vow, and went out and wept bitterly. The tenderest sorrow for the way he had treated Jesus must have mingled with the fiercest regret for the lost chance, to bring those bitter tears. Oh, how his love must have reproached him, his conscience stung him, and the devil taunted him!
I doubt not he was tempted to give up all hope, and say to himself: “It is of no use for me to try to be a Christian; I have made a miserable failure, and I will not try any longer.” And over and over again, by day and by night, in the company of others and when by himself, Peter must have been reminded by the devil of his lost chance, and told it was no use for him to try any longer to be a Christian. And I imagine Peter sighed within himself; and would have given the world to have that chance come back once more. But it was gone, and gone for ever!
Peter did love Jesus, however, and while he had lost that chance, Jesus gave him another. A very simple, everyday, matter-of-fact chance it was, nothing like the startling, splendid one of dying with the Son of God on the cross, but probably of far more value to the world and the cause of Christ. All over the country where Jesus had been there were, doubtless, many who believed with a trembling faith in Him. They needed to be faithfully fed with the truths about Jesus, and with those which He had taught.
So Jesus called Peter to Him, and asked him three times the searching question: “Lovest thou Me?” It must have most painfully recalled to Peter’s mind the three times he had denied Jesus. And in reply Peter’s positive assertion that he did love Him, Jesus three times commanded him to feed His lambs and sheep. And then Jesus assured him that at last he should die on a cross—as he probably would have died had he not denied his Lord.
I suspect there are many Peters among the disciples of Jesus today, many in our own ranks, who, somewhere in the past, since they began to follow Jesus, vowed they would do the thing He by His Spirit through their conscience asked them to do, vowed they would die for Him, and meant it, too, who, when the testing time came, forgot their vows, denied Jesus by word or act, and practically left Him to be crucified afresh and alone.
