When Jesus was but an infant, Simeon saw Him in the temple and prophesied: ?This one is appointed for the fall and rise of many within Israel, and for a sign to be opposed, to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.?E Throughout His life, this is exactly what Jesus did: He divided Israel, in order to reveal hearts. And this division and revelation comes to a climax, as everything else does, in the passion narratives at the end of Luke.

There are divisions everywhere: Jesus has been in conflict with the Jewish leaders, the chief priests and the scribes, and they are now actively plotting to have Him arrested and killed. There is division among the 12: Judas betrays Jesus, Satan is seeking to sift the 12 like wheat, to separate them from one another and from Jesus, the disciples quarrel about which one is the greatest, and Peter denies that he ever knew Jesus. And this situation of division and conflict reveals hearts: It reveals the hardened hearts of the Jewish leaders, the treacherous heart of Judas, the vacillating heart of Peter.

Division and crisis reveal hearts by forcing people to make choices. In a crisis situation like the one that Jesus?Eministry created, the key demand is to choose sides. Joshua proclaimed to Israel as they entered the land, choose this day whom you will serve, and the greater Joshua brings the same imperative. There is no way to avoid a choice; we are always on one side or another, either with Jesus or against Him.

Peter provides a convicting and powerful glimpse of a genuine disciple of Jesus who makes a series of false choices. Peter professes that he is willing to follow Jesus anywhere, even to death or prison, but when Jesus is arrested and taken before the court, Peter follows ?at a distance?E(Lk 22:54). This is not the kind of ?following,?Ethe kind of discipleship that Jesus has demanded. Jesus has been warning His disciples about the dangers they will face in Jerusalem, telling them that they need to be prepared to take up crosses. In the end, none do follow Jesus this closely. The pressure is too much. Peter, with all the others, avoids the cross and has only enough courage to follow ?at a distance.?E

Things get worse once Peter has decided not to stay close to Jesus in His trial. In the court of the high priest, a fire burns, and a group huddles around the fire. Peter is among them, warming himself alongside the enemies of Jesus in the court of the high priest, the leading enemy of Jesus. Pressed to reveal himself, Peter denies everything that he should affirm about himself: He denies that he knows Jesus; then he denies any association with the disciples of Jesus, for renouncing Jesus involves renouncing Jesus?Echurch; and finally Peter denies himself, insisting that he is not a Galilean who was with Jesus. He said he would stick with Jesus through everything; now he denies he was ever with Jesus in the first place. While Jesus is saying ?I am?Ebefore the Sanhedrin, Peter is saying ?I am not.?E

Surrounded by the enemies of Jesus, Peter?s instinct for survival kicks into high gear, and rather than risk the danger of confession, he puts even more distance between himself and Jesus. But the instinct for survival is SATANIC: Whoever wants to SAVE His life will lose it, and whoever risks losing His life, by standing with Jesus and following Him close behind, will save it.

How do we avoid this threefold denial in the midst of pressure and trial? Ultimately, Peter is saved because Jesus has prayed for him. But Jesus also tells us what we must do in the midst of trial, testing, persecutions, temptation. When he goes to Gethsemane, He warns His disciples to ?pray that you may not enter into temptation?Eand at the end of the scene he repeats the same instruction. In between, He gives us an example of the kind of prayer that enables us to stand in the midst of trial: Luke compares Him to an athlete, who throws Himself into a combat in passionate prayer.

And, importantly, when we do fail, Jesus calls us to repent and return, so that we may strengthen our brothers. When the Lord looked at Peter, he was convicted, went OUT of the court, abandoned the enemies of Jesus, and cried tears of repentance. And so too, Jesus calls us to repent of our many betrayals of Him, whether they are trivial or major.