Last night I preached through Mark 14 and considered Peter’s denial of Jesus. It is amazing that Peter was so cowardly, embarrassed, and ashamed of Jesus before a lowly servant girl. One could understand Peter’s denial a little more had this been a ruler or someone that held his life in their hands. But this is a question from a servant girl. (Perhaps, he feared that she would tell her master and this would get him in trouble). Regardless the reasons, Peter—though he thought himself bold—found it quite easy to keep his mouth shut about knowing Jesus, and then when exposed he flat out denied knowing Him.
Contrast that with today’s reading in Acts 4. Standing before perhaps the same people that he was afraid of less than a year ago, Peter says this:
18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
So what’s the difference between these two experiences? Pentecost.
Peter now has the promised Spirit (yes the same Spirit that you and I have) that will embolden him to speak and preach the gospel…even in the face of death.
So today I pray that through the power of the Spirit the Lord would cause me to be the Peter in Acts 4 and not the coward of Mark 14.
