66. Denial in the Darkness: Peter, Jesus and Words of Truth

G'day, Dave here.

Welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

Have you ever said something that wasn't quite true?

It wasn't right.

They were empty words.

Maybe it was a straight out lie.

Like when you said, I used to be a prince, but then a witch turned me into a frog and then a princess kissed me and I turned back to being a prince, but then I had to stop being a prince because it was getting in the way of me doing my homework.

That'd be a pretty big lie.

Unless it actually happened to.

Wait, did that happen to you?

Oh, anyway, anyway, other times you say things that you think is true, but it turns out not to be.

Like maybe you said you were going to tidy your bedroom, but other things seem to get in the way.

Like you really wanted to listen to the latest episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids and you kind of forgot about your bedroom.

Maybe someone said something to you, they told you they were going to do it, but they never did.

And that can be really frustrating or really sad.

Words matter.

What we say matters.

But all of us at different times say things that aren't true.

There is someone, though, who.

Whose words are always good, always powerful, always true.

And we're going to see him in action today.

Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for kids.

At the end of our last episode, Jesus had been arrested in the middle of the night.

It had taken longer than you might expect.

Jesus had to keep speaking up to help the soldiers actually arrest him and to make sure that nothing happened to his disciples.

Even though there were lots of people with weapons there, it was Jesus that had the most power.

Well, the soldiers tie up Jesus and they take him back into the city, into Jerusalem.

They take him to a man called Annas.

He's a pretty powerful guy.

His daughter is married to Caiaphas, the high priest.

In fact, Annas used to be the high priest himself, but he'd made the Romans angry.

And by then the Romans had conquered the country.

And so they were like, neener, neener, neener, we're in charge of you.

We're gonna make you not high priest and flush you down the loo.

Well, maybe not those exact words, but something like that.

They did stop him being high priest.

And lots of Jews were like, hey, you can't do that.

You can't decide who gets to be in charge of God's temple.

And so even though Caiaphas is the high priest, lots of people still treat Annas as though he's actually the high priest.

That's why they take Jesus to him first.

Meanwhile, two of Jesus disciples, John and Simon Peter are sneaking along behind trying to find out what's happening.

John actually knows the High Priest, so he can get into the High Priest's house pretty easily.

When I say house, think it's more like a mansion.

I mean, there are lots of servants.

It's a really big place.

The High Priest probably has no idea that John's even there.

A servant girl opens the door, recognises him and lets him in.

Peter doesn't know the High Priest, so he's stuck outside in the cold night.

When John realises he hasn't come in, he goes back to the servant girl who's on door duty.

He speaks to her and and he gets her to let his friend in.

This is really brave.

John's probably been in the house before.

No one would be surprised that he's there.

But Peter, he's an outsider.

People might start thinking he's there for Jesus.

They might start treating him badly because of Jesus.

They might even arrest him.

Especially if anyone recognises him as the guy who cut off someone's ear back in the garden.

So this is really brave.

Of course we know Peter's brave, don't we?

He's stuck by Jesus in the past, when almost everyone else has run away.

At dinner earlier in the evening, he said he was willing to die for Jesus.

And then in the garden, he'd shown that he really was ready to die for Jesus.

Strangely though, at the dinner, Jesus had said something really weird.

He'd said that Peter was going to deny him that night, three times.

Peter was like, as if that would ever happen.

And it seems like he's right.

It seems like he's so brave, there is no way he'd deny Jesus.

After all, when most of the other disciples have run away, Peter's ended up following Jesus to the home of the High Priest.

As the girl at the door is letting Peter in, she asks him a question.

She asks, aren't you also one of that man's followers?

And Peter's like, yes, I am.

I'm the bravest and most faithful of all his followers.

I'm the one who stood by him.

I'm the one who's willing to fight for him.

I'm even willing to die for him, even if it means I get crucified for I, Simon Peter.

Oh, wait, that's not what Peter said at all.

When the girl asks, aren't you also one of the man's followers?

Peter says, no, I'm not.

What?

What happened to all those brave ideas?

What happened to being willing to die for Jesus?

What happened to Peter's words?

Well, inside the home, there's a courtyard.

A bunch of the guards and servants have lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard.

And they're standing around it, getting warm.

It's a cold night.

Peter joins the circle around the fire, and he waits to see what's going to happen.

Inside, Annis is speaking to Jesus and asking questions about his disciples and his teaching.

Jesus doesn't say a thing about his disciples.

He's still protecting them and making sure they're okay for his teaching.

You'd think Jesus would be really excited to jump in and tell Annas everything.

All the stuff he's been saying before.

All the words of eternal life that he's been handing out.

Surely he'd want to say those same words right now.

After all, earlier in the evening, Jesus had called himself the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Surely he wants to tell the truth to Annas and to anyone who's going to listen.

Except he knows that Annas doesn't really want to hear the truth.

He doesn't want to listen.

Jesus words aren't secret words.

He hasn't been hiding them.

He's been speaking about them where everyone, including the high priest, has been able to hear.

The problem isn't that Annas doesn't know what Jesus teaches.

It's that he just doesn't want to listen.

Also, if he really wanted to find things out, if he really wants to put Jesus on trial for being evil, then he shouldn't be asking Jesus lots of questions.

He should be getting in.

Lots of people who heard Jesus, lots of witnesses who can repeat his words and say what he said.

So Jesus says to annas, in chapter 18, verse 20, he says, I have spoken openly to everyone.

I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come together.

I never said anything in secret.

So why do you question me?

Ask the people who heard my teaching.

They know what I said.

But again, Annas doesn't really care about the truth.

He just wants an excuse to kill Jesus.

In the room, there's a guard standing near Jesus.

He is really angry.

He doesn't care what the truth is either.

He just thinks he should speak really kindly to the high priest, even if he's being really evil.

This guard thinks that words matter.

Just not true words or right words.

He's so angry, he slaps Jesus across the face.

And he says in verse 22, he says these words he says, is that the way you answer the high Priest?

Jesus knows he's said the right thing.

He also knows that they aren't doing the right thing.

They're being really evil with their words and actions.

And he tells them to start doing things properly.

He says, if I said something wrong, then say what was wrong.

But if what I said is true, why do you hit me?

Those aren't words they want to hear.

Jesus is speaking the truth.

They're being really evil.

Jesus words are right.

Their words are wrong.

Instead of dealing with it, though, Annas sends Jesus off to Caiaphas, the high Priest.

Back outside, things are heating up for Peter.

As he stands around the fire, the others are looking at this stranger and wondering, what's he doing here.

Eventually, they ask him in verse 25, aren't you one of that man's followers?

This is a great opportunity for Peter.

Now he can correct the lie that he said before.

Now he can own up to the truth.

Unfortunately, he's too scared.

Have you ever said a lie because you were too scared to tell the truth?

That's what Peter does.

Once again, he tells them he's not a follower of Jesus.

One of the people there is a servant of the high Priest.

Not only that, he'd been in the group that had gone up to the garden to arrest Jesus.

Not only that, he.

He's actually a relative of the man whose ear was cut off by Peter.

You can imagine he's not thinking particularly nice thoughts about whoever cut his cousin's ear off.

Now, it had been dark in the garden, but there was a full moon.

So this guy's starting to think, oh, I think I recognise this guy.

He says to him, didn't I see you with him in the garden?

A third opportunity, a third chance.

Okay, yes, I was with Jesus.

Yes, I'm one of his followers.

And yes, I think he's the greatest king in all the world.

Sadly, that isn't what Peter says.

Once again, he doesn't tell the truth.

Once again, he lies.

He tells the man it wasn't him, he's not a follower of Jesus.

And immediately a rooster crows.

How terribly sad.

Peter's been the bravest, most loyal of all of Jesus disciples.

And even he can't tell the truth.

Even he's denied knowing Jesus.

Even he's failed in his words.

But you know whose words haven't failed?

Jesus words.

Jesus isn't surprised by any of this.

He said Peter would deny him.

He said, how many times Peter would deny him.

He even said what time it would happen by by the time the rooster crows.

So as sad as this whole thing is, it should still make us really excited about Jesus and his words.

Because it reminds us that Jesus always speaks the truth.

Jesus always knows what's going to happen.

And so when Jesus tells us what is going to happen, we know we can trust him.

He speaks faithful true words.

That means he's about to suffer, just like he said he would.

He's going to die to save people, just like he said he would.

He's also going to rise to give people new life, just like he said he would.

But that's a story for next time.

Well, I hope you're really enjoying this series in the lead up to Easter.

We've got a few more episodes to go as we get ready for that wonderful, wonderful time.

Keep listening in, keep tuning in.

Tell other people to listen in.

I tell you what though, on my website on faithfulgod.net I've got a contacts page and I've been getting lots of contacts from there from people who are just trying to sell me stuff.

I don't want that sort of contact.

I want contact from you.

Tell me where do you live?

Tell me how you're finding the show.

Tell me what you love, tell me what you don't love.

I don't care.

I would just love to hear from you.

Want to give you a shout out as well.

So Please jump on faithfulgod.net, fill in the contact form.

I'd love to get to know you more.

Keep trusting Jesus.

Bye for now.