Daily Devotional For Monday, March 9, 2026
Good morning and thank you for joining us today for a look in the Gospel of Matthew. We have been making our way through it and today we come to Matthew 26:31-35:
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.’ (32) But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.’ (33) But Peter said to Him, ‘Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.’ (34) Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ (35) Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.’ All the disciples said the same thing too” (NASB).
Can any of you relate to Peter? Have you ever made promises to God and then later broke them? I imagine all of us can relate to Peter on this, probably multiple times throughout our lives. Unfortunately, our lives can be a series of broken promises to the Lord. Jesus had spent three years pouring His life into His disciples teaching them and preparing them. And like with any teacher in any class, there comes a time when teaching ends and the test or exams come. This time has come for His disciples.
From this point on, there will be no more extensive teaching by Jesus and no more crowds listening to Him. There will not even be any more debates or confrontations by the religious leaders. All of that has come to an end for Jesus, there would be no turning back from this point forward. These words from Jesus had to hurt, had to sting them. How in the world could Jesus ever think or believe His own disciples would abandon Him? But after giving them this sad news in verse 31, Jesus then gave them the hope of the Resurrection in verse 32.
We all know how Peter suffered from “foot in the mouth” syndrome. His mouth got ahead of his head and heart and he often said things without realizing that sometimes, it is better to keep your mouth shut. In verse 33, Peter’s “I” in the Greek text is emphatic. Meaning you can almost see and hear him standing up and approaching Jesus with this strong powerful voice that had a condescending tone of the other disciples while he promised to die for Jesus.
Little does he know what he is about to do. And we are the same. We make all these sincere promises to God and little do we know that when the test comes, we will fail. It was almost as Peter was on a soapbox saying, “Even if all these other spineless fellows run and hide, not me. I’ll draw my sword and defend You Jesus.” We can almost see Jesus shake His head as if to say, “Peter, I know right now you believe that, but when you are put to the test, you will fall away.”
What Matthew does here is present two contrasting wills. We have first the sovereign will of God for Jesus’ life who knew what was coming for Peter, His disciples and Himself. As we have the fallen-will of Peter who attempts to thwart God’s sovereign will for Jesus. When Peter made his statement, Jesus would not let that sit on the table. Jesus challenged Peter with the harsh reality of what (unthinkable to Peter), Peter was going to do.
Peter would not deny any connection to Jesus once, not twice, but three times. Hearing this, Peter doubles down and digs in his heels with an even more emphatic promise. Meanwhile back at the ranch, the other 10 disciples do not want to be out-done by Peter and so they chime in as well of their undying loyalty. To these 10 other disciples in the room, Jesus said nothing to them. Why? What else could He say to convince them of their soon to be abandonment of Him? – Nothing. How do you convince someone they are going to deny having any affiliation with you not once, not twice, but three times? It would be tough.
Sadly, all of these men, not just Peter are hours from abandoning Jesus and acting as if they had no association with Him. Peter’s is just more pronounced because Jesus told Peter he was going to do this, to Peter’s shock and denial. Jesus made it clear in verse 31 all of them would fall away. How do I know that? Jesus used the word “all” to refer to them as abandoning them. If Peter was a betting man, he bet “the house” against the odds Jesus prophesied. All the disciples, not just Peter denied he would do this – all the disciples did.
Are we any different? We make all these promises to God and sometimes we do not keep them. We write them off as if God understands, but with time, it gets easier for us to do this believing God will understand and forgive us. We will no longer hear from Peter again in the Gospel of Matthew. This rock, Peter, falls. But even in this context, Jesus speaks of Resurrection, not denials and betrayals. What Jesus says reminds us of the prophecy about it in Zechariah 13:7. Everything is happening as Jesus prophesied because God the Son was and is in control.
Reflection Assignment: Think back over your life and all the promises you have made to God and broken. Do you think God was unaware that these promises you made, you would soon break? No. So, this really says less about you and more about God. What does it say about God to you and how does that impact your life today?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I am so sorry for all of my broken promises. I praise You that You never break Your promises to me. I ask for your forgiveness and I hope I no longer do this in the future. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly