At the Last Supper Jesus whispered to Peter that He and the other remaining disciples were in for a very tough testing time – a sifting, in fact. The word used by Luke is siniazō which means a “shaking as in a sieve”, and here, metaphorically, “an inward, violent shaking so as to try one’s faith to the point of collapse.” Oh, Peter and the others were in for a very hard time – a sifting.
Luke 22:31-34 (NIV)
[Jesus] "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." 33 But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with You to prison and to death." 34 Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know Me."
Peter was so very certain in this moment of where he stood with Jesus and very confident of his faith and devotion. He protested that he would go to prison and even face death before even thinking of disowning Jesus as the others might. That was before the sifting. Jesus prophesied that before dawn Peter will have completely disavowed Him – not once, but three times. You can’t get much more emphatic than that – the third denial was no accidental slip, was it? Indeed, that’s exactly what happened. Peter did not pass the sift-test.
And in the sobering post-sift reality check, Peter knew the truth. All of it. He could not deny it. He was on the record. So shattered and ashamed was he that he ran from that courtyard scene and wept bitterly in the cold as the sun rose. The sifting rocked him to the core. He was not the same now … the faith fantasy he had cherished and embellished was not there.
But his raw, unembellished faith had made it through. Just …
Jesus had prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail altogether. In the aftermath of the rooster’s emphatic confirmation of Jesus’ prophecy Peter was shattered in his disillusionment, and he is trying hard to make sense of his abject failure. What had gone so wrong. But, hard as the sifting was, and as shattering was the disillusionment, it’s not all bad news. I know, it’s hard to see good in a painful sifting. But Peter was in a dangerous place – the place of faith illusion. His faith was not as real or nearly as strong as he believed, his passion for Jesus not as strong as he’d thought, and it wouldn’t have mattered what Jesus had said to the contrary that night, Peter would never have taken that on board – it’s in the text … And so, a sifting was necessary to dis-illusion Peter and help him come to a place of spiritual sobriety. The place of real faith – what there was of it – so that Jesus could work with that. Jesus had already taught that all anyone needed was a mustard seed of faith and unprecedented things could be achieved by any disciple …
Peter was painfully separated and freed from his faith fantasy, he needed to be. And so do we. Through sifting. Violent sifting, if necessary. And now, sitting on that beach on resurrection morning, as a fire crackled and the smell of baking fish filled his nostrils, Jesus comes to him and asks, “Peter do you love [agape – unconditionally love] me?” Peter replies, “Lord, you know that I am fond [phileō] of you …” Then Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” This happened a second time. Same question, same answer, same command. Then a third time Jesus came, and this time said, “Peter, are you really fond [phileō] of me?” Peter froze. He hadn’t dared to boast about his love for Jesus, the sifting was still very raw, and he had not yet fully sobered up … Then came the most honest response he could give Jesus. He is so grieved of heart now … (“what if I don’t even have a proper phileō for Jesus, either?”)
Peter said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I phileō you (am fond of you)." Peter knew that much to be true. Jesus did not disagree, but gently said, "Feed my sheep”. And with those words a third time, Jesus cancels Peter’s threefold denial three days earlier and establishes him in his future ministry.
Friends, sifting is hard. But we need to be dis-illusioned – separated from fanciful illusions of where our faith is at from time to time. This is not an act of malice or vindictiveness on God’s part. It is an act of refinement, the process of promotion, so that we know the truth and walk in that unfettered by fantasy, so that the grace of God can attend what faith we do have and propel that forward to greater heights and capacities. Jesus never leaves us the way we are. Because He loves us … and wants us to walk in truth. As I said, grace attends truth, it never attends fantasy … The prophet Amos records a prophecy about Israel where God’s heart in the sifting He brings is revealed …
Amos 9:9
"For I will give the command, and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not even the least grain will reach the ground.”
The sifting will be difficult and hard and, perhaps, shattering … disillusionment always is … but the sifting won’t kill you, nor permanently damage you. Not a single grain of your worth and value to God will fall to the ground and be lost in the process. Know that. Trust that. We are not diminished in the sifting … we are being prepared for increase.
Hold on when the sifting comes – it will come. Trust the Lord in all that process, painful as it is. Come to a sober estimation of where your faith is at, as Peter did, because that’s the very faith God will use to change the world.
Think on these things.
Ps Milton