I was reading in my devotions this morning from Mark 14. It is a pretty long chapter--72 verses, which is not really a big deal, but it covers several stories in the chapter. When you read Mark you discover that his book is the shortest of the gospels, and he tends to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time. He starts us out at the beginning of Jesus ministry with His baptism. We never hear anything of His birth or childhood. It's as if Mark opens up and plops us down in the middle of the life of Jesus, which is actually the end of the story. He gets to the good stuff right off the bat.
Because of the style of Mark's writing, we tend to get a different view of Jesus ministry. We get the meat of the story. Mark doesn't pussyfoot around. There isn't time for him to spend too much time on any one story. The thing that stuck out to me this morning because of Mark's style is what was happening in Peter's life. When we look at verses 27-31 of Mark 14, we see Peter's adamant stance against denying Christ. We know the story, so I won't repeat the whole thing, but then in verses 32-38 we see Christ with Peter, James, and John in the Garden of Gethsemene. Again, we know the story, but in verse 37 Christ speaks directly to Peter. When Christ speaks He says in part, "The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak." It is as if we are seeing the fact that Christ knows that Peter's spirit truly would not deny Christ, but Christ also knows that Peter's flesh, in this case, his brain is weak, and it is Peter's flesh under the control of his brain that will deny Christ.
Again in verse 47, though Mark doesn't go into the story in much detail, we know from the other gospels that it was Peter who cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. Peter's spirit truly is willing to follow Christ to the death. In some ways, it was easy for Peter to cut off the servant's ear. The servant, after all, was just that...a servant. He really had very little influence or power. He was no more important in the scheme of the Roman Empire than the fisherman Peter was. The servant truly was insignificant. But then comes verses 54 and following where we see Peter waiting by the fire to see what will happen to Jesus. In verses 66-71 we read of the three denials of Peter even to the point of Peter's cursing. Two of the people that accuse Peter of being with Jesus were maids. Once again, these two maids were insignificant people. They had no clout, no power to persuade anyone of anything. It was easy for Peter to deny Christ in front of them. Even the third time when Peter was accused of knowing Jesus, there is no name given to who is accusing Peter. It seems as if this third person really is insignificant as well.
The clincher of the story comes in verse 72. The cock crows, and suddenly Peter stops and thinks about what has just happened, and Peter weeps. The same is true in my life, over the years I have thought I knew all the right things to do. I have thought I knew just how to respond in a Christlike manner to circumstances in my life. I thought I was strong--until my strength was put to the test. How many times, have I, just like Peter, made the weak choice especially in front of insignificant people? Oh, no, I have never denied knowing Christ, that I can remember, but when faced with handing a tract to the guy sitting next to me on the bus I cower before this insignificant person, why? Because I wouldn't want him to think I was one of "those people". How many times do I fail to witness to my doctor of God's healing because I am not sure what I would do the next time I have to come back for an appointment. "What would he think of me?" I reason. While never asking myself what Christ would think of me for not witnessing. And all the while, just like in Peter's life, it really is the "insignificant" people in my life who show me how weak I really am.
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