Verse 75
And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly.
God has used some very humble creatures to preach mighty sermons, among them the message conveyed by the barnyard fowl on that occasion. The message of Balaam's ass is another. Preachers, therefore, should take heart and do their best; no one can tell when some word of the Master will find an honest heart and do its work. The cock-crow aroused Peter to a new sense of reality, and he immediately began to make his way back to Jesus. Although Matthew did not record it, John did; and we are privileged to rejoice in the conversion of Peter who returned to confess three times that he loved ([Greek: phileo]) the Lord (John 21:15ff).
Somehow, the sad failure of this great, impetuous man of the outdoors, who forsook his fishnets to become a fisher of men, endears rather than repels. He was so like all men that every man can see himself in Peter's place. Like Peter, may every man who through some lapse has offended his Saviour, turn again and wipe out failure with a new beginning. Peter never faltered again. The tradition that he at last was martyred for the blessed Jesus is supported by the Scriptures (John 21:18,19), and thus this most lovable of all the apostles, despite his mistakes, at last made good' his promise that he was willing to go both to prison and to death for the Lord!
The words "and he went out and wept bitterly" are a fitting close to this chapter. Matthew portrays with chilling realism the terror of that awful darkness which surged against the True Light; and it must ever be a source of unfailing wonder that the "darkness overcame it not"!
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