Good Friday Service at PJGH

Good Friday has just passed. I had a tiring day preparing for the sermon that I had just preached in the Good Friday Evening Service at Petaling Jaya Gospel Hall. The sermon was an expansion of a devotional article I wrote for Asian Reflections 2008. I find that preparing for a sermon always turns out to be a spiritual exercise for me. This Good Friday's sermon was not an exception - it was a good reminder for me too.

Petaling Jaya Gospel Hall, Jalan Gasing

Text: John 18:15-27
Title: Do We Hear the Rooster Crow?

“…and at that moment a rooster began to crow.” (John 18:27)

The story of Peter’s denial is carefully crafted in the Fourth Gospel. Jesus’ interrogation by the High Priest (18:19-24) is sandwiched between the two accounts of Peter’s denial of Jesus (19:15-18; 25-27). This structure highlights the bold response of Jesus by contrasting Peter’s cowardly denial. Jesus’ bold response, sets in the context of his impending crucifixion and death, demonstrates the cost of courage while Peter’s denial illustrates the emptiness of his earlier boasting (13:37-38. Cf. Mark 14: 29-31; Matt 26:33-35; Luke 22:33-34). Jesus affirms his own identity in defence of his disciples (cf. 18:8) while Peter denies his own identity as Jesus’ disciples in defence of himself. Jesus confronts his interrogators denying nothing, and Peter falters, denying everything.

Peter probably did not realise his own human failures in denying his master three times – at least not until he heard the rooster crow. “And at that moment the rooster crow” (18:27) signifies a defining moment for Peter. He suddenly realised who he really was and discovered something he knew that he should not do.

How many of us have never done something we knew we should never do? Or perhaps we have been justifying ourselves in doing those things we know are contrary to God’s holy scriptures, moral values, character and integrity? Remember, we can also be like Peter as we are drawn step by step into deeper compromise of our faith until our confession is nothing but a continuous denial of our Lord. In times like this, by the grace and mercy of God, we need to hear the rooster crow. We need those defining moments in our lives to remind us how far fallen we have been from our walk with the Lord and how we need to refresh and renew ourselves once again in our service for God.

Remember, Peter’s denials and failures do not place him in the realm of beyond redemption, for we see later in John 21, Peter is restored and recommissioned by the Lord. But the most important thing is this: Do we hear the rooster crow?