“Not I,” says the apostle

Luke 22:54-57

“Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, ‘This man was with him.’ But he denied it. ‘Woman, I don’t know him,’ he said.”

A few weekends ago, I had the privilege of watching after a young child for the evening. We were flipping through one of my old childhood books full of folk tales, and I was reading her the story of “The Little Red Hen”. In case you’re not familiar with the tale, it’s about a hen who finds a grain of wheat. She asks the other farmyard animals who will assist her in planting it, but none are willing. At each stage of turning the wheat into bread, the hen again asks for help, but continues to receive the same answer: “Not I,” says the cat. “Not I,” says the pig. Finally, when the baking is done, the hen asks, “Who will help me eat the bread?” This time, all eagerly volunteer. However, she declines their “help”, sharing it only with her own chicks. The moral, simply put, is that if you want to enjoy the reward, you must put in the work. I was strangely horrified as I read the story, realizing it was starting to feel eerily familiar. I could practically hear Peter’s “Not I” ringing in my ears. 

Is this not similar to the way we sometimes treat Jesus? We retreat when things get scary or we sense hard work ahead. We all want the rewards God has to offer, but we aren’t as willing to stick with Him through the difficult times in order to receive them, whether out of laziness (like the farm animals), or fear (like Peter).What is it that Jesus has been asking of you and I that we have been denying Him? Will we continue to answer with a “Not I, Lord”? Will we only stick with Jesus when it’s convenient for us? When it’s safe? When it’s rewarding? 

       I can’t help but think of another verse, in which Jesus tells us “Whoever acknowledges Me before others, I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns Me before others, I will disown before My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33). I pray that when the hard work here on earth is done, God will gladly welcome me to share bread with Him at His table in heaven.