The Rooster Crows

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John 

September 27, 2024

The Rooster Crows

“But one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?”

Again Peter denied it.

And immediately a rooster crowed.”

John  18: 26-27

Full of love and loyalty, Peter makes his way to the place of Jesus’ interrogation. When questioned, Jesus told the truth. When questioned, Peter lied. However, Peter’s courage cannot be questioned. He alone, in the face of overwhelming force, took his sword to defend Jesus. Even after his confrontation with the arresting force in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter followed Jesus into the hostile camp that held Jesus captive.

As Peter warmed himself by a fire, and verbally sparred with the others around the fire, a rooster crows after the third time Peter denied knowing Jesus. I suspect Peter’s experience in the courtyard of the High Priest served to ground Peter in Jesus’ teaching: I am the vine, you are the branch. Apart from me you can do nothing. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter’s courage was bolstered because Jesus was with him. In the courtyard, Peter was separated from his Master. Peter’s experience reveals the weakness of our sinful flesh that cannot be overcome until Jesus sends our Helper, our Advocate, the Holy Spirit.

(By the way, remember, John never includes a meaningless detail. John points out that Peter warmed himself by a charcoal fire. Peter will warm himself by another charcoal fire when he has a conversation with Jesus on the beach in John 21:9.)

My Takeaway: In our trip to Jerusalem, we visited the courtyard of the High Priest where there are memorials to Peter’s thrice denials of knowing Jesus. The atmosphere is contusive to sitting and pondering our own fidelity to our Master. 

Sē’lah                                                                                         

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.