Again, this is really high on the list of the sections the disciples would have omitted if they were making the entire story up. If they were trying to 'sell' Jesus as ultra-successful and the disciples as the prized recruits ready to take on the world, they likely wouldn't include the section about Peter incorrectly predicting that he'd never deny Jesus, right before Peter denies Jesus. Oops.
But these sections are crucial to seeing how human the disciples were. Peter didn't want to deny Jesus -- he likely meant these words as he spoke them. But situations change and people get scared and things happen faster than we predict. Plenty of people never mean to look at their phones when they drive, but then it makes that noise and we figure we can look quickly and it won't do any damage... Or people think they'll just tell a little lie and they can correct it later and it won't hurt anyone and then things escalate beyond our control... We've all seen things get out of control faster than we expected. We think we can be in control, and we often discover the opposite is true.
Isn't it marvelous that these are the people Jesus calls into discipleship? Jesus knows Peter will deny him, and Jesus calls him anyway. Jesus knows they will all flee to save their own skin, and Jesus calls them anyway. Jesus knows you'll mess that thing up, and Jesus calls you anyway. Jesus knows I'm going to forget that other thing, and Jesus calls me anyway. It's marvelous, and wondrous, and we are the recipients of grace, freely given.
Thanks be to God!
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