He Follwed at a Distance

Mark 1: 16-18
Mark 14: 26-31, 53 – 54, 66 – 72

He followed at a distance. I think that is one of the saddest verses in the gospel, and it is probably one of the most overlooked as well. So much is happening in this chapter it is easy to get focused on Jesus’ trail or on Peter’s denial. I think that the real question is not what Peter did, but why. Why after swearing he would not deny Christ did he go and do it anyway?
The first time we meet Peter is in chapter 1. He is out fishing when Jesus calls him. His response is to immediately leave everything to follow Jesus. Then in chapter 8, Peter confesses Jesus as Messiah. It seems Peter has it all figured out. So what happened Friday night?

To Peter’s credit he was one of two disciples who actually followed Jesus after he was arrested. Peter followed Jesus right into the courtyard of the high priest. A courtyard filled with temple guards. It is likely that several of those gathered around the fire had just come back from Gethsemane and here Peter is, standing in the midst of them. Maybe he was counting on the shadows and the darkness to hide him till he could figure out what was going to happen to Jesus. It’s understandable that when the servant girl asks him if he was with Jesus that he would play dumb, “I have no idea what you are talking about.” When she brings others into it I can imagine him getting pretty jittery, feeling backed into a corner, “You must have me mistaken for someone else.” By the third time, he figures that’s he is caught, so this time, “I swear to God I’m not this man.”

Then it clicked. Matthew & Luke both say “he went out and wept bitterly”, Mark says “he broke down and wept”. The point is Peter was devastated by his own lack of faith. My thought is that Peter’s faith crumbled because he had been “following at a distance.” He wanted to be close enough to Jesus for the benefits, without the dangers that came with being a “follower of Christ.” He wanted it both ways and when he realized he couldn’t, he broke like Humpty Dumpty. Peter’s story could have the same tragically sad ending, but it doesn’t, because while all the kings’ horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again, the king could. Peter is restored and according to tradition he ultimately ends up making good on his promise in the garden by being crucified upside-down in Rome for proclaiming Jesus Christ.

Where does that leave us today? The call is still the same for us as it was for Peter and the other disciples. “Follow me?” How close are we willing to follow Christ? It’s easy to say “Oh I’ll follow him to the very end. I’ll die for him.” Peter said the exact same thing, and that was after literally following him for three years. The problem is that we often don’t know how far we will actually go for Christ until we are tested. In America it is unlikely that a confession of Jesus Christ will lead to death. Unfortunately this means it is all too easy to be a semi-follower of Christ. As long as we keep him in sight we consider it good enough. Personally I would love to be following so closely I keep stepping on his heels. I pray that you share the same desire.

“Abba, you invite each of us to journey in your footsteps. But we confess that we are lazy, or scared, or have a thousand different excuses for not following you as closely as we should. I pray you give us faith enough to follow close to you. Let us not be content following you at a distance. Draw us into closer and deeper relationships with you. We pray all this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”