Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him. ‘You also are not one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it and said ‘I am not.’ One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked. ‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’ Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. (John 18:25-27)
Peter found himself in a dilemma. He was following Jesus from afar. In doing so he was surrounded by the ‘wrong company’. He was mingling with them, warming himself by their fire. Maybe he felt guilty of cutting of the ear of one of the high priest’s servants. Although he tried to hide away between them, they quickly realized that Peter does not belong among them. His presence troubled them. Because Peter was not spiritually alert, and praying in the garden, when he was asked to, he had not the strength necessary in this crucial hour. The hour of testing each day, reveals the our communion with Him beforehand. Let us therefore draw close to Him every morning, so that we can be strengthen for what we need to face for that day. A man of God once said: “let all young christian men rise up early, to be found on their knees at the break of dawn, meeting with the Captain of the heavenly hosts, to receive their strength and guidance for the day.”
