Now all of that would be a very sad story were it not for what we know from Scripture about Jesus' relationship to Peter. Peter's relationship to Jesus wasn't much; he is the one who denied Jesus. But Jesus' relationship to Peter was the great thing. Peter was denying the Lord, which was obviously a terrible sin. But, you see, at that very moment, the Lord Jesus Christ was in the process of going to the cross to die for that sin, and not only for that sin, but for all the sins of all His people.
The third point is that when they arrested Jesus, we're told that Peter followed, but he followed at a distance. I don't want to read too much into that. I said earlier that Peter at least followed when the others didn't. But it strikes me as significant that he followed at a distance. Why at a distance? Well, obviously, because he thought he was safer at a distance. If he were right up there side by side with Jesus, well, you know, they would have arrested him, too. But if he was at a distance, particularly if he could pretend he was something other than he was, well then, they might overlook him, and he could find out what was happening and not actually get into trouble himself.
The third point we need to make about Peter can be seen from Matthew 16, when Peter had given a great confession of his faith. Jesus had asked the disciples what the people of the day were saying about Him. They answered that some were saying Jesus was a prophet, or Elijah, or John the Baptist. He then asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" It was Peter who answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." What an amazing confession that was. He did not simply confess that Jesus was a great teacher, or even that he was Peter’s master. Instead, Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah—that is, he was the anointed One of God, about whom all the Old Testament prophecies are speaking. But not only the Messiah. Peter also said that Jesus was the Son of God, meaning he was the divine Messiah.
In addition to thinking about how Peter fits Psalm 1, there's another passage I think about. It's good to think of the two together because this second one is encouraging. Earlier, Jesus was prophesying what was going to happen to Peter, and He said to him, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." This is an encouraging passage because it teaches us that although Peter was prone to fall, and did fall, Jesus, nevertheless, was concerned about him and prayed for him. As a result of Jesus' prayers, although he fell by denying the Lord, his faith did not fail. That is, he remained joined to Jesus in a saving way and so was strengthened by the experience.
There were two dramas taking place in the city of Jerusalem on Good Friday. We can call them the greater one and the lesser one, though if we had been Peter, we probably wouldn't have considered that lesser drama unimportant. The great drama was the story of the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The lesser drama, which was taking place at the same time, was the denial of Jesus Christ by Peter.
