"The Dangers of Following at a Distance" (Luke 22:54)

The passage under consideration is one that illustrates the dangers of following at a distance. Following the betrayal of Jesus by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:47-50), an interesting yet disturbing incident captures the attention of each of the Gospel writers. This is one of the few incidents in the life of Jesus that is cited by all four of the Gospel writers.

It deals with the disciple Peter. We call him a disciple because he is a follower of Jesus. Now Peter, among the 12, was the most outspoken. He was one who always had an opinion. He was full of what the world would call courage and self-assertiveness.

Peter was the one whom the Bible says in Mark 8:32, rebuked Jesus. Peter was independent, assertive and frequently talked about what 'he would do if such and such were to happen.'

Peter told Jesus in Luke 22:33 that he was both ready to go to jail with Him and to also die with Him. These are admirable things from a human perspective. Of course, Peter was saved for he had professed Christ in Matthew 16:16, but he had not yet learned how to follow.

Luke 22:54 reads in part '...Peter followed afar off.' The writer had reference to the physical proximity of Peter to Jesus. With Jesus as the reference point, the writer is measuring Peter’s physical closeness to Jesus.

But as so often happens, what manifests in our outward, visible, physical lives is reflective of what is going on in our inner, invisible, spiritual lives. What is going in Peter’s heart is being manifested in his outward circumstances.

The setting for this statement is the house of the high priest. Jesus had been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was subsequently taken in for questioning before the Sanhedrin Council. Mark 14:50 reads that upon Jesus’ arrest, 'all forsook him and fled.'

This accounts for the distance between Jesus and Peter. Peter ran off and left Jesus. But he evidently didn’t run far. He ran just far enough to be hidden, but close enough to monitor what was going on. As Jesus was taken to the house of the high priest, Peter followed at a distance. Consider the following three dangers of following at a distance:

1. When you follow at a distance you create a gap between you and the one you are following.

• a. Family and friends oftentimes interfere with following Christ. When we are saved, Jesus said in Mark 3:31-35, that our family relationships change. We now are brought into a new family – the family of God.
• b. Sometimes we follow family and friends so closely that they have gotten between us and Jesus. These connections must be severed (Matthew 10:34-36).
• c. Peter’s friend invited him into the courtyard, which was full of the enemy (John 18:15-16).
• d. Peter wanted to be close enough to say that he was following Christ, but far enough away not to suffer (see John 19:1-3; 2 Timothy 2:12).

2. When you follow from a distance you run the risk of losing fellowship with Christ.

• a. When Peter was in the courtyard, he lost fellowship with Christ though, like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24), he would be restored to fellowship at a later time (John 21:15-18).
• b. As Peter associated and congregated with the servants of the High Priest, he was accused of being with Jesus three different times. Three different times Peter denied any association with Christ (Luke 22:55-60).
• c. Christ’s dominion in the life of the believer is exercised through the church (Ephesians 1:22-23).

3. When you follow at a distance you disappoint Jesus.

• a. Almost as if on cue, Jesus gets a chance to glance out on the courtyard and of all people, He makes eye contact with Peter (Luke 22:61).
• b. Earlier in Luke 22:33, Peter had sworn that he was ready to go to prison with Christ and to even die for Him. Jesus replied to him that before the cock crows he would deny him three times. Just when Jesus looked at Peter, the cock crowed. Peter remembered his own words.
• c. Peter wept bitterly (Luke 22:62).

"Christ First, Christ Only, Christ Always"