Matthew 26:30-35,69-75 (NIV)
30When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
31Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
33Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will."
34"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."
35But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.
...
69Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. "You also were with Jesus of Galilee," she said.
70But he denied it before them all. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
71Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, "This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth."
72He denied it again, with an oath: "I don't know the man!"
73After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away."
74Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!" Immediately, a rooster crowed.
75Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
31Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
"I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered."32But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."
33Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will."
34"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."
35But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.
...
69Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. "You also were with Jesus of Galilee," she said.
70But he denied it before them all. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
71Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, "This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth."
72He denied it again, with an oath: "I don't know the man!"
73After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away."
74Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!" Immediately, a rooster crowed.
75Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
posted by Mel at 5:00 AM
1 Comments:
So now what? Peter had doubts? Yes! I am sure you can relate. I mean, Peter was there and this is what happened. I am also sure the of fact that the conventional idea of the Messiah during that time was that he was going to be a worldly liberator throwing the yoke of Roman rule off of Israel, and that had some small amount to do with it. But, Peter, doubting? I think so.
Most of us have some doubts. The way I like to look at it is to compare Fear to Courage. Just what is Courage, but the ablity to face Fear and push past it, acting in such a way as to deny the Fear to have a hold on us. The same is true of Doubt and Faith. Faith does not exactly mean a total lack of Doubt, but rather a Conviction of what needs to be done in the face of Doubt and pressing on through it. It is not denial of Doubt. It is an affirmation of the opposite of Doubt.
One of the people I have played online games with had this tag line:
"Knowledge is just an opinion you feel strongly enough to act upon."
That may be a paraphrase, but nonetheless, it is a truism that bears some thought. If you look at the history of Scientific Thought, you will find that what we believed to be the absolute truth back some time ago is now seen as somewhat inaccurate, or outright kooky! Science then, is really just Faith built upon empirical evidence that such a set of beliefs supports and explains to our satisfaction. Just because we cannot see or touch something, does not make it less real. Today, we have tools that let us "see" what previously had been beyond our ability to observe.
I like to explain it this way: If you look as what we know as a circle with a fuzzy edge, where everything within the circle is what we know, and everything on the fuzzy edge is what we don't know but are aware enough of to seek knowledge of it, you have basically visualized what I like to call the "Paradox of Knowledge" -- the more we know, the more we know we don't know.
Now the trap we fall into is that the ratio of what we know to what we know we don't know is constantly getting larger (if we extend the analogy) and we fool oursleves into believing that we know it all! I see this in my daughter, who just started second grade today. She is a know it all. I think she gets that from me, since I have had the same accusation leveled at me more than a few times in my life. Does our belief that we "know it all" make that the truth? Nope. Just ask yourself how big that circle of knowledge could get if you look at historically how it has grown for mankind or for yourself personally. If you think there is a limit, then where is that limit and how close are we?
Science and Faith are twin brothers. Questions and Doubts are their shadows.
;'{P
Post a Comment
<< Home