Episode Details

We Ran, He Stands

Mar 14:26-52, Remsen Bible Fellowship, 06/08/2025

Introduction

How confident are you in your ability to follow Jesus? To stay with him? To stay true in the face of trials, temptations, and the troubles of life?

How confident should you be? Those are the sort of questions which confront us as we approach our passage this morning.

We’re taking a longer section of text, verses 26-52, and so I want to examine it in four scenes.

Who has the right to be confident?

Scene one: Verses 26-31,

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

If you recall from a couple of weeks ago, Jesus and the disciples are celebrating the Passover meal, but as they take the bread and pass it around, Jesus shifts the focus. No longer are they to look at the unleavened loaf and think of the haste with which Israel left Egypt, but rather they should take this bread and consider the body of Jesus, broken in their place. No longer is the cup of blessing to look back simply on the history of God’s preservation of his people, but it is now to remind Jesus’ disciples of his blood shed in their place. His blood which seals the New Covenant of redemption.

When the meal ended, they sang a hymn—probably one of the Psalms from Psalm 114-118. As I read those Psalms, and then this narrative, I really wonder if it was Psalm 116 or Psalm 118, both of which are especially appropriate.

Then, after singing this hymn, they head out for the Mount of Olives. And on their journey, Jesus makes what must have been a startling announcement: “you will all fall away.” Imagine we were cleaning up one Sunday and I said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “you’re all going to give up on the faith for a while.” I think most of you would be surprised by such a presumptuous statement, and I’m guessing a number of you would be (rightly) offended.

But I’m a fallible human being, and it would be presumptuous of me to say such a thing, Jesus is the perfect Son of God, the omniscient Lord of the disciples. He’s not blowing smoke, and he’s not simply trying to shock them. He is, in fact, making an accurate prediction which was intended, at least in part, to prepare his disciples for the hours and days to come. We see that in what he says next: “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

The disciples don’t buy it, though. They were confident in themselves. Peter (of course Peter!) speaks up—even if they all fall, I won’t, Jesus! For Peter’s extra measure of boldness Jesus gives an extra dose of reality: before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. How jarring! This is the same Peter who refused to leave, though the crowds abandoned Jesus, because he knew Jesus had the words of eternal life. The same Peter who walked on water. The same Peter who confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus looks him square in the eye and says, “you’re going to deny you even know me: three times tonight.” You might understand Peter’s reply—“even if I must die with you, I won’t deny you!”

And the rest of the disciples felt the same way. They had been loyal these three years. It certainly had cost them in terms of time, career, and relationships. They were all in on Jesus. How could he say they would deny him?

The disciples were confident in their capacity to stick with Jesus, and why w