I Never Will!

ByJim Stephens

Scripture: Matthew 26:31-35 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

31 On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” 33 Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” 35 “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same. (Matthew 26:31–35 NLT)

After Supper was finished and they sang a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me!…But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”  Peter and the others vehemently declared, “We’ll never desert you! Even if we have to die with you, we’ll never desert you!”

Jesus looked ahead, through the agony of prayer in the Garden, through the betrayal by Judas, through the illegal arrest, through the desertion by his disciples, through the phony trial and the torture, through the cross and the tomb, to resurrection and victory! Jesus looked beyond their denial and desertion to fellowship restored. Jesus saw himself on the other side of death and hell and he saw them with him again! Jesus knew them (and us) better than they knew themselves and loved them through their denial, desertion, desperation, and through his death!

There is a quality of character, of spirit, of nature, of being, that I admire and long for in me more than any other thing. It’s more than just forgiveness, it’s a largeness of spirit, a nobility of soul that doesn’t take offence, that doesn’t even notice petty slights and doesn’t demand payback. It’s a quality that looks past the bad and sees the good, it looks past present wrong and sees future made right.

Jesus looks at us through eyes of grace and mercy and love and faith and he sees us on the other side, just as he saw them on the other side of their denial and desertion. Don’t give up friends! Jesus has gone ahead of us and he’ll meet us on the other side!

Prayer:

Father, I want to see others as Jesus sees me. I want to see them on “the other side”! Please create in me that nobility of spirit that sees others as Jesus sees me. Amen!