“Then they arrested Jesus, led him away, and brought him into the high priestʼs house. But Peter was following at a distance. When they had made a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a slave girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man was with him too!” But Peter denied it: “Woman, I donʼt know him!” Then a little later someone else saw him and said, “You are one of them too.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” And after about an hour still another insisted, “Certainly this man was with him, because he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I donʼt know what youʼre talking about!” At that moment, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. Then the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.” Luke 22:54-62

“Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place”

The origin of the idiom ‘between a rock and a hard place’ can be found in ancient Greek mythology — specifically in Homer’s Odyssey. If you have not read the Odyssey, Odysseus must pass between Charybdis, a treacherous whirlpool, and Scylla, a man-eating, cliff-dwelling monster. To say one is stuck between a rock (the cliff) and a hard place (the whirlpool) has been a way to succinctly describe being in a very difficult dilemma.

Peter found himself in such a dilemma. He was one of the top four disciples within the twelve, but he went straight to the top of those disciples who would dessert Jesus — second only to Judas. When push came to shove (is that another idiom?) Peter chose saving his own hide rather than stand up for Jesus.

We all come to those moments when we must decide — will we stand up for our faith no matter the cost to our reputations or relationships? Or, will we back down because of the same cost? Peter choose to back down — but in the end he gets redemption from Jesus through one of the resurrection appearances.

The life of the Christian can be easy and free — and it can be quite the costliest endeavor we can endure. It is our choice…

Pastor Dave