Hi friends,
This morning, I shared a Holy Thursday devotional with a local men’s business group. I’ve adapted it from the ‘talk’ format to be a post here.
But, fair warning: this reflection is more like an ice plunge than a cup of coffee!
As we look at the text, we’re invited to consider a moment of total failure. It’s a raw, painful story from the gospels that might remind us of some of our own worst moments.
The Pressure to Compromise
Have you ever known a friend who needed your support, and you… didn’t?
You recognized the cost of speaking up, so you chose silence instead. You knew it would take a lot of time and effort, so you looked the other way.
That’s one kind of silence - choosing comfort over standing with our friends.
I remember when a friend and I were interested in dating the same girl. Once we realized that, he asked her out before I worked up the courage.
So what did I do when she broke up with him? Did I show up to help him through that? For a little bit, yes. Then I waited a couple of weeks and asked her out myself. It was not my finest moment…
How about at work? Have you ever felt pressure to distance yourself from your faith at your company?
You see people are doing something unethical — and you keep your head down. Someone makes sexist comments or racist jokes — and you laugh along instead of saying something. You want to maintain a relationship, but it requires you to go places or do things that don’t fit your beliefs.
In today’s world, no one is expecting Christian morality. Actually, we can get some pretty nasty labels for insisting on what’s right.
The choice is simple but hard: speak up and risk your reputation, your relationships, your opportunities… or stay silent and preserve your status.
These challenges aren’t new — they’re the same ones Peter faced the night before Jesus was crucified.
Peter’s Denial
Today’s devotion is based on Matthew 26:69-75.
It’s Thursday night of Holy Week. April 2nd, AD 33. Jesus has been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.
While Jesus is being interrogated inside the high priest’s residence, Peter follows at a distance and sits in the courtyard, trying to remain invisible and see what will happen.
Remember, Peter promised Jesus that he would never fall away. He’s just seen Judas betray Jesus—all the other disciples have scattered—and Peter is still trying to hang in there. Let’s give him some credit: as Craig Keener points out, he’s trespassing on the private property of the high priest!
But he’s all alone now, and the pressure is building.
So, what happens?
First, a servant girl recognizes Peter. Peter denies knowing Jesus.
He gets away from her and moves closer to the gate. It’s a quicker exit if he needs to run. Someone else recognizes him. Peter denies knowing Jesus again.
A bit later, more people approach him and identify Peter as someone who was with Jesus.
By now, Peter is terrified. He curses, he swears an oath, and he cries out, “I don’t know the man!”
Then comes that devastating moment: the rooster crows, fulfilling exactly what Jesus had predicted: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”
So take this in: Verse 75, “And he went outside and wept bitterly.”
Peter wanted to be loyal to Jesus. But when the test came, he crumbled. And he’s filled with shame.
Why We Fail Like Peter Did
We can’t look down on Peter, because if we’re honest, we know we’re just like him.
Let’s look at three reasons why Peter failed the test.
1. We crumble in isolation
Peter’s brothers abandoned him—and because they didn’t stand up for Jesus, Peter couldn’t make it either. When we don’t support each other in our faith, we make it harder for everyone to stand firm.
The bottom line? We cannot be strong Christians if we’re isolated. We need community.
2. We cave to social pressure
No one was threatening to kill Peter. He was just being questioned by servants and lower-level staff in the courtyard.
But he could read the room. Jesus wasn’t popular. Jesus was being falsely condemned, about to be beaten, imprisoned, and crucified. It’s understandable that Peter denied knowing him.
When you’re in a room where no one respects Jesus—where people see faith as social or career suicide—the heat turns up fast.
Let me explain using physics. If you put a bottle of hot water in a tub of cold water, it will heat the cold water up. But if you empty the hot water out of the bottle and put it in a cold bath, the bottle will collapse.
You’re going out into a world that can be pretty cold. Do you have the warmth of genuine friendships and the fire of the Holy Spirit in your heart? If not, you’re going to collapse.
3. We compromise inch by inch
Look at the escalation. First, Peter says “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He’s lying, but maybe he can justify it—what if she was asking about a different Jesus?
Then, he’s using an oath and saying he doesn’t know Jesus of Nazareth. At this point, there’s no plausible deniability.
Finally, he’s cursing and swearing to prove he’s not a disciple of Jesus.
Each compromise made the next one easier and more extreme.
This is how integrity fails in our lives. Little compromise to little compromise, and then “all of a sudden,” the house collapses.
The Hope of Restoration
So what’s the hope in this story?
The gospels are teaching us that failure is inevitable. Think about this: how did the Gospel writers learn what happened in the courtyard of the high priest?
Peter must have come clean and confessed it to the other disciples. And they loved him for his honesty, restored him, and encouraged him.
Second, we know that Jesus, after he rose from the dead, made a point to restore Peter. If you’ve studied this, you know that Peter was by a charcoal fire when he denied Jesus, and Jesus deliberately made a charcoal fire when he restored Peter (John 21).
Failure is inevitable. We will have moments when we compromise, when we don’t live up to our own standards, let alone Christ’s. The question isn’t whether we’ll fail, but how we respond when we do.
That’s the hope of this story. Your worst failure, your most painful compromise, your moments of denying Christ through your actions or inactions—these don’t have to define you. They didn’t define Peter!
The gospel is about restoration after failure.
Are you carrying the weight of past compromises?
- Times you were silent when you should have spoken
- Decisions you made that prioritized self-protection over faithfulness
- Moments you acted like you’d never heard of Jesus to preserve your standing
The message of Peter’s story is that Christ offers forgiveness and a fresh start after our failures.
But we have to confess our sins, we have to turn away from them, and we have to run to Jesus. And we need each other – we need community that will help us stand firm.
Discussion Questions
- Where in your life are you most tempted to deny knowing Jesus? What specific pressures make you want to hide your faith?
- The passage shows how small compromises lead to bigger ones. Where have you seen this “slippery slope” in your own life?
- Peter was isolated when he failed. Who are the people in your life that help you stay faithful when things get tough? How can you be that person for someone else?
- Jesus specifically sought out Peter to restore him after the resurrection. Have you experienced Christ’s restoration after a failure? What did that feel like?
- What would it look like for our community to be a place where people can confess their failures and find restoration rather than judgment?
“Because Christ restores me, I will praise Christ.”